2021 Faculty Courses School of Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering Graduate major in Mechanical Engineering
Special Lecture in MEC M1F
- Academic unit or major
- Graduate major in Mechanical Engineering
- Instructor(s)
- Yukio Takeda
- Class Format
- Lecture
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - Intensive
- Class
- -
- Course Code
- MEC.N432
- Number of credits
- 100
- Course offered
- 2021
- Offered quarter
- 3-4Q
- Syllabus updated
- Jul 10, 2025
- Language
- English
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
This lecture is related to mechanism design of mechanical systems. In order to learn the versatile knowledge about describing and analyzing the design of complex mechanisms, the properties and types of different mechanisms will be taught. Methods to define and to describe a motion task for the design process will be provided.
Course description and aims
The students know different catalogues for analyzing mechanisms for different criteria. This catalogue contains analyzing steps for planar and spherical mechanisms. Part of this is the mathematical description of velocities, accelerations and forces for mechanical links and between different elements of the mechanism. The students are also able to check the mechanism properties in relation to its coupler curve and its curvature.
Keywords
Mechanical Engineering, Kinematics, Mechanisms, Design, Statics, Dynamics
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
The lectures are given by Prof. Burkhard Corves, as a guest lecturer invited from RWTH Aachen University together with the corresponding instructor, Prof. Yukio Takeda.
Students are required to self-study the contents prior to the class using the supplementary material. Based on this, homework problem is given and then, evaluation is done at the final home work.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Introduction & Fundamentals |
Introduction and application, four-bar linkage, basics of calculations |
| Class 2 | Structural Synthesis |
Motion tasks and structural synthesis, guidance mechanism |
| Class 3 | 6-bar Linkages |
Six-bar linkages, Watt's chain, Stephenson's chain, Convertible Roof Tops |
| Class 4 | 5-bar Linkages and Roberts/Chebyshev |
Five-bar linkages, fundamentals, applications, Roberts/Chebyshev Theorem |
| Class 5 | Poles and Theory of Curvature |
Poles and Theory of Curvature, Aronhold-Kennedy Theorem, Centrodes, Euler-Savary Theorem, Bobilloer Theorem |
| Class 6 | Forces and Torques |
Forces and Torques, Fundamentals, Conditions of equilibrium, pole force method, friction forces, application example |
| Class 7 | Dwell Mechanisms |
Dwell mechanisms, fundamentals, linkage dwell mechanisms, coupler cirve based dwell mechanism dead center based dwell mechanisms |
| Class 8 | Spherical Mechanisms |
Spherical trigonometry, spherical four-bar linkages, position analysis, examples |
Study advice (preparation and review)
Textbook(s)
Original hand-outs are provided.
Reference books, course materials, etc.
References are uploaded in OCW-i.
Evaluation methods and criteria
Learning achievement is evaluated at the final home work.
Related courses
- MEC.I211 ： Robot Kinematics
- MEC.H532 ： Kinematic Analysis and Synthesis of Robots
- MEC.H435 ： Machine Dynamics of Rigid Systems
Prerequisites
Nothing