Comparison between hamming method and modified path matrix approach to identify isomorphism in PGTs

Abstract Structural Synthesis and Analysis plays a major role in identifying the Isomorphism and Symmetry of a Planetary Gear Train (PGT). In synthesis process, detection of isomorphism in PGTs with given number of links and Degree of Freedom (DOF) is essential. One gear pair and one turning pair will be added to the existing link to generate next level PGT. One isomorphic PGT is selected at random to generate higher link PGTs. Graph theory and matrix methods are used by different kinematicians to identify the symmetry and isomorphism in PGTs. Every method has its own merits and demerits. In this paper a comparison was made between the Hamming number technique and Modified Path Matrix (MPM) approach. For easy analysis, PGTs are converted in to graphs and matrices are extracted from these graphs. In this paper isomorphism is checked by using Adjacency matrix and Modified path Matrix. 4-link and 6-link PGTs were considered for analysis in both the methods and compared the results. It is observed that Hamming Number approach is simple and feasible method among the two to identify the symmetry and isomorphism in PGTs.