REPORT

EXPERIMENT 3

KINEMATICS AND KINERICS OF MACHINES

Aim:

The purpose of this lab report is to determine the angles relationship both the input and output
angles of a 4-bar mechanism by write down the changes of each angles increment for a complete
cycle of the input crank and then compare its value with the analytical displacement equation. An
additional function is to investigate the velocity and acceleration of a point on the coupler at a
certain arrangement of the mechanism by graphically and also compare it to get by using the
velocity polygon and numerical approximation methods for the velocity and acceleration
respectively.

Introduction:

In this experiment we use 4-bar planar, which is consists of four links connected in a loop by four
revolute joint. Further, the joints are arranged in such a way that the links move in parallel planes
and assembly is called 4-bar planar linkages. But in this experiment the dimensions of the kinematics
properties of the mechanic acquire by the actual value for different quantities from the device.

This 4-bar planar linkage are most important mechanism found in machines. These machines are
widely and in today’s industry in many applications such as automobile, tools industry, packaging
and in consumer products. Let’s take an example of car steering. In this mechanism the input and
output links hold to functional relationship to allow the both wheels focus on the mechanism to
determine the angular relationship of the given dimensions of the machines.

In addition to it, we will determine the velocity and acceleration of the coupler point at the given
position and plot the path of a point in the coupler for numerical calculation for a small displacement
will be calibrated in order to find the velocity and acceleration. Further, the mechanism is drive by
hand not a motor to obtain rational such that crank in equal time interval to each equal angular
incremental of the mechanism.

Apparatus:

Firstly, setup the apparatus on the table, 4-bar planar has four main components which include
grounds, crank, coupler of the input and rocker. Whereas, a coupler link holds a pen to trace the
couple path or curve. Secondly, the ground linkage is connected to the crank and rocker. On the
other hand, tow protractors were connected to the joints of the crank of the input and output links
in order to read the input and output angles. Thirdly, a pen is fixed to the coupler link to trace the
path of a point in the lab notes ( a= 150mm, b= 290mm, c= 270mm, d= 300mm). Further, the
position of the slot in the coupler is consistent between A and B with a length of 150mm also the
distance between the centre of the slot and the line AB is 80mm given.

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Below is the diagram of the 4-bar planer mechanism.

R1 cosθ−R2 cos ∅ + R3=cos (θ−∅)

Where,

d d a2 +c 2+ d 2+ b2
R1= , R2= , R=
c a 2 ac

And the link lengths are a, b, c and d.

If the link lengths are know then the position of points A, B and C can be calculated in terms of the
angles θ and ∅ and the velocities and accelerations can be determined by differentiating the
resulting displacement equations of these points with respect to time.

Method and materials required:

1- To perform this lab experiment we required various equipment such as 2 protractor, 2 A3

sheet, A pen and scale or ruler to measure the displacement.
2- For experiment A1 setup the input angles Q at 0 then read the output angle Q from the
protractor.
3- Read the output angle for the increment of input angle Q 10 for complete cycle from input
angle 0 to 360 and then compared to the values found by substituting the values of Q into
equation 1.

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 4- Now setup the input angle Q at 30 as the nominal calibration of the mechanism. Put a piece
of paper A3 sheet to the frame under the coupler link in accordance to trace the movement
of the coupler like holding pen while drive.
5- Trace the coupler curve or path for 2 increments of 5 the input angle on rather side of the
nominal position and mark pen each increment on the coupler curve.
6- Further, measure the length of each increment with ruler. Therefore, this approximation of
the increment displacement for every step of the input link can be used as approximation of
the velocity given by ( V = ∆s/∆t).
7- To find polynomial approximation we need to measure the X and Y component of the
displacement for each step from an arbitrary origin.
8- Now again follow the steps 3,4,5,6 and 7 foe two calibration Q values 30, 130, 210 of the
mechanism.
9- To determine the linear velocity and acceleration of the point on the coupler for each
configuration of 4-bar planar the same method will be used as for experiment A1.

Background:

To determine the velocity between adjacent configurations where the displacement is recorded can
be carried out by using a finite difference method as given below:

V = ∆s/∆t

Where ∆s is the displacement of the coupler for one increment of the input link.

∆t is the time for the input line to move one increment and ∆t = 1 sec.

For obtaining acceleration

A = ∆v/∆t

Therefore, the above formulas used to calculate the velocity and acceleration. Further, to calculate
more accurate value of acceleration and velocity a polynomial method will be used. For example if a
polynomial of degree four is passed through five evenly. For example if a polynomial of degree four
is passed through five evenly spaced data points (xn-2, xn-1, xn, xn+1, and xn+2 ) and then
differentiated, the velocity at the central data point is given by

Velocity:

V n=( X n−2 −8 xn −1 +8 x n+1 −xn +2)/12 ∆ t

Acceleration:

( −x n−2+16 x −30 x n+16 x n+ 1−x n+ 2 )

a n=
n−1

2
12( ∆t )

X is the distance from the nominal position along the coupler curve.

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Calculation:

Form experiment A1 the calculation for theoretical angle output and error is obtained as follow:

A = 150mm

B = 290mm

C = 270mm

D = 380mm

R1 cosθ−R2 cos ∅ + R3=cos (θ−∅)

d
R 1= = 380/270 = 1.4074mm
c

d
R 2= = 380/ 150 = 2.5333mm
a

( a2+ c 2+ d 2−b2 ) (150 2+270 2+380 2−2902)

R 3= = =1.9222 mm
2 ac 2∗150∗270

A=sin θ = sin10 = 0.1736

B=R2 +cos θ = 2.533 + cos10 = 3.5181

C=R3 + R1 cos θ=1.9222+1.4074 cos 10=3.3078

U =¿

U
∅=cos−1 (
C
)+ ᵟ

∅=cos−1 ( 3.3078
3.522 )
+ 2.824 = 22.92 degree

Below is the table for theoretically value of angle output from input 0 to 360 and with error:

Input Output(∅ ) Theoretically value(∅ ) Error

0 19.5 19.561 -0.06107
10 22.5 22.919 -0.41919
20 27 27.234 -0.23446
30 32 32.286 -0.28658
40 37.9 37.832 0.067769
50 43.5 43.658 -0.158541
60 49.7 49.592 0.107486
70 55 55.490 -0.490075

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 80 61 61.655 -0.221074
90 66 66.655 -0.655330
100 71.5 71.650 -0.150095
110 75.5 76.038 -0.538251
120 79.5 79.617 -0.117314
130 82.5 82.141 0.158397
140 84 83.324 0.675269
150 82.5 82.867 -0.367557
160 80.1 80.533 -0.433514
170 76.5 76.279 0.22022
180 70 70.390 -0.390731
190 63 63.483 -0.483191
200 56 56.307 -0.3078613
210 49.5 49.481 0.0188006
220 42.5 43.350 -0.850665
230 37.5 38.026 -0.526263
240 33 33.477 -0.477633
250 29 29.616 -0.616403
260 25.5 26.343 -0.843944
270 23 23.573 -0.573379
280 20.5 21.238 -0.738006
290 19 19.294 -0.294315
300 17.5 17.724 -0.224119
310 16 16.538 -0.538314
320 15.5 15.783 -0.283589
330 15 15.551 -0.551703
340 15 15.985 -0.985870
350 17.5 17.267 0.2322245
360 19.5 19.561 -0.061077

Calculation for velocities and acceleration by using a finite difference method numerical
approximation method for each of the 3 values of the ∅ given 30,130 and 210 degree.

To calculate velocity:

V =∆ s / ∆ t

To calculate acceleration:

a=∆ v /∆ t

Number Input (∅ ) T (sec ) ∆s (cm) Velocity (m/s) Acceleration

(m/ s2)
1 20-25 1 1.2 1.2 0.05
2 25-30 1 1.25 1.25 0.15
3 30-35 1 1.4 1.4 0.2
4 Average 1.2833333 0.1333333

Numerical approximation method:

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In this method the motion of the coupler point moves in both x and y direction. Therefore, we need
to apply the formula in equation (1) and (2) tow time, once for x-direction and once for y-direction.

To calculate velocity:

V =sqtr (x 2n+ y 2n)

Therefore

x n=(x ¿ ¿ n−2−8 x n−1 +8 x n+1−x n +2)/12 ∆ t ¿

Y n=( y ¿ ¿ n−2−8 y n−1 +8 y n+1 − y n+2 )/12 ∆ t ¿

To calculate acceleration:

x n=(−x ¿ ¿ n−2−16 x n−1−30 x n +16 x n+1−x n +2)/ 12 ∆ t ¿

Y n=(− y ¿ ¿ n−2−16 y n−1−30 y n +16 y n +1− y n+2 )/12 ∆ t ¿

For angle 30 degree: (Velocity)

x n=(x ¿ ¿ n−2−8 x n−1 +8 x n+1−x n +2)/12 ∆ t ¿

( 212−8∗219+8∗234−240 )
x n= 7.66 mm /s
12∗1

Y n=( y ¿ ¿ n−2−8 y n−1 +8 y n+1 − y n+2 )/12 ∆ t ¿

( 162−8∗152+8∗130−119 )
Y n= =11.08 mm /s
12∗1

V c =7.66 2+11.08 2=1.34 cm/ s

For angle 30 degree: (acceleration)

x n=(−x ¿ ¿ n−2−16 x n−1−30 x n +16 x n+1−x n +2)/ 12 ∆ t ¿

(−212+16∗219−30∗228+16∗234−240 )
x n= =3.66 mm/ s
12∗12

Y n=(− y ¿ ¿ n−2−16 y n−1−30 y n +16 y n +1− y n+2 )/12 ∆ t ¿

(−162+16∗152−30∗141+16∗130−119 )
Y n= =0.083 mm/s
12∗12

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Similarly, velocities and accelerations is obtained from the above formulas and recorded in the table
below for angle 30,130 and 210 degrees.

Number Input angle Polygon method Numerical approximation

method
Degree Velocity (m/s) Acceleration Velocity (m/s) Acceleration
(m/s^2) (m/s^2)
1 30 1.283 0.133 1.34 0.366
2 130 0.5 0.06 0.5 0.361
3 210 1.5 0.2 1.69 0.21

Graph for velocities obtained by both method polygon and numerical approximation method.

1.8

1.6

1.4

1.2
Velocity (m/s)

1 Polygon method Velocity (m/s)

Numerical approximation
0.8 method Velocity (m/s)
0.6

0.4

0.2

0
1 2 3

Discussion:

For objective (1), the output angle and the theoretically angle obtained from the 4-bar planar
mechanism for input angle 0 to 360 is very similar to each other. Hence, the error we got is very
small. For objective (2), we obtained the velocities and acceleration by using both polygon and
numerical approximation method. From the above graph we compares the velocities obtain by both
the method. It is clear from the graph that velocities determine by both the methods are very close
to each other. There are several possible factor that influence the error of this experiment such as :

1- The table on which the apparatus is setup was not stable or balanced. The proper calibration
can be carried by do not lean on the table.
2- Human error, when taken the value of input and output angle on the protractor of the
mechanism a parallax error is observed. The eye of the observer’s is not perpendicular to the
scale.

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 3- The coupler point does not hold properly the pen to trace the path while it drives which
affect the displacement of the path when measure.
4- The 4-bar planar mechanism need to be calibrated to required accurate result. Because the
calibration may variation over a period. Therefore, repeated calibration to be done time to
get highest level of accuracy.

Conclusion:

The objectives of this experiment are to determine the relationship between input and output angle
theoretically and practically for values angle 0 to 360. And also investigate graphically velocities and
accelerations obtained by both polygon and numerical approximation. Hence this lab experiment
gives the depth knowledge to design a 4-bar linkages and it’s working for practical in the industry.

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