PMKS+:  A Tool to Analyze and Synthesize Planar Mechanisms

Galvan, Alexander

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PMKS+: A Tool to Analyze and Synthesize Planar Mechanisms

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There are various modeling tools (linkage specific and generic CAD tools) available for designing and analyzing planar mechanisms. Users are expected to have a certain level of expertise to effectively use them. These tools often take a black box approach whereby no other information between the input and output will be available. Information such as equilibrium equations, loop equations for kinematic analyses, static forces, etc. will be helpful for students as they learn these topics in different courses. For the teaching team, the availability of this information will save considerable time while evaluating student work and providing feedback. To address these challenges, a browser-based application called PMKS+ (Planar Mechanism Kinematic Simulator Plus, https://pmksplus.mech.website) is being developed at WPI. In its current form, the application lacks features that can make it an ideal companion tool for mechanism related courses. Hence, the goal of this thesis is to integrate new features into PMKS+. Three important aspects are tackled through this thesis: integration of various types of analyses within PMKS+; updating the user interface to allow display of equations and data; and upgrading the backend development platform. The analyses that have been integrated include kinematics, and force analyses (static equilibrium and Newton’s second law). Data from these analyses can be viewed as plots or exported into a spreadsheet for further analysis and interpretation. Equations corresponding to various analyses can also be viewed in the application. The PMKS+ application was tested with these improvements in many courses that teach mechanisms where students compared the software generated results with their own MATLAB implementation. The availability of the software also helped the teaching team improve the feedback quality during office hours and help sessions. The student feedback has been highly positive with respect to software usability and applicability to coursework. As part of this work, several backend improvements and platform upgrades were also carried out to ensure stability during usage and to help add new features in the future. Details related to the application development, implementation in courses, feedback, and future activities will be discussed in depth.

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