AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

MENG 372: Mechanical Systems

Mid Term Exam 1, 25 March 2010
Name: ID:

1. (a) (10) Sketch a form closed joint and a force closed joint.
(b) (10) What is an inversion?

2. For the mechanism shown below, crank OA rotates about O and drives rod AC which slides in a
swiveling pin at B.
(a) (10) By intuition, how many degrees of freedom (DOF) does the mechanism have?
(b) (10) Use Gruebler’s equation to calculate the DOF. Does your answer agree with (a)?
Assuming a, d, AC and are given,
(c) (20) Use complex vector notation to write the vector loop equation(s) necessary to determine the
position of point C.
(d) (10) Identify the knowns and unknowns. Are your equations sufficient to solve for these unknowns?

A
a
B
O
d C

3. (30) Design 4-bar mechanism to move the aileron of an aircraft from position A1B1 to A2B2
treating the aileron as a coupler. Do your synthesis graphically on this sheet. All pivots must be
located inside the wing and the links should not cross during their motion, so that they do not
interfere. Indicate the links clearly on your sketch. (Adapted with permission from Dr. Thomas
Bradley, Colorado State University).

A1 B1

B2
A2