Optimizing the Geometry of Flexure System Topologies Using the Boundary Learning Optimization Tool

We introduce a new computational tool called the Boundary Learning Optimization Tool (BLOT) that identifies the boundaries of the performance capabilities achieved by general flexure system topologies if their geometric parameters are allowed to vary from their smallest allowable feature sizes to their largest geometrically compatible feature sizes for given constituent materials. The boundaries generated by the BLOT fully define the design spaces of flexure systems and allow designers to visually identify which geometric versions of their synthesized topologies best achieve desired combinations of performance capabilities. The BLOT was created as a complementary tool to the freedom and constraint topologies (FACT) synthesis approach in that the BLOT is intended to optimize the geometry of the flexure topologies synthesized using the FACT approach. The BLOT trains artificial neural networks to create models of parameterized flexure topologies using numerically generated performance solutions from different design instantiations of those topologies. These models are then used by an optimization algorithm to plot the desired topology’s performance boundary. The model-training and boundary-plotting processes iterate using additional numerically generated solutions from each updated boundary generated until the final boundary is guaranteed to be accurate within any average error set by the user. A FACT-synthesized flexure topology is optimized using the BLOT as a simple case study.