Influence of manufacturing errors on the stiffness of a uniaxial circular flexure hinge

To improve the manufacturing of precision flexible hinges,a linear transfer function was developed to relate manufacturing errors in uniaxial circular flexure hinges to their performance using a multi-variable Taylor series expansion.The performance of the flexure hinge is most sensitive to manufacturing errors of the minimum thickness,t,of the hinge.Manufacturing errors of the hinge radius,R,and the hinge thickness,b,had moderate influence on the performance.Errors in the hinge width had little influence on the performance.Therefore,the minimum hinge thickness t should be manufactured with the highest precision where the radius,R,and the thickness,b,can be manufactured with normal precision.