Abstract: Curved flexure element such as initially-curved segments can deflect more largely and facilely than notch flexure element in functional direction. A new annulus-shaped large-deflection flexure pivot, distributed leafy rotary flexure pivot, is obtained by distributing curved flexure elements around a point in plane space. Mathematic model is established for analyzing flexure pivot performance. A main-motion-element pseudo-rigid-body method is used to simplify mathematic model because it is difficult to set up exact mathematic model for complicated structure of flexure pivot. Flexure pivot performance is analyzed under pure torque and the accuracy of model is demonstrated by comparing pseudo-rigid-body model outcomes to non-linear finite element analysis. The result shows that the distributed leafy rotary flexure pivot has large rotary stroke that is a new large-deflection flexure pivot.

Key words: Curved flexure element, Flexure pivot, Large deflection