I found this in Handbook of Compliant Mechanisms (2013), page 162, or at the start of "Chapter 11, Elements of Mechanisms," subsection 11.1.2 Revolute
I don't understand how it's supposed to go from 1 to 2 when b rotates around c.
The description reads:
This element is a rotational flexural pivot constructed by three curved beams to achieve a large range of motion. Theoretically, this element will rotate without axial-drift motion, because of the symmetric arrangement about the axis.
(1) Rigid body a is fixed. Rigid body b rotates about c-axis.
(2) Deformed configuration
(3) Photo of the device.
It's unclear which part of the beam is attached to what. I can understand how one curved beam could switch its curvature (in general, like they do in bi-stable latches), but I don't see how they could both at the end of of the rotation end up curved in a way that's opposite to how they started.
How could c2/c3 go from the configuration in 1 to the configuration in 2 ?
Or could they be two different iterations of the same idea ? I can see how (1) or (2) would resist rotation of c around b, and snap it back to its original position. The text claims (2) is the deformed configuration though. I can also see how (1) with just c1, c3, c5 would deform to (1) with c0, c2, c4 if (b) was turning anti clockwise.
Also, what would be an ideal material to print this kind of compliant mechanism ?