Quick-Return Mechanism Design

by

Stephen Teerman Britt Adamczyk Matt Brower

4/5/2006

EGR 352 Kinematics and Dynamics of Machinery

Grand Valley State University School of Engineering

Introduction A quick-return mechanism is a crank-rocker four-bar mechanism that has a different average velocity for the forward and return strokes of the follower. The crank is usually attached to a motor that rotates at a constant angular velocity. As it rotates the follower motion is used to perform a task. This is sometimes used for a stamping press where the forward stroke is applying the work and needs to move at a slower rate than the unloaded return stroke.

The quick-return effect is accomplished by the orientation of the crank link with respect to the coupler link. The time ratio (TR) describes how much more quickly the return stroke will occur relative to the forward stroke and is simply defined as by Equation 1.

Procedure and Results The first step was to design the mechanism graphically. The provided specifications for the mechanism were the time ratio at 1.25 and the follower range of motion at 50. Solving the TR =

= = 1.25 360

(1)

1.25(360 ) =

+ 1.25 = 1.25(360) = 200o

set these were inserted into the sketch and locked. The next step was to find the lengths of the crank and coupler links and the location of the crank ground pivot. At this point, if the crank ground link was to remain in the 2nd quadrant there was a finite range for the lengths of the links. An arbitrary value was chosen for the length of the coupler and this set the length of the crank and defined the location of the crank ground pivot. Figure 1 shows how the sketch was setup to give appropriate resulting values for the links.

Figure 1: Pro/Engineer Sketch of Linkage

Following the graphical solution, MathCAD and the complex number method were used to find three linkage lengths needed to complete the design. The known and prescribed values are given under the Defining Variables heading. The loop-closure method was

r r r employed to find the desired linkages: z 2 , z 3 , and z1 . This MathCAD work can be seen
in Appendix A.

Once the desired linkage was obtained, the design was verified. First, it was determined whether or not the linkage fulfilled the Grashof condition that would tell if the input link would be able to make a full rotation. Is l + s < p + q ? Where,

s = 0.327 p =1 q = 1.091 l = 1.430 Is 1.430 + 0.327 < 1.091 + 1 ? The above conditional statement is true therefore the linkage is a Grashof mechanism. The rotational direction of our mechanism was chosen to be clockwise so that the power stroke would exert a force away from the motor as will be seen in Figure 2.

The linkage was also verified to have acceptable transmission angle. Figure 2 shows the maximum and minimum transmission angles for the mechanism. Although the optimum transmission angle is 90 degrees, the range given by the acquired linkage is still

satisfactory, meaning it is always greater than 30 degrees. The transmission angle is defined as the angle between the absolute velocities at each point and the relative velocities at each point. The following describes the calculation of each transmission angle:

The absolute velocity direction of point P1 comes from

r v P 1 = i4 z 4 e i4 .
Since 4 is clockwise, 90 degrees is subtracted from 4 for the velocitys final angle
r v P1 =e
i ( 4 ) 2

sense

= e i ( 25 ) .
o

The same is true for the relative velocity of point P1

r v P1 / A1 = i3 z 3e i3 .
Again, 3 is clockwise, resulting in a relative velocity sense
i (3 ) o r v P1 / A1sense = e 2 = e i ( 63 ) .

Thus, the resulting transmission angle is the difference of these two vectors directions

1 = 25o ( 63o ) = 38o .

Figure 3: Kinematic Diagram Showing Range for Transmission Angle

Next, the mechanical advantage of the mechanism was determined assuming the output force would be exerted along the length of the follower from the ground pivot. Mechanical advantage is the a measure of how much an input force in multiplied mechanically and is defined as

rin M . A. = r out

2 4

where, rin is simply the length of the crank and rout is the distance up the follower link where the output force is exerted as specified:

rin = 0.347 rout = 0.25(1.0) = 0.25

Since 2 is needed to find 4 , a value was arbitrarily chosen in order to calculate a mechanical advantage value. So,

2 = 1
In order to solve for 4 , the complex variable velocity analysis is done resulting in the following complex equation

i 4 z 4 e i 4 = i 2 z 2 e i 2 + i 3 z 3 e i 3

Using the identical angle of the complex number synthesis of the linkage results in

4 = 0.33568
Calculating the mechanical advantage from these results gives
0.347 1.0 M . A. = = 4.13489 0.25 0.33568

This value could be increased by making rin >> rout by increasing the length of your crank or decreasing the distance from ground of the output force on the follower link.

Appendix A: MathCAD Work

4 := 1.134464014 j := 3.490658504 j := 0.3490658504 j := 0.872664626 mag_z := 1

z := mag_z e
4 4

j := z e
4

( i j 1) ( ) ( )
mag_z e
4 i 4

Loop Closure

mag_z ei 2 ei j 1 mag_z ei 3 ei j 1 2 3

( i j 1)

(eq. 1)

Equation 1 simplifies to the following two real and complex equations: Given mag_z
2

0.1281mag_z + 0.5304
3

1.1577mag_z + 0.28097mag_z
2

Find mag_z , mag_z

)= 1.43
0.347

z := mag_z e
2 3 2 3

i 2 i 3

z := mag_z e

Loop-Closure to find ground link: z +z z z

real_z := mag_z 0.89879 + mag_z 0.89879 mag_z 0.422618

imaginary_z := mag_z 0.43837 + mag_z 0.43837 mag_z 0.906308

real_z + imaginary_z
1

z := 1.175 0.127i