How to undestand mechanism

Overview of the Lesson The purpose of this lesson is to provide you with a brief overview on PTC
Creo Mechanism software tool or simply Mechanism. Mechanism is a virtual prototyping tool that
supports mechanism design and analysis, which is also called motion analysis in this book. Instead of
building and testing physical prototypes of the mechanism, you may use Mechanism software tool to
evaluate and refine the mechanism before finalizing the design and entering the functional
prototyping stage. Mechanism will help you analyze and eventually design better engineering
products. More specifically, the software enables you to size motors and actuators, determine
power consumption, layout linkages, develop cams, understand gear trains, size springs and
dampers, and determine interference between parts, which would usually require tests of physical
prototypes. With such information, you will gain insight on how the mechanism works and why it
behaves in certain ways. You will be able to modify the design and often achieve better design
alternatives using the more convenient and less expensive virtual prototypes. In the long run, using
virtual prototyping tools, such as Mechanism, will help you become a more experienced and
competent design engineer. In this lesson, we start with a brief introduction to Mechanism and the
types of physical problems that Mechanism is capable of solving. We will then discuss capabilities
offered by Mechanism for creating motion models, conducting motion analyses, and viewing motion
analysis results. In the last section, we will mention examples employed in this book and major
topics to learn from these examples. Note that materials presented in this lesson will be brief. More
details on various aspects of mechanism design and analysis using Mechanism will be given in later
lessons. 1.2 What is Mechanism? Mechanism is a computer software tool that supports engineers to
analyze and design mechanisms. Mechanism is a module of the PTC Creo product family developed
by Parametric Technology Corporation. This software supports users to create virtual mechanisms
that answer general questions in product design such as those described next. An internal
combustion engine shown in Figures 1-1 and 1-2 is used to illustrate some of the typical questions in
mechanism design. 1. Will the components of the mechanism collide in operation? For example, will
the connecting rod collide with the inner surface of the piston or the inner surface of the engine case
during operation? 2. Will the components in the mechanism you design move according to your
intent? For example, will the piston stay entirely in the piston sleeve? Will the system lock up when
the firing force aligns vertically with the connecting rod? 3. How fast will the components move; e.g.,
the longitudinal motion of the piston?

How much torque or force does it take to drive the mechanism? For example, what will be the
minimum firing load to move the piston? Note that in this case, proper friction forces must be added
to simulate the resistance of the mechanism before a realistic firing force can be calculated. 5. What
is the reaction force or torque generated at a connection (also called joint or constraint) between
components (or bodies) during motion? For example, what is the reaction force at the joint between
the connecting rod and the piston pin? This reaction force is critical since the structural integrity of
the piston pin and the connecting rod must be ensured; i.e., they must be strong and durable
enough to sustain the firing load in operation. The modeling and analysis capabilities in Mechanism
may help you answer these common questions accurately and realistically, as long as the motion
model is properly defined. The capabilities available in Mechanism also help you search for better
design alternatives. A better design alternative is very much problem dependent. It is critical that a
design problem be clearly defined by the designer up front before searching for better design
alternatives. For the engine example, a better design alternative can be a design that reveals: 1. A
smaller reaction force applied to the connecting rod, and 2. No collisions or interference between
components. In order to vary component sizes for exploring better design alternatives, the parts and
assembly must be adequately parameterized to capture design intents. At the parts level, design
parameterization implies creating solid features and relating dimensions properly. At the assembly
level, design parameterization involves defining assembly mates and relating dimensions across
parts. When a solid model is fully parameterized, a change in dimension value can be automatically
propagated to all parts affected. Parts affected must be rebuilt successfully, and at the same time,
they will have to maintain proper position and orientation with respect to one another without
violating any assembly mates or revealing part penetration or excessive gaps. For example, in this
engine example, a change in the bore diameter of the engine case will alter not only the geometry of
the case itself, but all other parts affected, such as the piston, piston sleeve, and even the
crankshaft, as illustrated in Figure 1-3. Moreover, they all have to be rebuilt properly and the entire
assembly must stay intact through assembly mates.