Working Model Tutorial #1

INTRODUCTION
Setting Up the Workspace
Working Model provides several tools to make it easier to create and position simulations. These tools are located on the Workspace submenu of the View menu. X, Y Axes, Grid Lines, and Rules are aids that intersect at (0,0), the origin of the axes. Grid Lines are dotted lines that are spaced at equal intervals on the screen. Rules appear at the left edge and bottom of the workspace.

Defining workspace settings

Turn the drawing axes, grid, and rules on now. Select View menu, Workspace, a box will appear. Check the boxes for: o X, Y Axes. o Grid Lines. o Rulers. Then close the box. Note: These instructions assume that you have just installed Working Model. If you have changed your workspace settings before, or if someone else may have used your Working Model, refer to Figure 1., which shows all the settings that should be on (have a check mark to the left of them) under View menu, Workspace box.

Figure 1. Workspace window. The ruler is numbered at every meter. The smaller hash marks represent 0.1-meter intervals. The grid line appears at 1-meter intervals.

Grid snap
Accurate placement of objects in Working Model is difficult without the use of special drawing aids. The Grid Snap feature allows you to accurately align objects to the grid. Grid Snap is located on the View menu; a check mark to its left indicates that it is activated. If it is not already on, turn Grid Snap on now.

Object snap
Object snap allows the user to accurately place points, motors, actuators and etc to specific points on the workspace rectangles, circles, and polygons. The object snap will appear as an x on by the cursor. When the x appears then the object will be accurately placed at that point.

Objectives
In this tutorial you will learn to: Reshape polygons Use the Smart Editor. Use the Slot tools. Rotate objects Kinematic analysis of the four-bar linkage. Coupler points and curves Kinematic analysis of the slider-crank linkage

Design principles related to this tutorial

Problem Statement
A vast number of machines are created from only three basic kinematic linkages: the four-bar, the slider-crank, and the double-slider crank. Steering mechanisms in vehicles, windshield wiper systems, and lawn sprinklers are only a few examples of mechanisms that can be created from four-bar linkages. Slider-crank linkages are used in the design of internal combustion engines and air compressors. Figure 2. shows schematics of the four-bar and the slider-crank linkages, and the dimensions to be used for this tutorial. You will create Working Model simulations for both types using the dimensions shown in the figure as follows: Create the four-bar linkage using an input angular velocity of AB = 2 rps counterclockwise. Show the path of point C as this mechanism moves, and output a graph of the coordinates of this path. Also, show a graph of the ratio of output angular velocity to input angular velocity (DE /AB). Create a slider-crank linkage using the same input angular velocity, AB. Show graphs of the position, Velocity, and acceleration of slider D as functions of time. Rotate the path of the slider 45 clockwise, and show the resulting position, velocity, and acceleration of the slider. All sliders are 0.4 m x 0.6 m

Figure 2. Example description.

Creating the Components

Open a new, untitled Working Model window, with the default workspace you have used in each tutorial. The unit system and the accuracy mode should be the Working Model defaults, SI (degrees) and Accurate. You will start by creating the four-bar linkage. Create two rectangles with the following dimensions: 1. 2. height = 0.1 m; height = 0.1 m; width = 1 m width = 2 m

These rectangles represent bars AB and DE. Use the Polygon tool to create an isosceles triangle with base = 2 m and height = 1 m. Its lower-left vertex should be located at (-1, -2). Move the lower-left-hand corner of the smaller rectangle to the origin. Place a motor near the origin end of the smaller rectangle.

Note: You may need to turn off Grid Snap to place the motor on the bar. Remember to turn it back on when you have finished.

Figure 3. Workspace at this point. Open the Properties window for the motor.

The Properties window indicates the identities of the two points associated with the motor. In this case it shows that the base point is Point [5] and the motor point is Point [6], as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Properties window of Motor. Change the value of the motor's velocity to 720/s (2 rps). Look at the Properties window for the base point of the motor. Change the x, y coordinates of the base point to (0,0).

Your bar and motor will move slightly in the

Reshaping Polygons
You can change the shape of a polygon after it has been created using the Reshape option from the Edit menu. You will use it to relocate the triangle's top vertex to create the shape shown in Figure 2. Select the triangle. Select Edit menu, Reshape.

Your cursor symbol changes so that it looks like a small box with crosshairs through it. Click and drag on the top vertex to move it 0.5 m to the right. Note: Your coordinates display will show x= 0.5, y= 0.0 when you have dragged the vertex to the correct position. Select Edit menu, Reshape to turn off reshaping. Open the Geometry window for the triangle.

Examine the vertices at the bottom of the Geometry window shown in Figure 5. Make sure that your global coordinates are located as indicated in Figure 5. (The coordinates in your window may be lined up with different vertex numbers, depending on which point you selected first, second, and third.) You can change the coordinates here numerically, if you did not locate them precisely. Similarly, you can add vertices to (or delete them from) your polygon. To add a vertex using the Geometry window, select the polygon, select a vertex that will be next to the new vertex, and click the Insert button. A duplicate vertex is created in the vertex list. The new vertex will move when you edit

the coordinates of the duplicate vertex to create a geometrically distinct point. Similarly, you can delete a vertex in the Geometry window by selecting the polygon, selecting the vertex to be deleted, and clicking the Delete button in the Geometry window. You can also add a vertex using the Reshape option. After selecting Edit menu, Reshape, click on the desired side of the polygon (not at an existing vertex), and drag the new vertex to the desired location. To delete a vertex using the Reshape option, select Edit menu, Reshape, click on the desired vertex, and select Edit menu, Clear. Remember to turn off reshaping each time you are finished editing a polygon. Experiment with adding and deleting vertices on your own if you like. Note: A polygon must have at least three vertices; therefore you must add a vertex to your triangle before experimenting with deleting vertices now.

Figure 5 Geometry window of Body (4)-Polygon. Use the Point element tool to place points near the two ends of the long bar, at the non-motor end of the short bar, and near the corners of the triangle. Select all of the points located on the bars.

Figure 6 Workspace after adjusting the Geometry window.

Join the point on the short bar to the lower- left point on the triangle. This can be done by following the three steps below. 1. Select the point on bar AB that is opposite of the motor. 2. While depressing the shift key select the lower-left point on the triangle. 3. When both points are selected left the shift key up and then click the join button.

Figure 7 The final result should be similar after attach bodies the together.

Join the point on the triangle that is now the lowest point on your screen to either of the points on the long bar. Place a point on the background at (2.0,0.0).

Figure 8 Workspace after all bodies attached. Join this background point to the unattached point on the long bar.

Figure 9 Workspace with two fixed points.

Using the Smart Editor

The Working Model Smart Editor allows you to manipulate objects and constraints while preserving the fundamental relationships that exist among them. "Manipulate" in this con- text has three possible meanings: 1. 2. 3. Dragging or rotating Using the Join or Split tools Typing values into the Properties window

The Smart Editor prevents a mechanism from disintegrating when you move its components around. Instead, other components are moved or rotated (subject to their own constraints) until the desired move is accomplished. The Smart Editor is designed to follow the click- and-drag paradigm as much as possible. If a drag or rotation is inconsistent with a constraint, a compromise between the constraint and the drag is reached, but the constraint is always respected. When the Lock Points option is in effect, it is impossible to drag the joints or endpoints of other constraints. The rules that the Smart Editor uses in moving objects in the workspace are simple, consistent, and intuitive. The easiest way to understand the Smart Editor is to play with it. The following rules may help you to under- stand what you can and cannot do with the Smart Editor. Rule #1: You cannot break a constraint during editing. Rule #2: Endpoints of constraints (e.g., joints) cannot move on the objects they are attached to during editing. Rule #3: If you simultaneously select a collection of objects, a drag or rotate operation treats them as a rigid unit, so that no alteration in their relative positions or relative rotations occurs. Rule #4: Collisions are ignored during editing. Rule #5: No joint rotates unless some constraint forces it to do so during editing. If you try to perform an action that makes it impossible to satisfy all of the problem constraints, a warning box appears, informing you that Working Model cannot assemble the simulation, given the input requirements. Often, using the Split tool will enable you to edit the simulation as necessary. You will learn more about the Split tool in this tutorial. Click and drag to move the joined objects until your workspace looks like the four-bar linkage illustrated in Figure 2.

Tip If you find it impossible to arrange your elements as they appear in Figure 2, select your joints and use the Split tool; it will enable you to move the pieces, as shown in Figure 10, to the approximate places that you want them to be. Then reselect the points of the joints and use Join to reconnect them, as shown in Figure 11. You can then click and drag on the short bar, as needed, to rotate it into approximately its position in Figure 2.

Figure 10 Enabled pieces to move.

Figure 11 The reconnected pieces.

Use the Appearance window to label points (or constraints) A through E as shown in Figure 12. (Use a selection rectangle as needed to select points without moving them. If you inadvertently move a point, select Edit Menu, Undo.) Select all objects and turn off Track center of mass, Track connect, and Track outline in the Appearance window. Turn on Track connect for the path of point C only. Create an output meter with digital display that shows the x and y graph positions of point C.

Now you will add a meter that shows the ratio of the angular velocity of the long bar (called the rocker) to the input angular velocity of the short bar (called the crank). You will start by adding a velocity meter for the rotation (angular velocity), then modify the angular velocity variable to represent DE /AB. Note: Working Model does not have a character available, so you will use a V to represent angular velocity in your label.

Figure 12 With the addition of the Position graph of Point C and Velocity Ratio. For a review of entering a formula in a meter's Properties window. Create a rotation graph velocity output meter for bar DE in graph display. Modify the label and the formula for the velocity meter so that the graph represents DE/ = mass [2].p.r/mass [1].p.r Label this meter Velocity Ratio, and change the color for the DE/ AB curve to red.

Your workspace should look like Figure 12 when you are done.

Running the Simulation

Run the simulation through two complete rotations of the crank. Click Reset.

The curve drawn by connecting the track of point C is shown in Figure 13.

Figure 13 The path of point C is tracked in the window above.

Link to Design
The body that connects the crank to the rocker is called the coupler (in the present case it is a triangle), and a selected point on the coupler (in this case, the top point on the triangle, point C) is called the coupler point. The curve drawn by the track of the coupler point, shown in Figure 13, is very often used as a design curve for mechanisms; it is called the coupler curve. For example, if you want a straight-line output motion, you would try to select dimensions for the mechanism so that a portion of the coupler curve would be a straight line. In this problem, a portion of the curve does look like a straight line. If desired, you could export the coupler curve data to a spreadsheet, or to another program. This completes the four'-bar linkage portion of the simulation. Save this simulation as 4BAR

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Creating the Slider-Crank Linkage

You will use this same simulation to develop the slider-crank linkage. Use Save As to save the simulation again as SLCR

You will now change this four-bar simulation into a slider-crank simulation. Because the Working Model Smart Editor remembers all the previous joints formed in your simulation, you need to delete all the pins; you want to keep only the two bars and the motor from the four-bar linkage. Select the two meters and the triangle. Clear the selection.

The remaining pins, B, D, and E, are now attached to the background. Select pins B, D, and E, and point C. Clear the selection.

Your workspace should look similar to Figure 14. If you have made a mistake, select Edit menu, Undo, and try again.

Figure 14 Workspace with two links attached to ground. Create a rectangle 0.4 m high x 0.6 m wide. Use the Point tool and the Properties window to place points at the three free ends of the bars where they were before. Place a point at the center of the new rectangle.

These new points will be able to create new joints; they are not hampered by old Working Model constraints. Be sure the points are located on the bars (they should look like circles) and not the background (they would appear to have a triangular base). Your work- space should look like Figure 15.

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Figure 15 Workspace with the addition of the rectangle and point. Join the point on the short bar to a point on the long bar.

Using the Slots Tools

You create slots using the Slot icon on the tool bar in the left-hand column above the Join button. If you click and hold down on the Slot icon, you will see four different Slot tools: horizontal, vertical, curved, and closed curved. In this tutorial, you will use the horizontal slot. Click on the horizontal Slot icon on the tool bar (in the left-hand column above the Join button). To create a horizontal slot, click at x = 1.0 m, y= -0.5 m.

Your workspace should look like Figure 16.

Figure 16 Addition of slider bar With the slot already selected, hold down the Shift key and select the point on the slider rectangle.

Join them. Your workspace should look something like Figure 17.

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Figure 17 Rectangle placed on slider bar. To connect another object on top of an already existing joint you need another free point that it can be joined to. You want to connect the long bar to the slider rectangle as well, so you will place another point at the center of the slider rectangle. Place another point precisely at the center of the slider rectangle. Join this new point with the point at the free end of the long bar. Click and drag on the crank until the work- space looks like the slider-crank linkage in Figure 2, using Split and Join if necessary. Label the point connecting the two bars B, and the slider rectangle D. Open a P-V-A meter for the x component of the slider rectangle in graph display. Name and position the meter appropriately, turn on the grid for the meter, and size the meter so that it will be large enough to look at the movements of the slider in detail.

Your workspace should look like Figure 18. The time scale for the meter will be smaller than that shown in the figure until you run the simulation, unless you adjust the maximum value for time, x, in the meter's Properties window.

Running the Simulation

Turn Tracking off using the World menu. Run the simulation through approximately four cycles of the crank rotation. Click Reset. Save SLCR

Link to Design
Note that the position or displacement graph in Figure 11.19 looks something like a sine wave; it is, in fact, close to a sine wave (simple harmonic motion), and gets closer as the length of the connecting rod (the longer bar) is increased. The velocity and acceleration curves are the first and second derivatives of the displacement curves. The curves of the graph may be drawn to different scales. You can use the Properties window to set the y values for each curve equal to one another. This will give you a more accurate, easy-to-read graph. To examine the actual numbers in detail, you can export the data to a spreadsheet.

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Figure 18 Graphical representation of the position, velocity, and acceleration.

Figure 19 Active running of slider-crank system. You will now use this simulation to experiment with rotating objects. Use Save As to save your simulation as SLCR2

Rotating Objects
There are two ways in which you can rotate objects: you can use the Properties window or the Rotate tool. You will now rotate the horizontal slot using the Properties window. Open the Properties window for the slot. Change the angle to -45. Close the Properties window.

Your workspace should look similar to Figure 20.

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Figure 20 slider-crank system at 45 degrees. Run the simulation again. Click Reset.

Although there is now a y component to the position, velocity, and acceleration of the slider, the curves in Figure 11.22 represent only the x component, which is considerably less than when the slot was horizontal. To represent the total displacement, experiment with changing the equation in the position output meter or simply open another output meter for the total position of the slider.

Figure 21 While system is in active mode. You can also execute rotations using the Rotate icon. The Rotate tool allows you to rotate selected objects about a given point. The point chosen to be "rotated about" is the base point. The base point can be any point in the workspace, e.g., a pin joint or a center of mass. You use the Rotate tool first to select objects for rotation, then use it again for the actual rotation operation. After you select the Rotate tool, select the object(s) you wish to rotate. When you do, a line snaps from the pointer to the closest possible rotation point in the workspace. This is the base point about which the object will rotate. Clicking close to the point on the object about which you wish to rotate it is most efficient. You then drag the object to rotate it. Rotating is another function of the Smart Editor. As in the case of moving objects, rotating an object that is connected to other objects by constraints may cause these other objects to rotate, or move in some way, as well. You will now rotate the slider using the Rotate tool. Click on the Rotate icon on the tool bar (to the left of Arrow). Move the cursor over objects in the work- space.

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A dotted line appears between the cursor arrow and the nearest base point. Click and drag on slider D to rotate it.

Your workspace should look similar to Figure 22.

Figure 22 Rotated slider. In some cases you may want to rotate the selection about a point that is not closest to the pointer. It is possible to fix a base point for rotation, rather than using the nearest default base point. You can do this by selecting a base point with the Rotate tool and holding down the .ii Ctrl key or Command key while moving the mouse to whatever object you want to rotate about the chosen base point. The base point must still be a joint or a mass center; you cannot rotate an object about a random point on an object or the background. By selecting a group of objects, you can rotate them all together with the Rotate tool. Click on the Arrow icon to deselect Rotate. Save SLCR2 and exit Working Model.

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