ABSTRACT
To create new mechanisms, structural analysis called number synthesis and type synthesis are applied. The basic building blocks of structural analysis are open and closed kinematic chains. The simplest open kinematic chain is two links connected by a turning joint also called a binary chain. Three links connected in series with two turning joints are called a ternary chain. The degrees of freedom of a chain designate the number of independent input motions that are necessary to determine the motion of the chain, considering one link as the frame. A planetary gear system is characterized by co-linearity of the axes of the input and output shafts. In many cases they are also characterized by the fact that one or more gears can be blocked to provide different output speeds.
