Adams Machinery > Dialog Box - F1 Help > Create Follower Motion

Create Follower Motion

Machinery Create Follower Motion
 
 
For the option
Do the following
Type
Motion Name
Enter the motion name. The name of the motion that is being created is auto generated. The user may edit it if required.
Motion Type
The follower motion (displacement) can be defined with respect to the following:
Time Based
Cam Angle Based
Method
The follower motion may be defined using a set of functions or the coordinates of the plot may be directly entered either via file import or manual entry.
Function Builder
Import Data Points
Create Data Points
Follower Displacement
The nature of displacement of the follower
Translational
Pivotal
Builder
If you select Function Builder method, the following options are available in the next page of the wizard:
Function Numbers
Enter the number of functions required to define the motion.
Function
1. The Function Builder is used to define the follower motion using a function or a combination of functions. The functions that can are available are
a. Step function - STEP (x, xo, h0, x1, h1)
b. Simple harmonic function - SHF (x, x0, a, w, phi, b)
c. Polynomial function - POLY (x, x0, a0, a1, a2, a3)
d. Constant
2. The follower displacement function can be defined as a combination of a maximum of 21 functions. The final displacement function is generated by appending each function to the next in the same sequence as the rows on tabs.
Function Parameters
Based on the function selected, the number of input parameters required by the function gets changed dynamically. The order of input parameter to be entered can be referred from the help text at the bottom of the wizard page.
Time or Angle Range
The input parameters are entered accordingly and the user also has to enter the time/angle range within which that particular function has to work. The user always enters the end time/angle of the time/angle range. Start time/angle is automatically taken as the end time/angle of previous function. For time-based follower motions, any subsequent cam profile derivation actions must assume some cam rotation speed. It will assume a speed necessary to complete exactly one revolution within the total time range specified by the follower motion.
Plot
The Plot button in each row is used to view the plot of the particular function. A pop up window appears which displays the curve of the function defined within the time/angle range.
If you selected Cam Angle Based motion type, the following options are available:
One Cycle Duration
One cycle duration is the time taken for 3600 rotation of the cam. This is used only to calculate the acceleration and jerk of the displacement function.
If you selected Import Data Points methods, the following options are available:
External File
Select the external .csv file. The file should contain the independent axis (Angle/Time) and the ordinate axis (Displacement) units must be as per the model units.

The first and last value of displacement must be equal to zero. If independent axis is angle, then the range should be 00 to 3600.

Example files illustrating the required format of this file can be found in "<installation_directory>\amachinery\examples\cam"
If you selected Cam Angle Based motion type, the following options are available:
One cycle duration
One cycle duration is the time taken for 3600 rotation of the cam. This is used only to calculate the acceleration and jerk of the displacement function.
If you selected Create Data Points methods, the independent axis (Angle/Time) and the ordinate axis (Displacement) units must be as per the model units. Click the Next button to create follower motion by entering Data points. The first and last value of displacement must be equal to zero. If independent axis is angle, then the range should be 00 to 3600.
If you selected Cam Angle Based motion type, the following options are available:
One cycle duration
One cycle duration is the time taken for 3600 rotation of the cam. This field appears only when Cam Angle Based is selected as Motion Type. This is used only to calculate the acceleration and jerk of the displacement function.
Visualization
Type
Set Type to y=f(x) (2D) to create or edit a two-dimensional, curve spline.
View as
The follower motion developed or imported can be viewed in the following formats:
Tabular Data
Plot
Units
Select the units from the list. You can specify the units that you want assigned for values in your spline. If you set the units for your data points, Adams Machinery automatically performs any necessary unit conversions if you ever change your default modeling units.

You can also select to create two- or three-dimensional splines. When you create a three-dimensional spline in tabular view, this will display a second column for adding z values. Note that you can view the z dimension in the 3D Spline Plot Viewer. You also need to recompute the spline in plot view to set a three-dimensional spline.
Linear extrapolation
If selected, this causes Adams Solver to extrapolate this spline when/if it exceeds the defined range by applying linear function(s) tangent to the spline at the end(s) of the defined range. By default, Adams Solver extrapolates by applying a cubic function over the first or last three data points.
Append row to X and Y data
Click to add a row to the beginning of the X and Y table.
Prepend row to X and Y data
Click to add a row to the end of the X and Y table.
Insert Row After
Click to add a row after a particular X and Y row.
Remove Row
Click to remove a row from either the X and Y or Z table.
Jerk/Acceleration
Curve
Select the curve that is to be displayed as Tabular Data or Plot
Acceleration
Jerk (first time-derivative of acceleration)
Type
Set Type to y=f(x) (2D) to create or edit a two-dimensional, curve spline.
View as
The acceleration or jerk of the follower motion developed or imported can be viewed in the following formats:
Tabular Data
Plot
Units
Select the units from the list. You can specify the units that you want assigned for values in your spline. If you set the units for your data points, Adams Machinery automatically performs any necessary unit conversions if you ever change your default modeling units.

You can also select to create two- or three-dimensional splines. When you create a three-dimensional spline in tabular view, this will display a second column for adding z values. Note that you can view the z dimension in the 3D Spline Plot Viewer. You also need to recompute the spline in plot view to set a three-dimensional spline.
Linear extrapolation
If selected, this causes Adams Solver to extrapolate this spline when/if it exceeds the defined range by applying linear function(s) tangent to the spline at the end(s) of the defined range. By default, Adams Solver extrapolates by applying a cubic function over the first or last three data points.
Append row to X and Y data
Click to add a row to the beginning of the X and Y table.
Prepend row to X and Y data
Click to add a row to the end of the X and Y table.
Insert Row After
Click to add a row after a particular X and Y row.
Remove Row
Click to remove a row from either the X and Y or Z table.
Optimization
The functions and values entered in the Builder will appear here in a non editable format with check boxes adjacent to each parameter. Check the boxes for which design variable to be created. These Design variables can be used for optimization.
Note: If you don’t want to optimize your data then skip the operations in this page and click Next button.
Optimize
The target parameter based on which optimization has to be carried out.
Jerk
Acceleration
Select the action to be performed on the target parameter
Maximize
Minimize
Objective Value
Select the action to be performed on the objective values selected
Maximize
Minimize
Design Variables
The function parameters whose values can be varied to perform optimization are selected via the check boxes adjacent to each in the table.

Select the check boxes corresponding to the parameters for which design variables are to be created. Now you can select the design variables in the box below by guessing option. Parameters checked in the above matrix can only be selected.

After selecting the design variable in the 'Design Variables' Field, select each design variable for which range is to be edited and change the range using RMB options.
Run Optimization
Click this button to run the optimization. Once run, click Next to view the results.
Optimized Displacement Curve
The curve that is obtained after the optimization is displayed in the next page of the wizard.