UNIVERSITI TENAGA NASIONAL

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

MEMB 331- MACHINE DESIGN & CAD LAB

Sem 1 2019/2020

EXP. TITLE : Experiment 1: Slider Crank Chain Experiment

SECTION: 4 GROUP: 2

GROUP MEMBERS ID
Ashraf Hakim B. Lokman ME0102516
Afnan Afiq Bin Nazrin ME 0101871
Muhamad Amir Hakimi Bin Hussin ME 0102699
Irfan Hazwan Bin Zainuddin ME 099366
Muhammad Rifaie Bin Ali Warno ME0100166

INSTRUCTOR : Mrs Azieyanti Nurain binti Azmin

Performed Date Due Date* Submitted Date

19/6/2019 27/6/2019 19/6/2019

*Late submission penalty: Late 1 day: 10%, Late 2 days: 20%, Late 3 days: 30%, More than 3 days: 50%
TABLE OF CONTENT

No. Content Page Number

1 Abstract/Objective 3

2 Data, Observation and Results 4

3 Analysis and Discussion 11

4 Conclusion 13

5 Reference 14

6 Appendices 15

2
ABSTRACT

The purposes of this experiment are to acquire a piston velocity against crank angle graph
by utilizing the method of instantaneous center, assuming that the rotation of the crank is at
constant angular velocity. Next, another objective of this experiment is to know the value of the
crank angle correlate with the maximum piston velocity and to display that the slider crank chain
tends to approach the motion relatively similar to the simple harmonic motion with the increment
values of the connecting rod/crank ratio. The slider crank chain is one of the two fundamentals
mechanisms which form the basics of many more complex motions.

Firstly, the position of the crank on the circular is set to be zero. Then the knurled nuts
were slacked for both side and the position pivot position are adjusted to make the connecting rod
is 115mm long. The next step is to increase 10° of the crank rotations and the displacement of the
piston are recorded in the given table. The cross-scale readings are also recorded during the 10°
occurred. These steps are repeated to get different results for other three lengths of connecting rod
which is 130mm and 140mm. By referring to the data and results collected, a graph of velocity of
piston versus angle of crank for the three different connecting rod lengths, graph of displacement
of piston against angle of crank for the three different connecting rod lengths and graph of
acceleration of piston versus angle of crank for the three different connecting rod length are plotted
and thus observed and discussed further more.

3
DATA & RESULTS
Connecting rod length: 115mm Crank Radius: 35mm Ratio: 3.286

Crank Angle (º) Piston Displacement (mm) Piston Velocity(mm/s) Piston Acceleration
(mm/s²)
0 60 45 0
10 61 52 0.7
20 62 59 0.7
30 65 65 0.6
40 69 70 0.5
50 75 74 0.4
60 80 76 0.2
70 86 78 0.2
80 93 79 0.1
90 100 76 -0.3
100 105 75 -0.1
110 111 72 -0.3
120 115 68 -0.4
130 120 64 -0.4
140 124 60 -0.4
150 126 56 -0.4
160 128 54 -0.2
170 129 49 -0.5
180 130 45 -0.4
190 130 42 -0.3
200 129 39 -0.3
210 128 34 -0.5
220 126 31 -0.3
230 122 26 -0.5
240 119 24 -0.2
250 114 20 -0.4
260 108 16 -0.4
270 102 14 -0.2
280 96 12 -0.2
290 89 11 -0.1
300 82 12 0.1
310 77 15 0.3
320 72 19 0.4
330 67 24 0.5
340 62 30 0.6
350 61 37 0.7
360 61 45 0.8
Table 1

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Connecting rod length:130mm Crank Radius:35mm Ratio: 3.714

Crank Angle (º) Piston Displacement Piston Velocity(mm/s) Piston Acceleration

(mm) (mm/s²)
0 45 45 0
10 46 52 0.7
20 47 57 0.5
30 50 64 0.7
40 54 69 0.5
50 59 73 0.4
60 54 76 0.3
70 70 78 0.2
80 77 79 0.1
90 83 76 -0.3
100 90 75 -0.1
110 95 73 -0.2
120 100 68 -0.5
130 104 65 -0.3
140 108 61 -0.4
150 111 57 -0.4
160 113 53 -0.4
170 114 49 -0.4
180 115 45 -0.4
190 115 41 -0.4
200 114 38 -0.3
210 113 34 -0.4
220 110 30 -0.4
230 107 26 -0.4
240 102 22 -0.4
250 99 20 -0.2
260 92 16 -0.4
270 86 14 -0.2
280 81 12 -0.2
290 74 12 0
300 68 13 0.1
310 61 15 0.2
320 55 20 0.5
330 51 25 0.5
340 49 30 0.5
350 46 37 0.7
360 45 45 0.8
Table 2

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Connecting rod length:140mm Crank Radius:35mm Ratio: 4.000

Crank Angle (º) Piston Displacement Piston Velocity(mm/s) Piston Acceleration

(mm) (mm/s²)
0 35 45 0
10 36 51 0.6
20 37 58 0.7
30 40 65 0.7
40 44 70 0.5
50 50 75 0.5
60 55 76 0.1
70 60 77 0.1
80 66 78 0.1
90 73 77 -0.1
100 79 75 -0.2
110 85 73 -0.2
120 90 70 -0.3
130 94 66 -0.4
140 98 62 -0.4
150 100 58 -0.4
160 103 54 -0.4
170 105 50 -0.4
180 105 45 -0.5
190 105 41 -0.4
200 104 36 -0.5
210 103 33 -0.3
220 100 29 -0.4
230 96 25 -0.4
240 92 21 -0.4
250 88 19 -0.2
260 82 15 -0.4
270 75 13 -0.2
280 70 12 -0.1
290 63 12 0
300 56 13 0.1
310 51 16 0.3
320 45 20 0.4
330 41 25 0.5
340 38 31 0.6
350 36 37 0.6
360 35 45 0.8
Table 3

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Sample calculation

Ratio = Connecting rod length / crank radius

= 115mm / 35 mm
= 3.29

Table 1 at angle θ = 10˚

Piston acceleration = (Piston velocity, F – Piston velocity, I) / 10s
= (52 mm/s – 45mm/s) / 10s
= 0.7 mm/s2

Table 2 at angle θ = 10˚

Piston acceleration = (Piston velocity, F – Piston velocity, I) / 10s
= (52 mm/s – 45mm/s) / 10s
= 0.7 mm/s2

Table 3 at angle θ = 10˚

Piston acceleration = (Piston velocity, F – Piston velocity, I) / 10s
= (51 mm/s – 45mm/s) / 10s
= 0.6 mm/s2
Observation
• For each table we can see that the acceleration decreasing from 0 to 270 and then start to
increase.

• Constant value of acceleration for each table even though the connecting rod length
increasing. We can see that the acceleration does not depend on the connecting rod
length.

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GRAPH

a. Graph 1

Piston Dispacement vs Crank Angle

140

120
Piston Displacement (mm)

100

80

60

40

20

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Crank Angle (º)

Graph 1: Piston Displacement vs Crank Angle

Blue: Connecting rod 115mm

Orange: Connecting rod 130mm

Grey: Connecting rod 140mm

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 b. Graph 2

Piston Velocity vs Crank Angle

90

80

70
Piston Velocity (mm/s)

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Crank Angle (º)

Graph 2: Piston Velocity vs Crank Angle

Blue: Connecting rod 115mm

Orange: Connecting rod 130mm

Grey: Connecting rod 140mm

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 c. Graph 3

Graph of Piston Acceleration (mm/s²)

against Crank Angle (°)
100

90

80 115 mm
Piston Acceleration (mm/s²)

70 130 mm

60 140 mm

50

40

30

20

10

0
40

170

340
0
10
20
30

50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
140
150
160

180
190
200
210
220
230
240
250
260
270
280
290
300
310
320
330

350
360
Crank Angle (°)

Graph 3: Piston Acceleration vs Crank Angle

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ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

a. Analysis

The graph of piston displacement against crank angle showcase the displacement of different
length of connecting rod which are 115mm (Blue), 130mm (Red) and 140mm (Green). Upon the
structure of line graphs computed, all three lengths of connecting rods shows identical trend line
where the graph significantly increases from zero until 170*, then peak piston displacement lies
in-between 180* and 190*, and significantly decrease until the end of rotation 360*. However,
maximum piston displacement of connecting rod 115mm (Blue) has the highest value which are
130mm then connecting rod 130mm (Red) with 115mm and 105mm for 140mm connecting rod
(Green). Based upon the graph, longer connecting rod will achieve least maximum piston
displacement at every cycle where longer connecting rods limits the ability to complete one cycle
in shorter time period.

For piston velocity graph, the line graphs for each connecting rod showcase identical trend-
line where maximum velocity occurs at 80* and minimum velocity occurs at 290*. The maximum
and minimum velocity for each connecting rod differs by 1mm to 2mm. 140mm connecting rod
achieved the least maximum piston velocity of 78mm/s where the rest achieved 79mm/s but
115mm connecting rod has the lowest of piston velocity of 11mm/s at 290*. As all three connecting
rod completes one full cycle, the initial velocity and final velocity remains identical at 45mm/s. s

In piston acceleration graph, the trend line showcases definite differences that separate each
connecting rod by reasonable percentage difference. The initial and final acceleration of each
connecting rod remain identical at 0mm/s2 and 0.8mm/s2. In between crank angle of 0* to 180*,
all three connecting rods shows similar decreasing trend line but inconsistent fluctuating occurs.
Then from crank angle of 180* to 360*, the increasing trend line also showcase inconsistent
fluctuation. The inconsistent fluctuating contributes to difficulty of connecting rod to perform a
cyclic motion. Longer connecting rods will take longer time to complete one cyclic motion.

To obtain consistent and precise displacement, velocity and acceleration values, the experiment
needs to be computing with new set of tools where they aren’t rust and crook which directly
contributes to machine error and inconsistent fluctuating that exist in piston acceleration graphs.

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 b. Discussion

Graph 1, piston displacement vs crank angle shows a quadratic characteristic. For graph 2,
piston velocity vs crank angle shows a pattern similarly to a simple harmonic motion (SHM)
resembling a sine wave. Graph 3 shows the piston acceleration vs crank angle, raised in the
beginning followed by a steep drop and then return to rise at the end. All graph had a connecting
rod length (CRL) of 115mm, 130mm, 140mm.

Simple harmonic motion is a special type of periodic motion or oscillation where the restoring
force is directly proportional to the displacement and acts in the direction opposite to that of
displacement, as shown in graph 2. It shows that the motion of each amplitude in every period
mirror, likewise to the time taken to complete a revolution, which are similar.

Each graph shows that the maximum piston velocity obtained at 80°, at 78 mm/s for graph
1 and 2, and at 79 mm/s for graph 3. Theoretically, maximum piston velocity should’ve reached
at 90° however due to mechanical error, the tool had an offset of +10°.

Raising the ratio would only affect the visual of the simple harmonic motion (SHM), and
the displacement, as the displacement is inversely proportional to the connecting rod length.
Acceleration, and velocity remain as they relate to one another.

Based on the graph 1,2 and 3, the maximum acceleration are 89.157, 89.157, and 86.914
(mm/s²) respectively. The maximum acceleration and velocity occurred at the same angle.
Acceleration is a change in speed or direction, while velocity is just a speed.

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CONCLUSION

Slider crank chain experiment allow student to understand the mechanisms of the slider
crank and observing the motion of the slider. Slider crank chain is one of the two basics
mechanisms of many more complex mechanisms out there. This slider crank chain is the type of a
slider crank connection that is often used to actuate a hinged joint in construction equipment such
as a crane or backhoe, and to open and close a swinging door or door. Other applications of the
slider crank chain are rotary engine, reciprocating engine, reciprocating compressor, oscillatory
engine and many more. Based on the result and the plotted graph, it is concluded that the motion
of the slider crank chain tends to approach the simple harmonic motion. A graph of piston velocity
against crank angle also have been successfully plotted and the crank angles which correlate to the
maximum piston velocity also have been found which is 80 degrees. Therefore, the objective and
purpose of this experiment was successfully achieved despite the systematic errors and random
errors.

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REFERENCES

1. Scribd. (2019). LAB MEC424-Slider Crank | Acceleration | Derivative. [online]

Available at: http://Www.scribd.com/doc/35932297/LAB-MEC424-Slider-Crank [Accessed 25
Jun. 2019].

2. En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Slider crank chain inversion. [online] Available at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slider_crank_chain_inversion [Accessed 25 Jun. 2019].

3. Webcabinet.tripod.com. (2019). Summary. [online] Available at:

http://webcabinet.tripod.com/Assignment/assignment2/slidercrank2.htm [Accessed 25 Jun. 2019].

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APPENDICES

Figure 1 shows the Slider Crank Chain apparatus.

15
Figure 2: Result sheet for experiment 1

16
Figure 3: Result sheet for experiment 1

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