How to constrain Gears in Motionview/Motionsolve?
I have 2 gears that are supposed to be meshing with each other at a certain RPM. I dont know what are the proper joins to use.
Also, is there anyone that know how to use Gear Constraint?
What are the things that is need to be set in these tabs. Thank you in advance!
Answers
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Hello,
It appears you are showing a panel for a "Gear" constraint? Be advised you have two other options for modeling gear interaction - a Coupler and a Contact. Which to use really depends on your simulation objective(s). With respect to using a Gear vs. a Coupler, I haven't used the Gear constraint myself so cannot speak to specific use-cases. However, the Coupler or Contact are what we typically recommend for representing gears.
"Gear" constraint is a constraint based on a vector having the same velocity at a common point. The constraint directions have to match such that there is a common velocity point and direction. This is why you have selections for joints, direction and location. The same is not true for Couplers.
"Couplers" are used to relate the displacement of two joints. You can couple rotation-rotation, rotation-translation, and translation-translation. You can obtain the torque transmitted through the coupler, but it will not give any information regarding gear tooth interaction. It is merely a coupling of the joints (i.e. gear shafts, for example). Mass and inertia and loading effects of bodies attached through the joints are included.
Finally, if you are interested in the behavior of the gear teeth (lash, forces, friction), you should use a Contact. Depending on the complexity of the gear geometry, using a contact may be much more solve time-intensive, but the input and output gears will self-couple due to the actual interaction of the teeth. Contact with gears should be used with a crawl-walk-run approach. Again, it really depends on objectives - only use modeling features to represent what is absolutely necessary.
Scott Z
1
Altair Employee