This paper presents a heuristic algorithm to solve the linear coordinate reduction problem. If Cartesian coordinates are chosen in the initial formulation the algorithm eliminates two-thirds of dependent coordinates in the planar case and one-half in the spatial case for mechanisms composed of spherical, revolute and universal joints. For an open-loop system composed of spherical joints it eliminates all dependent coordinates. A computer algebra-based implementation in the Maple language is presented. The proposed technique is demonstrated by application to the dynamic analysis of a Peaucellier mechanism.
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