Mechanism Design and Analysis

Catalog description

Design and analysis of mechanical linkages including kinematic synthesis and dynamic analysis. Linkages for a variety of applications are considered. M E 480 Mechanism Design and Analysis (3) The student who takes this course will develop a basic understanding of the analysis and synthesis of planar linkage mechanisms. Students will develop the ability to model real linkage mechanisms using kinematic diagrams, including identification of links and joints. They will also learn to use Gruebler's equation to calculate the mobility or number of degrees of freedom of linkages based on the kinematic diagram. Students will also become familiar with real mechanism applications in the context of mechanism synthesis, where they will learn to determine the required dimensions of a mechanism for a specific application. Students will apply these dimensional synthesis methods in a design project which includes building a simple linkage prototype. They will learn kinematic analysis methods, i.e., analysis of position, velocity, and acceleration of planar linkages. These methods consist of graphical, algebraic, and complex number approaches. Students will also learn to use commercial software packages, e.g. Working Model, to predict position, velocity, and acceleration of planar linkages, and will compare their predictions to those using analytical approaches. Finally, students will learn to do dynamic force analysis of planar linkages to predict joint forces and motor torques. They will use commercial software packages to predict joint forces and motor torques of planar linkages, and will compare their predictions to those using analytical approaches.