Unit I: Design of Machine Elements

Session - 01
Introduction to Machine Design

Contents
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Basic Requirements 3
1.3 General Design Procedure for Machine Component 8
Aim 11
Learning Outcomes 11

1.1 Introduction

In designing any item, may it be a single item by itself, like a crow bar or
may it be a part of a machine, like a bearing we expect it to give a certain
standard of performance, when it is used in service. Take a simple example
of crow bar, which is used as a lever to lift a load. We expect that the bar
should not break or bend while the load is being lifted. Similarly in the case
of a hammer, we expect that the handle should not fracture or should not get
pulled out from the head while hammering. Further, the head of the hammer
should withstand the blow without chipping out or flaring.

Activity: 01 Now we will try to highlight what special design features we

should expect in the following instances.
1. A fixing screw in an electric toggle switch.
2. Sprocket wheel in your bicycle.
3. A cable used in a lifting crane.
4. A member of a roof truss.
5. A gear wheel.
6. Vee belt used to drive the fan and the alternator in an
automobile.
7. Rear spring (leaf) of a motor car.
8. Wall of a pressure vessel containing steam.
9. Front cell of a car.
10. Cock pit of an air craft.

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 Session 01: Introduction to Machine Design

Answer:
1. Fixing screws of an electric toggle switch are used to fix in position
the cover of the switch onto the base. Hence a screw should
be of such sufficient length to pass through the cover and to be
located in the base. The slot in the head should not get damaged
while fixing or removing with a screw driver. The screw head
should rest in a counter sunk hole flush with the surface of the
switch cover, and as such not in the way of the fingers during
operation.
2. The sprocket wheel should consist of teeth which are strong enough
to withstand the driving force, without shearing or bending. Also the
surface of the teeth should be hard enough to resist abrasive wear
due to rubbing against the chain.
3. A cable has to withstand the tension due to load and acceleration of
the load. It should not give way or set elongation. Further, the cable
should withstand impact due to shock loads.
The cable runs over a pulley block. Hence the cable has to be
flexible enough to go round the pulleys and also should be wear
resistant to avoid wear due to abrasion against the pul1ey surfaces.
4. A member of a roof truss may be in tension or compression,
depending on the position and the loading system. Once the mode of
loading is analyzed, the member should be designed to suit the
requirement. If the member is in tension it should not yield or be
subjected to any elongation that would result in a permanent set. If in
compression it should not buckle.
Roof truss members have to be fabricated out of ductile materials
like mild steel as it will give indication of failure in advance, by way
of deflection and thereby avoiding disastrous consequences.
5. A gear wheel is used to transmit torque from one rotating shaft to
another. Hence, teeth on a gear wheel is subjected to a load. Teeth
should be strong enough to withstand the load without shearing or
bending. Also the surface of gear teeth should be hard and should
resist wear. The contact of gear teeth in two meshing gears, should
be smooth.
6. The 'V' belt used to drive the fan and the alternator is always
subjected to tension. Therefore the belt should be of such material
and cross section that it should not fail (creep, yield) due to tension.
Belt should be flexible but not slack. It should run over the pulleys
contacting on the two vee surfaces and it should not slip over the
pulleys.
7. Rear leaf spring of a motor car, should be strong enough to
withstand a portion of the weight of the car, the passengers and
cargo loaded onto the car. Also it should withstand shock loads and
vibration caused due to undulations of the roadway.

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Unit I: Design of Machine Elements

8. A pressure vessel containing steam, may be under high pressure of

several atmospheres. The wall of the pressure vessel should not
deform and subsequently yield due to pressure, since the result can
be dangerous. High pressure steam should not escape uncontrolled
and also the joints of the vessel should be of such construction that
there cannot be any leakage through them. The vessel has to retain
these properties under persistent high temperature and pressure.
9. Front cell of a car is intended to protect the radiator getting
damaged. It acts as a guard for the inner components. Nevertheless
modern trends seem that it is the appearance of the cell which
matters most. Hence, nowadays the front cell of a motor car has
become a piece of attraction rather than being a protector. Therefore
it should be smart and attractive while at the same time being strong
and also of minimum weight.
10. A pilot in an aircraft has to spend a long time in the cock-pit without
feeling tired or fatigued. Therefore the cock pit should be a well
arranged cabin with every possible facility and comfort. All the
controls and displays should be arranged in such a way that the pilot
need not feel any strain in his operation and monitoring activities.
All the operating buttons, knobs, operating levers etc, have to be
easily accessible.

1.2 Basic Requirements

Next think about several other machine parts. What would have their
designers considered in designing them? Imagine what failures are likely to
occur in those parts.
In the above examples you would have realized that there are different
requirements to be considered in each of the instances, to fulfil the intended
purpose, consequently, it is the designer's responsibility to understand the
particular requirement in his design. Now, we will study the basic
requirements we would look for in any case of machine design.

1.2.1 Intended Purpose

The first and foremost requirement is that the component or item you
designed should be able to serve the intended purpose. For example, the
lifting cables of a 10 ton crane should withstand a load of that amount.
Similarly an internal combustion engine designed to give an output of a
particular horse power should give a power output of that amount.

1.2.2 Safety Consideration

Any machine component should not only perform the function it was
designed for, but it should also perform it in a safe manner. For example, the
10 ton lifting cable should withstand the load without failure (giving way),
which can cause catastrophic results. Likewise in a pressure vessel it should
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 Session 01: Introduction to Machine Design

conveniently hold the pressure of the fluid or gas contained in it. Failure of
it due to not being able to hold the working pressure can cause serious
consequences.

1.2.3 Cost of Manufacturing

The Designer always has to be cost conscious. He can use the best quality
materials and assure the quality of performance. He can improve the safety
considerations by over designing. But this type of design is not a
satisfactory one. Since the end product will be too costly in the competitive
market. Hence, we should always make the effort to minimize the cost of
materials, processing and assembling.

1.2.4 Transportation Facility

A machine is not used in the place where it is manufactured. It has to be
transported to the place where it is to be used. Therefore it is important that
provision has to be made at the design stage, for ease of handling,
transportation and installation. For example you should have seen that there
are lifting lugs or eyes provided on large electric motors. Most machines are
manufactured to match to the sizes of standard containers. In case of large
plants, components are produced in several units, where each unit can be
shipped separately.

1.2.5 Operating Facility

Any machine as far as practically possible should be simple in operation.
Also it should be completely compatible with the resources available in the
area where it is required to function and operate. For example, a power
driven metal crusher will not be suitable in a quarry where there is no
electric power available. Another important area is the operation cost, this
would be uneconomical if excessive energy consumption or inconvenient
operation procedures and usage occurs.

1.2.6 Maintenance
The following points are important to consider at the design stage.
i. Maintenance should be a base minimum on the machine.
ii. Oiling and greasing points should be easily accessible.
iii. Tightening of loose bolts, adjustments to belts, chains etc,
and periodic adjustments to all components should be at
easily accessible locations and points.
iv. Provision of indicators for maintenance has to be made and
bad consequences of lack of maintenance should be
minimized in design.

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Unit I: Design of Machine Elements

1.2.7 Spares
For maintenance and repairs should be made available. More efficient
standardization would make the procurement of spares easy. Also a
continuous supply of readily replaceable parts should be made.
Manufacturers normally give the list of spares in a machine and print it in a
catalogue form and also they forecast and maintain spare requirements in
the market.

1.2.8 Instructions
The user of the machine should be equipped with relevant information and
instructions as to installation, operation, maintenance and repairs.
Manufacturers of every machine, give instruction for above in the form of
manuals.

1.2.9 Ergonomic Considerations

It is very important to design for the operation to be easy, resulting in
minimum fatigue and maximum operator safety, from hazards like noise,
light, heat, vibration, etc.

1.2.10 Appearance
In the competitive world market of today, machinery and equipment though
perfectly fulfilling the above conditions and standards, would still lose their
advantage and demand if due regard has not been given to the aspect of
aesthetics and appearance. Popular examples in this respect are automobiles
and household items.
In rational design we use pure mathematical formulae, we have studied in
mechanics of machines, strength of materials and other related subjects.
Nevertheless, in practical design problems, a combination of the above and
past experience on similar designs provide sufficient background
information for successful designs. Based on practical experiences, various
empirical formulae are established. Also we use data obtained from hand
books.
In the foregoing chapters, we assume that you are familiar with simple
physical parameters like stress, strain, ultimate and yield stress, stresses in
tension, compression, flexure (bending) and torsion and also mechanical
properties like elasticity, plasticity, ductility, brittleness, toughness and
hardness.

Activity: 02 Define the following physical parameters, stress, unit

stress, strain, ultimate and yield stress and clarify them using
the stress-strain diagram.

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 Session 01: Introduction to Machine Design

Answer:
Stress:

(a) (b)
Figure 1.1
Internal forces are set about in a material due to externally applied forces. In
general the internal forces at an imaginary section plane, may be of varying
magnitudes and directions as shown in the fig. 1.1. These internal forces
maintain in equilibrium the forces applied to one side of the cut, to the other.
It is particularly significant to determine the intensity of these forces on the
various portions of the cut, as resistance to deformation and the capacity of
materials to resist forces depend on these intensities. In general, these
intensities of forces, acting on the area of the cut, vary from point to point.
Hence it is appropriate to express these forces as acting on an infinitesimal
portion of the area of cut. This is called the stress.

Definition:
Stress is the intensity of internal resistance of a material caused by
external 1oading.
s =Lim
A →0
F
A

Where F is the internal resistive force acting on area of A.

Unit Stress:
Definition:
Unit stress is the force acting on a unit area of the considered cut
section.
Hence it is simply the force divided by the cross sectional area s = F
A

From fig. 1.1(b) you will see that the stress can act in any direction
on the plane considered. This stress can be resolved in two directions
viz.
(i) Normal to the plane which is known as the Normal or Direct stress
() .The normal stress tends to pull apart the two portions of the
material, is known as Tensile Stress and if it tends to push together,
is known as compressive stress.

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Unit I: Design of Machine Elements

(ii) The stress tangential to the plane, is known as the shear stress ().
Strain:
Strain is a measure of deformation, produced in the material by the
load.
Direct Strain:
Definition:
If  is the total elongation in a given original length L, the
elongation per unit length is known as the strain (  ) fig. 1.2 (a).

=
L
Shear Strain:
Definition:
It is defined as  , the change in radians fig. 1.2 (b).

Fig 1.2
A-Limit of proportionality
B-Ultimate strength
C-Yield point

0.2% OFFSET

Stress-strain diagram for stress-strain diagram for cast

Iron (Brittle)
Mild Steel (Ductile)

Fig 1.3 Fig 1.4

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 Session 01: Introduction to Machine Design

The highest point B in figs.1.3 and 1.4 correspond to the ultimate strength of
a material. Stress point associated with the remarkable extension for a slight
change in stress is termed the yield point of a material. This point is
distinguishably located in ductile materials but faint or absent in brittle
materials, where the yield point is defined as a point corresponding to an
arbitrary percentage (eg. 0.2%) of offset. (Points C in fig. 1.3 and 1.4.)

Activity: 03 Define the following physical properties. Elasticity, plasticity,

ductility, toughness, brittleness, hardness.

Answer:
Elasticity:
It is the ability of a material to return to its original dimensions, once the
load is removed.
Plasticity:
It is the ability of a material to retain the dimensions gained after loading.
Ductility:
It is the property of a material which enables it to be plastically deformed,
under a tensile load.
Toughness:
It is the ability of a material to withstand shock loads.
Brittleness:
It is the property that makes a material break (fracture) under tensile or
compressive load.
Hardness:
It is the ability of a material to resist indentation.

1.3 General Design Procedure for Machine

Component

In general, a machine consists of an assembly of mechanical parts (usually

referred to as components), properly designed and mated together in such a
manner as to enable the effective transmission of forces and motion to
accomplish a given task. We would, as far as possible, try to stick to this
definition of machine as we proceed further in this course in Elementary
Machine Design.
Then, if you happen to inspect machines that you encounter in everyday life,
you will certainly recognize that some of them are made up of as few as
fifteen to twenty parts, whilst some larger, complex machines consist of
well over a million parts. For instance, a puncher used for punching paper

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Unit I: Design of Machine Elements

consists of around twenty parts, whereas even a modest automobile may

contain more than ten thousand parts. Moreover, if you had been a little bit
more enthusiastic, you would have already noted that each component in a
machine has a well-defined function, which it should perform satisfactorily
to ensure smooth unhindered operation of the machine.
In the wake of the foregoing discussion it should be clear to you by now that
the complete design of a machine is by no means an easy task. Therefore, in
this course, we shall be mainly confining ourselves to the fundamental
principles essential for the design of sing1e machine parts or components to
achieve their well-defined functions.

Activity: 04 What do you usually understand by the term "free body

diagram".

Answer:
A free body diagram is a diagram which shows all the forces acting on a
body. These forces include both the applied loads and the forces caused by
the reactions.
Once the necessity of a machine component has been established, the first
step in the design of any piece of component is the careful identification of
the external loads acting on it. It is impossible to design _any component
without -a complete knowledge of the external force system acting on it.
Note here the word "careful", because all the design work which would be
done later on would be of no avail provided you pay scant respect to this all
important first step, thereby inadvertently introducing serious errors into the
ensuing calculations. After accurately establishing all the loads acting on the
component, usually a free body diagram is drawn to facilitate the subsequent
design calculations.
The immediate next step of the design process is the material selection. The
present day machine designers have a wide selection of materials at their
disposal. The material which is most appropriate for the component in
question should be identified after a thorough investigation of factors such
as the mechanical properties critical to that particular design, cost of
material, cost of production, function and appearance of the product.
As you will realize later, the mechanical properties of the chosen material
govern the dimensions of the component. For instance, a component whose
dimensions are determined by the strength of the material should be made of
a suitable high strength material. For some applications, light weight, high
strength materials are of utmost importance. In such a situation a material
like aluminium bronze alloy which contains aluminium, copper, iron and tin
and has a fairly high strength while being light should prove to be extremely
useful. This is especially so in the air craft industry where weight: strength
ratio plays a critical role. Furthermore, high speed moving parts should be
made of materials having high strength per unit mass in order to reduce the
effect of inertia forces. Hence, use is made of stronger materials in moving
machinery and equipment.

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 Session 01: Introduction to Machine Design

Similarly a component whose dimensions are influenced by the rigidity of

the material must be made of a material with a high modulus of elasticity.
Also components subject to contact stresses and wear in rolling (such as ball
and roller bearings) are generally made of steels having high hardness.

Activity: 05 List the factors which should be given due consideration in

the selection of a material for a certain machine part.

Answer
1. Mechanical properties that profoundly affect the product's functional
requirements.
2. Material cost
3. Production cost
4. Appearance of the product.
Just after the selection of material, the design calculations are performed to
predict the stresses and deformations in the component under the loads
which will be imposed on it. Inevitably we will have to make use of
empirical as well as analytical formulae for the above task. Analytical
formulae are entirely based on the laws of Mechanics, whereas for the
empirical ones there are no rigid mathematical proofs except for the
satisfactory past performance. In addition, in the initial stage, such
calculations entail a number of important assumptions, which simplify the
complexity of the design problem. Ultimately, the dimensions of the critical
features and portions of the component are determined by means of these
calculations, which, however are dependent upon the mechanical properties
of the material selected for the component.
The dimensions of the critical features thus established should then be
checked (this incidentally being done by using various analytical and
empirical formulae) against the potential causes of failure, and adjusted if
necessary. This exercise, by no means is a difficult one as the modern day
engineering fraternity is now well versed in the satisfactory elimination of
these potential causes of failure of the commonplace components such as
shafts, pulleys and gear wheels.
Once checking against the probable causes of failure is over, theoretically
the designer can now decide upon the dimensions of the product purely from
his point of view (i.e. functional point of view of the product). But this is not
to be so in the practice as the economics of production is going to have its
say at this juncture.
The economic and production engineering aspects of manufacturing requires
that the design of the product, though faultless from the functional aspects,
be producible in an efficient and economical manner in the shop.
Now let us briefly analyse these two important considerations in the
manufacture of the product. Since the product so designed will be
manufactured to be sold at the competitive market, it goes without saying
that it should be competitively priced. For a product to be competitively
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Unit I: Design of Machine Elements

priced the manufacturer must be able to make it at a cost which will fetch
him a reasonable profit. Moreover, some changes will have to be effected to
the functionally satisfactory external shape of the product determined by the
design considerations alone, to carry out certain machining operations and
heat treatments. But all such changes will have to be done without seriously
affecting the essential functional features of the design.
Therefore, after giving due consideration to economic and production
engineering aspects as well, the designer is now in a position to finalize the
exact dimensions of the component.

Activity: 06 Briefly outline the design procedure usually adopted for a

simple machine component.

Answer:
1. Identification of external loads acting on the component and
the preparation of the free body.
2. Material selection.
3. Design calculations and checking against probable causes of
failure.
4. Modifications to the design on the basis of production
engineering and economic considerations.

The final step in the design process is the preparation of a working drawing
of the component. A working drawing gives all information required to
produce the machine component. And the above information w i l l
invariably comprise of important specifications regarding the dimensional
and geometrical tolerances, machining operations, surface finish, etc.

Aim

To make the student aware of the

i) Basic requirements to be met by a design.
ii) General design procedure for commonplace machine elements

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this lesson the student should be able to

(a) Explain reasons for incorporating design features specific to a simple
commonplace machine part.
(b) Outline the steps to be taken in the design of simple machine parts.

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