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Chapter2.MechanismsandSimpleMachines

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RapidDesignthroughVirtualandPhysical
Prototyping
CarnegieMellonUniversity

IntroductiontoMechanisms
YiZhang
with
SusanFinger
StephannieBehrens

TableofContents

2MechanismsandSimpleMachines
Mechanism:thefundamentalphysicalorchemicalprocessesinvolvedinorresponsibleforanaction,reactionorother
naturalphenomenon.
Machine:anassemblageofpartsthattransmitforces,motionandenergyinapredeterminedmanner.
SimpleMachine:anyofvariouselementarymechanismshavingtheelementsofwhichallmachinesarecomposed.
Includedinthiscategoryarethelever,wheelandaxle,pulley,inclinedplane,wedgeandthescrew.
Thewordmechanismhasmanymeanings.Inkinematics,amechanismisameansoftransmitting,controlling,or
constrainingrelativemovement(Hunt78).Movementswhichareelectrically,magnetically,pneumaticallyoperatedare
excludedfromtheconceptofmechanism.Thecentralthemeformechanismsisrigidbodiesconnectedtogetherbyjoints.
Amachineisacombinationofrigidorresistantbodies,formedandconnectedsothattheymovewithdefiniterelative
motionsandtransmitforcefromthesourceofpowertotheresistancetobeovercome.Amachinehastwofunctions:
transmittingdefiniterelativemotionandtransmittingforce.Thesefunctionsrequirestrengthandrigiditytotransmitthe
forces.
Thetermmechanismisappliedtothecombinationofgeometricalbodieswhichconstituteamachineorpartofamachine.
Amechanismmaythereforebedefinedasacombinationofrigidorresistantbodies,formedandconnectedsothatthey
movewithdefiniterelativemotionswithrespecttooneanother(Hametal.58).
Althoughatrulyrigidbodydoesnotexist,manyengineeringcomponentsarerigidbecausetheirdeformationsand
distortionsarenegligibleincomparisonwiththeirrelativemovements.
Thesimilaritybetweenmachinesandmechanismsisthat
theyarebothcombinationsofrigidbodies
therelativemotionamongtherigidbodiesaredefinite.
Thedifferencebetweenmachineandmechanismisthatmachinestransformenergytodowork,whilemechanismssonot
necessarilyperformthisfunction.Thetermmachinerygenerallymeansmachinesandmechanisms.Figure21showsa
pictureofthemainpartofadieselengine.Themechanismofitscylinderlinkcrankpartsisaslidercrankmechanism,as
showninFigure22.

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Figure21Crosssectionofapowercylinderinadieselengine

Figure22Skeletonoutline

2.1TheInclinedPlane
Figure23ashowsaninclinedplane,ABisthebase,BCistheheightandACtheinclinedplane.Withtheuseofthe
inclinedplaneagivenresistancecanbeovercomewithasmallerforcethaniftheplaneisnotused.Forexample,inFigure
23b,supposewewishtoraiseaweightof1000lb.throughtheverticaldistanceBC=2ft.Ifthisweightwereraised
verticallyandwithouttheuseoftheinclinedplanetheforce1000lb.wouldhavetobeexertedthroughthedistanceBC.If,
however,theinclinedplaneisusedandtheweightismovedoveritsinclinedplaneAC,aforceofonly2/3of1000lb.or
667lb.isnecessary,althoughthisforceisexertedthroughadistanceACwhichisgreaterthandistanceBC.

Figure23Inclinedplane
Usinganinclinedplanerequiresasmallerforceexertedthroughagreaterdistancetodoacertainamountofwork.
LettingFrepresenttheforcerequiredtoraiseagivenweightontheinclinedplane,andWtheweighttoberaised,wehave
theproportion:

(21)
2.1.1ScrewJack
Oneofthemostcommonapplicationoftheprincipleoftheinclinedplaneisinthescrewjackwhichisusedtoovercomea
heavypressureorraiseaheavyweightofWbyamuchsmallerforceFappliedatthehandle.Rrepresentsthelengthofthe
handleandPthepitchofthescrew,orthedistanceadvancesinonecompleteturn.

Figure24Thescrewjack
Neglectingthefrictionthefollowingruleisused:TheforceFmultipliedbythedistancethroughwhichitmovesinone
completeturnisequaltotheweightliftedtimesthedistancethroughwhichitisliftedinthesametime.Inonecompleteturn
theendofthehandledescribesacircleofcircumference2 R.ThisisthedistancethroughwhichtheforceFisexerted.
Thereforefromtheruleabove
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(22)
and

(23)
SupposeRequals18in.,Pequals1/8in.andtheweighttobeliftedequals100,000lb.,thentheforcerequiredatFisthen
110lb.Thismeansthat,neglectingfriction,110lb.atFwillraise100,000lb.atW,buttheweightliftedmovesmuchslower
thantheforceappliedatF.

2.2Gears
Agear,ortoothedwheel,wheninoperation,mayactuallybeconsideredasaleverwiththeadditionalfeaturethatitcanbe
rotatedcontinuously,insteadofrockingbackandforththroughashortdistance.Oneofthebasicrelationshipsforagearis
thenumberofteeth,thediameter,andtherotaryvelocityofgears.Figure25showstheendsoftwoshaftsAandB
connectedby2gearsof24and48teethrespectively.Noticethatthelargergearwillmakeonlyonehalfturnwhilethe
smallermakesacompleteturn.Thatis,theratioofspeeds(velocityratio)ofthelargetothesmallerisas1to2.

Figure25Gears
Thegearthatisclosertothesourceofpoweriscalledthedriver,andthegearthatreceivespowerfromthedriveriscalled
thedrivengear.
2.2.1GearTrains
Ageartrainmayhaveseveraldriversandseveraldrivengears.

Figure26Geartrain
WhengearAturnsonceclockwise,gearBturns4timescounterclockwiseandgearCturnsonceclockwise.HencegearB
doesnotchangethespeedofCfromwhatitwouldhavebeenifgeareddirectlytogearA,butitchangesitsdirectionfrom
counterclockwisetoclockwise.
Thevelocityratioofthefirstandlastgearsinatrainofsimplegearsdosenotchangedbyputtinganynumberofgears
betweenthem.
Figure27showscompoundgearsinwhichtwogearsareonthemiddleshaft.GearsBandDrotateatthesamespeedsince
theyarekeyed(fixed)tothesameshaft.Thenumberofteethoneachgearisgiveninthefigure.Giventhesenumbers,if
gearArotatesat100r.p.m.clockwise,gearBturns400r.p.m.(rotationsperminute)counterclockwiseandgearCturns
1200r.p.m.clockwise.

Figure27Compoundgears
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2.2.2GearRatios
Itisimportantwhenworkingwithgearstoknowwhatnumberofteeththegearsshouldhavesothattheycanmeshproperly
inageartrain.Thesizeoftheteethforconnectinggearsmustbematchproperly.

2.3BeltsandPulleys
Beltsandpulleysareanimportantpartofmostmachines.Pulleysarenothingbutgearswithoutteethandinsteadofrunning
togetherdirectlytheyaremadetodriveoneanotherbycords,ropes,cables,orbeltingofsomekinds.
Aswithgears,thevelocitiesofpulleysareinverselyproportionaltotheirdiameters.

Figure28Beltsandpulleys
Pulleyscanalsobearrangedasablockandtackle.

2.4Lever
2.5WheelandAxle
2.6Wedge
2.7EfficiencyofMachines
Inworkingouttheproblemsonlevers,beltsandpulleys,inclinedplanesandsoforth,wehavenottakenaccountoffriction
orothersourcesofenergyloss.Inotherwords,wehavesupposedthemtobeperfect,wheninfacttheyarenot.Tomeasure
theperformanceofamachine,weoftenfinditsefficiency,whichisdefinedas

(24)
where
=theefficiencyofamachine,
Win=theinputworktoamachine,and
Wout=theoutputworkofamachine.

TableofContents
CompleteTableofContents
1IntroductiontoMechanisms
2MechanismsandSimpleMachines
2.1TheInclinedPlane
2.1.1ScrewJack
2.2Gears
2.2.1GearTrains
2.2.2GearRatios
2.3BeltsandPulleys
2.4Lever
2.5Lever
2.6Wedge
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2.7EfficiencyofMachines
3MoreonMachinesandMechanisms
4BasicKinematicsofConstrainedRigidBodies
5PlanarLinkages
6Cams
7Gears
8OtherMechanisms
Index
References

sfinger@ri.cmu.edu

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