Development of a laboratory equipment for the analysis of mechanisms

This work addresses the development of an equipment for the analysis of one-degree-of-freedom planar mechanisms, used for teaching in the areas of mechanical design and dynamic systems and control at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana. The prototype was developed to teach fundamental topics of the Mechanical Engineering curriculum: mechanics of machines and motion control. The prototype consists of a mechanical frame with three modules: a power transmission train, a four-bar planar nechanisms module and a planar cam-follower module. The equipment has been instrumented to get measurements of the main variables associated with motion: position, velocity, acceleration, force and torque. Therefore, experimental measures can be contrasted with theoretical results in order to facilitate the students to get concepts related to the mechanics of machines in a more interactive and real way. The equipment is also useful in research projects where different kinds of state observers and motion controllers can be tested.