Calibrability as additional design criterion of parallel kinematic machines

The paper deals with the research of the influence of design parameters on calibration of the machines. The calibrability is introduced as a mechanism property describing the sensitivity of calibrating dimension accuracy and end-effector positioning accuracy with respect to the accuracy of sensor measurements. The calibrability should be optimized in a very early stage of the design process. The optimization of calibrability leads to the minimization of the error transfer from sensors to end-effector and consequently to the improvement of the final accuracy of the machine operations. The calibrability should be used within the design process of a new parallel kinematical structures as a pendant of other traditional design criterions. The context of the new design criterion is discussed using the examples of parallel machines Trijoint 900H and Sliding Star. Finally the calibrability is used as a main design criterion of a spatial redundant parallel calibrating and measuring machine RedCaM. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.