Mechanical Design

Mechanical Design 101

Mechanical Design Educational Resource

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Stackable fold-up emergency shelter

17 July, 2009 (04:38) | Linkage Animations | By: admin

Mikhail Zhuk animated this design concept for an eight-bar linkage to deploy a collapsible emergency structure. A physical prototype is under development. (UCI Robotics and Automation Lab)
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Elementary Robotics

16 July, 2009 (04:07) | Lecture Notes, Robotics Information | By: admin

The basic properties of robots can developed by studying planar serial chains. Select this link for my notes on elementary robotics:
http://synthetica.eng.uci.edu/~mccarthy/mechanicaldesign101/McCarthyNotes-5.pdf

Elementary Robotics

Elementary Robotics

CMU’s Introduction to Mechanisms

15 July, 2009 (06:02) | Lecture Notes | By: admin

Yi Zhang, Susan Finger and Stephannie Behrens have prepared an on-line introduction to mechanisms consisting of eight chapters and almost 100 figures. Access it at the link:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rapidproto/mechanisms/tablecontents.html

Four-bar linkage analysis: Slider-crank

14 July, 2009 (16:20) | Lecture Notes | By: admin

The slider-crank is an important mechanism with a wide range of applications. Here are my notes on its kinematic analysis.
http://synthetica.eng.uci.edu/~mccarthy/mechanicaldesign101/McCarthyNotes-3.pdf

Slider-crank analysis

Slider-crank analysis

Four-bar linkage analysis: 4R quadrilateral

13 July, 2009 (00:29) | Lecture Notes | By: admin

The four-bar linkage is a basic machine component. It comes in two primary forms the 4R quadridlateral and the slider-crank. Here are my notes for the analysis of the 4R quadrilateral.
http://synthetica.eng.uci.edu/~mccarthy/mechanicaldesign101/McCarthyNotes-2.pdf

Four-bar linkage analysis

Four-bar linkage analysis

DC motor torque and power

11 July, 2009 (22:10) | Lecture Notes, Robotics Information | By: admin

A copy of my notes on DC motor torque and power can be downloaded at the link:
http://synthetica.eng.uci.edu/~mccarthy/mechanicaldesign101/McCarthyNotes-1.pdf

Motor Torque and Power

Motor Torque and Power

DC motor basics

11 July, 2009 (21:49) | Lecture Notes, Robotics Information | By: admin

The basic principles of DC motors are presented by Joe Wolfe of the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia) at the link:
http://www.animations.physics.unsw.edu.au/jw/electricmotors.html

Phyclips from UNSW

Phyclips from UNSW

Northwestern University (Chicago, Illinois) presents the basics of a DC motor in the Wiki page:
http://hades.mech.northwestern.edu/wiki/index.php/Brushed_DC_Motor_Theory

Northwestern University Wiki page

Northwestern University Wiki page

Mechanical Properties of Steel

10 July, 2009 (20:06) | Engineering Data | By: admin

The MatWeb site provides detailed information about materials such as the tensile strength of various compositions of steel.

MatWeb:  Material Property Data

MatWeb: Material Property Data

For example the search “low carbon steel” results in the list of links to information:
http://www.matweb.com/search/QuickText.aspx?SearchText=low%20carbon%20steel

Unified Numbering System for Materials

10 July, 2009 (03:09) | Engineering Data | By: admin

There are a variety of numbering systems for materials such as steel. The unified numbering system (UNS) uses a letter to designate a material category followed by five numbers constructed from the existing materials designations to coordinate all of these numbering systems.

The unified numbering system (UNS) is described in Wikipedia at the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_numbering_system

Some of the category letters for steel are:
- G for AISI/SAE carbon and alloy steels;
- S for stainless steels; and
- T for tool steels.
The complete listing of categories can be found in the Engineer’s Handbook:
http://www.engineershandbook.com/Tables/uns.htm

Generally, the standard designation is inserted after the letter defining the material category. For example, AISI/SAE 1018 carbon steel has the UNS designation G10180.

The AISI-SAE steel alloy designation system is listed in the Engineer’s Handbook table:
http://www.engineershandbook.com/Tables/carbonsteelalloys.htm
Also see Wikipedia at the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAE_steel_grades

Koenigsegg door system

8 July, 2009 (23:28) | Automotive Information, Linkage Animations | By: admin

The doors of the Koenigsegg CCX open using the “dihedral synchro-helix door actuation” system. You can see this movement on the video:
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