One that I enjoyed learning about was straight line drives. I was drawn to this mechanism by both the smoothness of its motion, and the simplicity of its design.
The video seen above is an example of a hypocycloid gear straight line mechanism. In this example, the smaller gear of the mechanism is driven along the larger gear by the piston rod which moves in a linear fashion.
Hypocycloid gear straight line mechanisms work by having a small gear whose diameter is half that of the large gear. This creates a point on the circumference for the small gear to trace when moved up and down in a linear fashion. Having the smaller circle move up and down in an exact straight line adds a simplicity to this mechanism that I think helps in its design and application.
A notable use of this mechanism is in old trains, as well as in the application of other mechanisms such as planetary gears.
I thought you explained the mechanism very well.I liked the applications you mentioned in the post. I did this mechanism for my blog post also and didn't know that this gear was used in old trains or planetary gears. Also, I love the name of your blog! Very creative.
ReplyDeleteIt really is amazing how many different ways rotational motion can be converted into linear motion and vice versa. Although I didn't choose this mechanism I thought it was interesting as well! Nice work finding relevant applications for it.
ReplyDelete