In this paper a new topology of four degrees-of-freedom 3T1R fully-parallel manipulator is presented, which is defined only using lower kinematic pairs. The paper starts with a complete type synthesis of different topologies of fully-parallel manipulators that can perform the so-called Schönflies motion, based on the Theory of Groups of Displacements. After imposing some practical requirements, the different possibilities of manipulators are reduced to only one topology of fully-parallel and fully-symmetrical parallel manipulator. Then, the kinematic analysis of the manipulator is shown, including the closed-form resolution of both forward and inverse position problems, the velocity and the singularity analysis. Finally, a prototype of the manipulator is presented, which is intended to be used in pick and place applications.

Educational software for the kinematic analysis of planar and spatial mechanisms is presented in this article. This general-purpose kinematic software has been developed as a complement to Machine Theory lectures. The different modules integrated in the software compute and analyse various kinematic entities, which enable an advanced student to investigate the characteristics of a mechanism. ß

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

This paper presents a methodology and a flowchart of steps to take for a, consistent and rapidly convergent design of catenary mooring systems. It is subsequently applied for a floating Oscillating Water Column WEC MARMOK-A developed by Oceantec Energías Marinas, in order to fulfill the technical requirements of such dynamic systems. The approach, based on the catenary equations, considers the water depth as a design scale factor for the mooring system, leading to an equivalent static mooring performance. In general, a mooring system configuration is described by the number and distribution of lines; thus, as a preprocess in the herein described procedure, a database is built for different line lengths. The main advantage of the procedure is that once that, after characterizing a mooring system configuration at a specific water depth with a specific line mass and axial stiffness, the database built can be used for any other water depth with any line mass and axial stiffness, accelerating the design optimization process. Mooring static properties are derived for a given material elastic modulus, lines’ mass and water depth. The mean offset and horizontal stiffness are afterwards derived with lines pretension and steady environmental forces (mean wave drift, current and wind) as well as maximum offset and characteristic line tensions. Finally, the process is applied for different lines pretensions to achieve an objective horizontal stiffness of the structure. The introduced procedure is presented through its application to the MARMOK-A device at a 90m depth site moored by means of a Karratu named mooring configuration. Results are presented in terms of total lines mass, device maximum expected excursion and required footprint for different horizontal stiffness and lines mass in order to give an insight of the impact on total plant cost indicators.

No abstract

When focusing on mooring system numerical modelling, the efforts are focused on validating models that increase the accuracy and maintain the computation time under reasonable limits. In this paper an approach for modelling the interaction among supporting structure and mooring system is introduced through kinematic relations. The proposed approach has been validated with the experimental wave tank 1:13.6 scaled data of the HarshLab 2.0 platform, a CALM type buoy moored with a three-line catenary system and used as a floating laboratory for materials and corrosion testing, to be installed at BiMEP. The drag forces of the buoy as well as the Morison coefficients of the heave-pitch coupling, induced by the attached structure for ships bow landing, have been identified. Results of the mooring line tensions are validated with imposed displacements of the structure and, subsequently, with coupled simulations of the moored buoy in a set of realistic sea states. Sources of differences on the estimation of line tensions are found to be mainly due to uncertainties of seabed friction forces, a high sensitivity of line tensions to small swaying and a poor pitching performance of the numerical model, very likely due to a very non-linear pitching of the physical model.