Improvement method

Whatever the power of control engineering and informatics, even today one cannot turn poor mechanics into a good machine (Van Brussel). With this in mind, the present paper focuses on optimization of mechanical design as a basic prerequisite for building high-performance machinery, more specically, reciprocating machinery. Essentially, such machines mechanically convert the rotary movement of the driving actuator into the reciprocating (rocking, oscillating) movement of one or more machine parts (or vice versa, as in a combustion engine) through a mechanism. Mechanisms may typically be employed in packaging, materials handling, forming, sewing, weaving, power generating and other high-rate machines. Modeling Approach

All methods considered here assume rigid-body mechanisms, which implies, according to VDI guideline, that the lowest natural frequency of vibration essentially exceeds the rotational frequency [rad/s] of the driving crank at least tenfold and vibrations do not have an inuence. Considering only rigid-body dynamics allows us to carry out a kinetostatic analysis to study the mechanism's dynamic behavior.A kinetostatic analysis constitutes one of two traditional types of dynamic analyses which involve the input torque: (i) for a given mechanism motion, determine the input torque or driving forces required (kinetostatic analysis, inverse dynamic analysis, Wittenbauer I); (ii) for a given input torque, determine the motion (time response) of a specific mechanism (forward dynamic analysis,Wittenbauer II). A kinetostatic analysis, generally based on the assumption of a constant drive 4 Fundamental concepts of shaking force and shaking moment balancing are provided in the work of Berkof and Lowen 2 speed, constitutes a significant simplification of reality, as it makes abstraction of three important dynamic effects: (i) the interaction between the mechanism and its actuator or other mechanisms, (ii) elastic deformation of the mechanism links (iii) joint clearance.

As Wiener suggested, the validity of such simple rigid-body models is limited and often insuf_cient for accurately simulating the full dynamic behavior of a mechanism. However, for design purposes, rigid-body models are attractive due to their simplicity and are therefore widely used. Moreover, it makes good sense to first optimize the rigid-body dynamic behavior of a mechanism,before proceeding to optimizing its elastic dynamic behavior. In theory, the suboptimality induced by this sequential approach is overcome by simultaneous optimization of the rigid-body and elastic dynamic behavior. In practice, however, the increased computational complexity (due to the increased number of optimization variables and the requirement to carry out a forward dynamic analysis) may result in only marginally better mechanism designs, despite much longer computational times.While a kinetostatic analysis underlies virtually all design methods presented here, except the methods discussed in Sec. 7, a forward dynamic analysis is necessary to verify the resulting design in terms of, e.g., the resulting drive speed fuctuation. This is also required if the interaction between multiple mechanisms driven by the same main shaft is to be studied, as in the work by Demeulenaere et al. A forward dynamic analysis requires a model of the mechanism's drive train, of which the actuator constitutes an essential part.Three kinds of actuator models are distinguished here (in decreasing order of complexity): (i) a complete dynamic model of the driving actuator, including its control system (ii) a torque-speed model that models the motor by its steady-state torque-speed relationship, either linear or quadratic (iii) a source of constant torque Mmot [N-m] in series with the motor's rotor inertia

In the latter model, the constant motor torque Mmot is determined such that some desired average drive speed is realized in the presence of energy dissipation and external work. In the absence of the latter two effects, Mmot is zero, and a conservative system results. The resulting motion is termed eigenmotion7. Due to the exchange of kinetic and potential energy between, on the one hand, the reciprocating machine parts and, on the other hand, the wheel and motor rotor feigenmotion is characterized by a uctuating drive speed. Eigenmotion is an important concept in German mechanism literature and for the integrated kinematicdynamic design methods of Sec. 7. The prefix fieigen' should be interpreted as the 'characteristic' or 'preferred' way in which the mechanism moves if left by itself.

Kinematic Design with Dynamic Considerations Currently, rather few methods exist that introduce dynamic considerations into kinematic design. All methods described below are based on the observation that sometimes not all kinematic parameters are fixed by the kinematic requirements. The subsequent redundancy is exploited to optimize some criterion associated with the dynamic behavior of the mechanism. An alternative approach is to relax the kinematic requirements so as to obtain an optimal tradeofi between kinematic and dynamic considerations. To the best of our knowledge, such an approach has not been described in literature yet.Consider variants of the following classical problem in the kinematic synthesis of crank-rocker four-bar mechanisms: determine the link lengths, given the base length and two requirements concerning the mechanism's dead center positions. This problem formulation fixes all kinematic parameters, except one. This freedom is exploited to optimize some criterion associated with the mechanism's dynamic behavior. Considers the transmission angle and the input torque puctuation, and shows them to be conicting demands.