Modeling piston/crank with position loop equation, excel plot

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The discussion revolves around the correctness of using specific angles (θAC = 90 deg and θAB = 36.8699 deg) to solve for constant angular velocity in a piston/crank model. The user expresses concern about a sinusoidal graph showing irregularities and the implications of θAC causing θ'AB to equal zero, leading to a maximum angular velocity of -60 rad/s. Another participant suggests simplifying the problem by reducing the number of variables and provides a geometric relationship to solve for the position. They also confirm that their resulting graph resembles the original, indicating that the approach may be valid. Overall, the conversation focuses on verifying calculations and understanding the geometric relationships in the model.
DarksideEE7
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Homework Statement



attachment.php?attachmentid=27075&stc=1&d=1279734347.jpg


Homework Equations


I would like to know if my work is correct. I thought that the graph would be a sinusoidal, but there is a small irregularity in the middle.

Am I correct in using θAC = 90 deg and θAB = 36.8699 deg in solving for the constant angular velocity?

I attached the scratch paper portion because that contains my geometry work for determining the θAB value beyond the symbolic part, and I'm unsure if that's correct.

I've set up the position, velocity, and acceleration loop equations symbolically as shown below.

What concerned me about using θAC = 90 deg is that it causes θ'AB = 0 due to the cos term. This ends up making the max angular velocity -60 rad/s...

The Attempt at a Solution



[PLAIN]http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/4069/piston2.jpg
attachment.php?attachmentid=27077&stc=1&d=1279734347.jpg


Scratch paper

[PLAIN]http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/9174/pistonscratchpaper.jpg

https://www.physicsforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=27079&stc=1&d=1279735274

[PLAIN]http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/2493/pistongraph.jpg


Thanks in advance for helping out a clueless EE student!

EDIT:

Resized images...can resize further if the res is too big for your monitor. Also fixed broken link. Still missing the scratch paper image because I'm away from home. I'll upload when I get home...but hopefully this should be enough for someone to check my basic equations and graph.
 

Attachments

  • Problem.jpg
    Problem.jpg
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  • piston1.jpg
    piston1.jpg
    35.8 KB · Views: 437
  • piston2.jpg
    piston2.jpg
    21.1 KB · Views: 576
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It's pretty difficult to follow your steps, so I cannot comment in detail on your work. I think we need not use so many variables (please excuse me if I misunderstand something). Two coordinates are enough: \phi (angle between AC and AB) and x.

The only geometric condition relating the coordinates is: b^2=a^2+x^2-2axcos\phi

Plug a=3 and b=5 in, then solve for x (x>0 as the origin is at A): x=\sqrt{9cos^2\phi +16}+3cos\phi

Thus: \dot{x}=-(\frac{9sin\phi cos\phi}{\sqrt{9cos^2\phi +16}}+3sin\phi)\dot{\phi}

From here, we can find the constant angular velocity of AC in the range 0<\phi <\pi and \dot{x}<180 in/s. Then the rest is simple. The graph I obtained looks akin to yours.