S13 Design & analyse basic mechanical systems
This area of the audit has been marked at '1' meaning very little knowledge if not any at all.
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What I have learnt and what I now understand
Today in our taught sessions we were introduced to mechanisms. Initially, I did not realise that it was such a vast area and already I have learnt and understand quite a great deal!
First of all I now understand that people use mechanisms every day, whether it is driving a car, riding a bike or even using a door handle to open a door. The most important thing to know is that the term mechanism means – A system of gears, cams, pulleys and levers working together.
I discovered that a Mechanical system is any type of control system that uses mechanism and that mechanisms move in different ways depending on the type of system. I learnt that this is referred to as MOTION, which is basically the way something moves. First of all we were introduced to the different types of movement.
Rotary Motion – We learnt that this is anything that can describe an arch or a circle. For example, the hands of a clock, a wheel, a gear or a cog.
Oscillating Motion – Is movement that swings back and forth or movement around a fixed point. For instance, a pendulum, swing or a seesaw.
Linear Motion – A straight movement which us not constrained to return so it is always going in one direction. For example, a train or an elevator.
Raeciprocating Motion – movement that is a straight line motion in two opposite directions, up and down or forward and back. For instance, a thret saw or a tennon saw.
I now understand and have learnt that in Design and Technology or as a designer if you are designing a product that includes moving parts then it requires some knowledge of different mechanisms. I have found looking at different examples of everyday products or assets that we use as people, has helped me to understand the theories more, the arrows are also a good way to remind myself and symbolise the different types of motion.
Levers
Once we had learnt about the different types of motion and looked at various examples we then were introduced to Levers. I am now aware that a lever helps to move heavy objects. I have learnt that there are three orders or classes of Levers and I am also aware that each Lever will include a FULCRUM which is a pivot point, a PIVOT which is the point of rotation, the EFFORT, the force put into a system and the LOAD which is the forces acting on a structure or system or the mass to be moved in a lever system.
I also understand now about Mechanical advantage and that each class will carry different levels of this. You can calculate the mechanical advantage using the Load and the Effort, sooner I realised that the true terminology would be:
Mechanical Advantage = Load/ Effort.
I remember Dean saying that the mechanical advantage is the result of the load and the effort of the lever. This really stuck in my head and made it a bit clearer for me to understand.
The following images show my scanned notes from class illustrating these three orders/classes.
Once we had learnt about the different types of motion and looked at various examples we then were introduced to Levers. I am now aware that a lever helps to move heavy objects. I have learnt that there are three orders or classes of Levers and I am also aware that each Lever will include a FULCRUM which is a pivot point, a PIVOT which is the point of rotation, the EFFORT, the force put into a system and the LOAD which is the forces acting on a structure or system or the mass to be moved in a lever system.
I also understand now about Mechanical advantage and that each class will carry different levels of this. You can calculate the mechanical advantage using the Load and the Effort, sooner I realised that the true terminology would be:
Mechanical Advantage = Load/ Effort.
I remember Dean saying that the mechanical advantage is the result of the load and the effort of the lever. This really stuck in my head and made it a bit clearer for me to understand.
The following images show my scanned notes from class illustrating these three orders/classes.
Class One – The fulcrum is between the load and effort. If there is is to be a mechanical advantage here, the distance from effort to the fulcrum must be greater than the load to fulcrum.
Class Two – The fulcrum is at one end with the load between the fulcrum and effort.
Class Three – The fulcrum is at one end
with the effort being in the middle with the load at the other end. We learnt
that this example will not give a mechanical advantage as the effort to fulcrum
distance is always less then the load to fulcrum.
Although I pretty much understood the basis of each level and was able to determine the difference in classes, I found that my learning and understanding for this area improved so much more when we looked at different examples of such levers in the taught session. For some reason it just all came into place and as a result I now have a quick method of remembering the classes.
I do understand that these three examples above are not the only examples of levers that exist. We have looked and spoken about these other examples in class today and although I will most likely stick to the see-saw-wheelbarrow-tweezers method I think that it is important to demonstrate in this section of the audit that I am aware of the other examples. Reason being, is because this can potentially be a good and useful source to reflect upon as revision for myself and can ultimately help my future students if they are struggling with this area of Design and Technology.
Other examples:
Class 1 – Crowbar, Scissors, Catapult and Pliers.
Class 2 - Nutcrackers.
Class 3 - Tennis racket, or BBQ tongs.
During this engagement I have been able to identify that there are some principles and common concepts with these classes of Levers, for example;
Additionally, there are three common features that I have noticed, a position where effort is applied, a position where a load is moved and a fulcrum or balancing point.
Other examples:
Class 1 – Crowbar, Scissors, Catapult and Pliers.
Class 2 - Nutcrackers.
Class 3 - Tennis racket, or BBQ tongs.
During this engagement I have been able to identify that there are some principles and common concepts with these classes of Levers, for example;
- All levels regardless of the class are made up of a fulcrum or pivot, an effort and a load.
- They are divided on the basis of where the load is in relation to the fulcrum and effort
Additionally, there are three common features that I have noticed, a position where effort is applied, a position where a load is moved and a fulcrum or balancing point.
Linkages
Another aspect of Mechanical systems that we learnt during our session today with Dean was about linkages. I discovered that linkages are mechanisms, which allow force or motion to be direct where it is needed; it is a way in which a number of levers can be joined together to make a useful machine or object. Now I am familiar with the various types of linkages:
Another aspect of Mechanical systems that we learnt during our session today with Dean was about linkages. I discovered that linkages are mechanisms, which allow force or motion to be direct where it is needed; it is a way in which a number of levers can be joined together to make a useful machine or object. Now I am familiar with the various types of linkages:
Although we did cover linkages within the class today I found that I needed to go away and find out more to understand how they function which hopefully would develop my understanding in this area. I came across the subject on bite size (http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/design/systemscontrol/mechanismsrev3.shtml) and found it really useful to look at animation of the various linkages; I remembered in Dean’s presentation he also showed us some examples of these so I revisited the source he had used. Below are the links that I have used.
http://freezeray.com/flashFiles/parallelLinkage.htm
http://freezeray.com/flashFiles/parallelLinkage.htm
http://freezeray.com/flashFiles/parallelLinkage.htm
http://freezeray.com/flashFiles/parallelLinkage.htm
To summarise just by searching a bit further and looking at other sources that explain the subjects of linkages I have been able to understand more about the actual definition and what it entails. I now understand that a linkage is used to join parts of a mechanism together, it also is capable or changing speed, direction and timing in a mechanism.
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Analysis of new gained knowledge and the next step
When I first started this course I had no idea as to what mechanisms as a subject in Design and Technology actually entailed. For that reason I marked this area of the audit as a ‘1’ meaning little knowledge if not any at all. At the moment I know that this is quite a big area so although I know I have progressed and learnt some new knowledge there is still a fair amount to cover in order for myself to be totally comfortable within the subject.
The presentation that Dean gave us today was a really nice introduction to the subject and I found at times I was really engaged and successful whilst learning. I felt that I was more successful when I was looking at different objects or every day examples that included mechanisms, whether it being a type of motion or a Lever. This really is important for me as a learner, because if I am able to relate to content and compare it to everyday items or experiences that I am familiar with in my own life then I find it a lot easier to be able to apprehend the content as well as transferring it within my understanding. Therefore, going away and thinking about different examples really supported my development and learning during this time of exploration. I also felt that I was quite successful as a learner when I was able to identify common concepts within the subject of levers. As a future teacher in Design and Technology I think that it is crucial to be able to demonstrate these concepts within your work and teaching because these principals act as the foundations of any area you are teaching or learning. It can also help to make things clearer to students and it certainly helped me as a learner within this process to understand more. Therefore, this is another factor that I felt was successful during my engagement throughout this time – being able to identify the common concepts and as a result I shall try to bare this in mind when faced with other areas of the audit.
I have found myself getting better at finding better sources to support my progression and development. I feel that being able to research effectively and looking for other aids to help you understand content is a really important element to have when learning. As a result of this I came across some really good websites and books, which contributed, to my deeper understanding of the content, especially in linkages.
I do feel that I have been successful during my learning process during this time but I also feel that there are aspects where I was not as successful as I could have been. The tutorial today covered a great deal and at times there were areas of this subject that I just did not understand or did not feel one hundred percent comfortable with. In retrospect, this would be a slightly negative and unsuccessful part of my learning process, I should have asked my course mates or Dean to explain the points again but I didn’t and as a result I have not really developed any further. It was mainly the Math’s side of the area which baffled me, I think that I just need to go away and practice the equations again, re-read my notes and try to get my head around it by looking at other sources perhaps? – This leads me on to my next step in my development within this area of the audit.
My next step within this area of the audit in the bid to further my understanding and development as I have mentioned will be spending time to revise and practice the Math’s side of mechanisms. Additionally, there were other points of the sessions that we did not investigate because of time constraints such as pulleys, cams, gears and rotary motion, if I have time I will have a look into this area or at least find some sources that digest the area so that I can look back at it in the future.
Finally, I am aware that this section of the audit is called ‘ Design and Analysis basic mechanical systems’, although I have demonstrated so far my understanding of how I can analysis mechanism I have not yet designed any. For this reason, my next step also will be to design some basic types of mechanism whether it is using some materials to model examples or evidence of this within my other modules and work. This will hopefully facilitate my development within the area and contribute to my learning and skills improving.
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When I first started this course I had no idea as to what mechanisms as a subject in Design and Technology actually entailed. For that reason I marked this area of the audit as a ‘1’ meaning little knowledge if not any at all. At the moment I know that this is quite a big area so although I know I have progressed and learnt some new knowledge there is still a fair amount to cover in order for myself to be totally comfortable within the subject.
The presentation that Dean gave us today was a really nice introduction to the subject and I found at times I was really engaged and successful whilst learning. I felt that I was more successful when I was looking at different objects or every day examples that included mechanisms, whether it being a type of motion or a Lever. This really is important for me as a learner, because if I am able to relate to content and compare it to everyday items or experiences that I am familiar with in my own life then I find it a lot easier to be able to apprehend the content as well as transferring it within my understanding. Therefore, going away and thinking about different examples really supported my development and learning during this time of exploration. I also felt that I was quite successful as a learner when I was able to identify common concepts within the subject of levers. As a future teacher in Design and Technology I think that it is crucial to be able to demonstrate these concepts within your work and teaching because these principals act as the foundations of any area you are teaching or learning. It can also help to make things clearer to students and it certainly helped me as a learner within this process to understand more. Therefore, this is another factor that I felt was successful during my engagement throughout this time – being able to identify the common concepts and as a result I shall try to bare this in mind when faced with other areas of the audit.
I have found myself getting better at finding better sources to support my progression and development. I feel that being able to research effectively and looking for other aids to help you understand content is a really important element to have when learning. As a result of this I came across some really good websites and books, which contributed, to my deeper understanding of the content, especially in linkages.
I do feel that I have been successful during my learning process during this time but I also feel that there are aspects where I was not as successful as I could have been. The tutorial today covered a great deal and at times there were areas of this subject that I just did not understand or did not feel one hundred percent comfortable with. In retrospect, this would be a slightly negative and unsuccessful part of my learning process, I should have asked my course mates or Dean to explain the points again but I didn’t and as a result I have not really developed any further. It was mainly the Math’s side of the area which baffled me, I think that I just need to go away and practice the equations again, re-read my notes and try to get my head around it by looking at other sources perhaps? – This leads me on to my next step in my development within this area of the audit.
My next step within this area of the audit in the bid to further my understanding and development as I have mentioned will be spending time to revise and practice the Math’s side of mechanisms. Additionally, there were other points of the sessions that we did not investigate because of time constraints such as pulleys, cams, gears and rotary motion, if I have time I will have a look into this area or at least find some sources that digest the area so that I can look back at it in the future.
Finally, I am aware that this section of the audit is called ‘ Design and Analysis basic mechanical systems’, although I have demonstrated so far my understanding of how I can analysis mechanism I have not yet designed any. For this reason, my next step also will be to design some basic types of mechanism whether it is using some materials to model examples or evidence of this within my other modules and work. This will hopefully facilitate my development within the area and contribute to my learning and skills improving.
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Further Development
Initially, the Maths very much confused me within this section of the audit. However, now I am a lot more comfortable with the principles of these equations and I feel that I have certainly developed now as a learner. I have learnt mostly by re-reading my notes and looking at other sources, once I had done this I was then able to create some further notes. These are almost like my revision source for this part of the audit, so it has really helped me to break it down and tackle it in digestible chunks of information.
Today at Uni I decided to have a play around with creating some basic mechanism. I have to say when first approaching this area of the audit, I found it relatively boring but now that I have been able to create some basic examples I think that it can be the basis of a good project for students in school to come to grips with the principles of this area of Design and Technology.
It certainly helped me further to develop my understanding and I mainly learnt more about the importance to linkages in any kind of mechanism. I also now know that the pivot's are crucial for each moving part of the mechanisms to function properly, so it was something that I careful thought about before I used the Laser cutter to create my designs. I was also able to develop further skills in 2D design and become more competent in the Laser cutter because I think we all know how temperamental it can be!
It certainly helped me further to develop my understanding and I mainly learnt more about the importance to linkages in any kind of mechanism. I also now know that the pivot's are crucial for each moving part of the mechanisms to function properly, so it was something that I careful thought about before I used the Laser cutter to create my designs. I was also able to develop further skills in 2D design and become more competent in the Laser cutter because I think we all know how temperamental it can be!