A Simple Analytical Method for Teaching Force Analysis of Planar Frictionless Mechanisms

Abstract

A purely analytical method for teaching force analysis of one degree-of-freedom planar frictionless mechanisms has been developed herein. The method uses the vectorial illustration of mechanisms, which is widely used for kinematic analysis of mechanisms too. In this method, a joint-force is determined either via its decomposition into the direction of its adjacent links or from the equilibrium equations of one of these links. Unlike the conventional analytical method which leads to a system of simultaneous equations, this method leads to only one simple algebraic-equation or one simple vectorial-equation at a time. Force analysis of planar mechanisms has always been tedious and time consuming but this method has proved to be simple, straightforward and quick. It is therefore a most suitable tool for teaching mechanisms as it downgrades the project-type problems to the level of classroom tutorials.