Understanding Mechanism Inversions

A mechanism is a collection of rigid bodies, called links, connected by joints (also called kinematic pairs) to form a kinematic chain. A mechanism is formed when one link of a kinematic chain is fixed.

What is a Mechanism Inversion?

An inversion of a mechanism is obtained by fixing a different link of the same kinematic chain. Different inversions of a mechanism can result in different types of motion or applications, even though they are derived from the same kinematic chain. The number of possible inversions for a kinematic chain is equal to the number of links in the chain, provided all links are distinct and form revolute pairs.

Calculating Possible Inversions

For a kinematic chain with 'n' links, if each link can potentially be fixed to produce a unique mechanism, the number of possible inversions is equal to the number of links.

In this specific question, we are given a mechanism (which implies it originated from a kinematic chain) with 10 numbers of links.

• Number of links (n) = 10
• Number of possible inversions = Number of links

Therefore, the number of possible inversions for a mechanism with 10 links is 10.

Each of the 10 links can be chosen as the fixed link, leading to a distinct inversion of the mechanism.