Path Generation

Introduction:
This tutorial helps us to construct a four bar mechanism to trace a path specified
by three points.

Procedure:
Enable the drawing mode
In the Utility menu bar select Drawing >Enable drawing mode
You can also do this using the shortcut Ctrl+D
Create points
Create three points that lies on the path. This may be done by
Selecting Utility menu>Drawing > Points >Add using Co-ordinates (short cut
key Shift+P)
P1=(172,292);
P2=(246,305);
P3=(337,286);
The above mentioned points generates the required path.

Generate another point P4=(360,110). This is one of the joints on the fixed link.
You can change this co-ordinates at your wish.
Construct a line using the points P3,P4. The line is L5.
Select Utility Menu>Drawing>Line>Add using Co-ordinates/Add using
Mouse.
Construct a circle taking P4 as centre and 100 as radius. Circle is C6.
Select Utility Menu>Drawing>Circle>Add using Co-ordinates
Intersect line L5 and circle C6 and identify the points of intersection P7 and P8.
Select Utility Menu>Drawing>Intersect objects. Then specify the line L5 and
circle C6. The point P7 will be other end of the crank at an instant.
Hide the line L5 and point P8. This can be done by right clicking the mouse and
selecting Hide objects.




Construct a line between the points P3, P7.
Construct a circle with point P2 as centre and Line L9 as radius. This can be done
by selecting Utility menu > Drawing > Draw Circle. Then select Centre and
Radius option and select P2 as centre and take L9 as reference as shown below.





Intersect circle C10 and circle C6 and identify the points of intersection P11 and
P12.
Select Utility Menu>Drawing>Intersect objects. Then specify the circle C6 and
circle C10.
Hide the circle C10 and point P11. This can be done by right clicking the mouse
and selecting Hide objects.




Draw a line between the points P2 and P12.
Now draw a circle taking P1 as centre and L9 as radius. Lines L9 and L13 are of
same length.
Intersect the circles C6 and C14. The points of intersection will be P15 and P16.
Hide the objects C14 and P16.
Draw a line between the points P1 and P15. This will yield Line L17.
Draw a point P18 with the co-ordinates (209,211). This is the second point of the
coupler which gives the coupler length more than that of crank length and lies
below the path to be traced so that the mechanism will be possible.
Now construct a triangle using the line L17 and point P18. This can be done by
selecting Utility menu> Drawing > Triangle > Add using Co-ordinates
.(Shift+t)
Here we will construct a triangle T21 using a line and a point, as shown below.




Now copy the triangle 21 and move onto line 13, aligning point 15 of line 17 with
point 12. This is as shown below.
Utility menu > Drawing > Triangle > Copy and Move. Then following window
appears. Select the required objects in that window, as shown.



Now repeat the above procedure by copying the triangle 25 and move onto line 9,
aligning point 12 of line 13 with point 7.


Construct a circle with the points P18, P22, and P26. This can be done by
selecting Utility menu> Drawing > Circle > Add using Co-ordinates. Then
select the Three-Point option and select the three points as P18, P22, P26. These
points are the one end of the coupler in three different positions. The centre of the
circle generated will be point P30. This will be other end of the fixed link.
Now draw lines using the following points.

L32: P4 & P7
L33: P26 & P30
L34: P30 & P4.







Create a mechanism using the lines L34, L32, L27 and L33. This can be done
by selecting Utility menu > Construction > Create Mechanism. Following
window appears. Select the required objects as shown below.


Animate the mechanism by selecting Utility menu > Animation > Enable
animation mode. Also select Toggle Trace from the same menu and run the
animation.
By adjusting the settings we can choose suitable delay time and increment
angle.