Designing Compliant Mechanism Suspensions. Numerical Synthesis of a Monolithic Bicycle Fork

Master's Thesis from the year 2015 in the subject Engineering - Mechanical Engineering, grade: 1,0, RWTH Aachen University (Institut für Konstruktionstechnik), language: English, abstract: Limited material resources, competition in technology and a growing environmental consciousness are demanding high-performance in lightweight design at low-cost. One way to satisfy the high expectations in comfort and weight reduction is to implement compliant mechanisms, particulary using the opportunities of modern additive manufacturing. But the lack of examples, guidelines and resources is prohibiting a wider application.

What kinds of compliant mechanisms are there? How exactly optimize compliant mechanisms lightweight designs? To what extent does the lightweight design of a bicycle suspension serve as an example? And how can you implement monolithic suspensions in vehicle systems effectively?

The author Thorsten Schrader answers the most important questions about compliant mechanisms. He develops a prototype by evaluating a bicycle fork according to a Multi Body Simulation comparison between a standard suspension fork and the developed compliant system. In this way Schrader creates a guideline which helps engineers to obtain an initial design concept for any kind of compliant mechanism.