Static balancing is one of the most valuable strategies in manufacturing and industrial designing. This paper deals with the static balancing of parallel mechanisms. Using counter-weights and springs, and their combination, are the most popular methods in this procedure. In this article, theories and formulas of static balancing, by considering the end-effector with constant-weight, using counter-weights and springs are addressed. As case studies, three 3-DOF planar parallel mechanisms, namely, 3-RRR, 3-PRR and 3-RPR with constant-weight are investigated. A static balanced 3-RRR is modeled and validated in Adams software and fabricated using a combination of spring and counter-weight. This mechanism is manufactured in Human and Robot Interaction laboratory (TaarLab). Moreover, a cable parallel 3-DOF mechanism using static balancing concept is designed for which variable weight is considered at the end-effector. The crane benefits from static balancing of variable weight that causes the power actuators just use in relocation the counter-weight in XY plane that is obviously less than the power needed to relocate the main load across the gravity direction. The advantages of these kinds of mechanisms consist in reducing manufacturing and operation price, increasing the safety and using less power in actuators.

Keywords: Static Balance, Parallel Mechanism, counter-weight, spring, variable weight

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