A computer-aided linkage analysis system

Abstract

A significant portion of mechanical engineering effort is spent in the kinematic analysis of mechanisms such as gears, cams, and linkages. Although linkages present a more complex problem of analysis than most other basic mechanisms, they are widely used because of their reliability, speed, and force-transmission properties. Engineers continuously seek improvements in existing linkages and devise linkages for new mechanical systems. Linkage analyses have traditionally been performed on the drafting board, but this process is difficult and time consuming, and complete analyses are not feasible for the more involved linkage systems encountered in practice.This paper describes an experimental tool for the analysis proposed two-or three-dimensional linkages. Called KAM (for Kinematic Analysis Method), the tool consists of a programmed system for the IBM 1620. Based on mathematical procedures due to Chace1the system can provide position, motion, and force analyses for a wide class of linkages. The user describes a proposed linkage to KAM in a language modeled after the APT Language.2 The language functions solely as a means of describing the connectivity of parts in a linkage; the action statements that request calculations are specified by other means. From a linkage description in KAM Language, the KAM program uses a storage-allocation technique described by Ross3 to form a tree-organized model of the linkage within computer memory.