Analysing the natural resting aspect of a complex shaped part on a hard surface for automated parts feeding

Abstract

This paper presents a new approach to analysing the natural resting behaviour of a non-regular prism on a hard surface. The methods proposed by Boothroyd, Redford, Poli and Murch (1) involve the use of empirical factors. Considering the complex formulae and computations required, the authors have decided to employ the centroid solid angle concept to predict the natural resting behaviour of a part. The method presented here is the centroid angle concept, which assumes that the probability of any surface of the part coming to rest is directly proportional to the difference between the centroid solid angle of that aspect and the average of the critical solid angles of the neighbouring aspects and is inversely proportional to the height of the centre of gravity of that aspect. The results showed that the predicted data agreed well with the experimental data obtained by the authors. This is the first successful attempt to analyse the natural behaviour of complex shaped parts on a hard surface without resorting to empirical factors.