conference paper
The isostatic 3-body problem: a complete solution
May 30, 2017
Proceedings of the 17th International Conference of the European Society for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology
Kinematic couplings are used when two rigid bodies need to be repeatedly and accurately positioned with respect to each other. They allow for sub-micron positioning repeatability by suppressing play and reducing strains in the bodies. Typical applications are in astronomy, semiconductors and metrology. This work generalizes two-body kinematic couplings to multi-body kinematic mounts with a focus on the 3-body case. This work presents a complete analysis of the 3-body case by providing a novel set of representative examples, realized demonstrators, and applications of 3-body kinematic mounts.