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Traditionally coil springs were used for applications to exert one-dimensional force along a given spring coil axis. However, in recent years, there has been an increasing trend in using coil springs to provide forces in a multi-dimensional space. In this paper, an approach to construct a model of a coil spring for suspension systems using a spatial six degree-of-freedom parallel mechanism is presented. In kinematics and dynamics simulation, the use of a parallel mechanism to model a coil spring allows a designer to simulate six degrees of freedom spring characteristics with vehicle kinematics without using FEA feature embedded in the simulation software. This requires a significant amount of computational load and maybe a file format converter.

Today's suspension coil spring design requires not only accounting for one-dimensional force along the coil spring axis, but also exerting a complex multi-dimensional force and torque field between the spring seats [1,2,3,4,5]. This paper describes the design of a 6-DOF parallel mechanism to mimic the force and torque characteristics of a coil spring. This mechanism can physically generate the 6-DOF force and torque field of a coil spring, allowing designers to experimentally evaluate the quasi-static force effects of a coil spring while still at the design stage. Examples are presented for a physically generated force and torque field of a coil spring used in a McPherson Strut suspension, and its effect is correlated to the side force acting upon the suspension strut. As an extension, this mechanism can be widely used to investigate the relationship between spring characteristics and damper friction.