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2.007 Design and Manufacturing I

Spring 2009

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 2.007 – Design and Manufacturing I
Practice Exam on Drawing, CAD, Motors, Pneumatics, and Mechanisms
This practice exam is meant for a 1.5 hour period. It has 7 problems and 100 points total.
NOTE: These are problems we made up and decided not to use on the exam in this form. We
thought maybe they were not as clear as we wanted or didn’t match our objectives perfectly. So,
this practice exam is not quite representative, but practicing on imperfect problems is better than
not practicing.

1. (15 points) A designer proposes to change the an electric motor by increasing the number of
windings of wire around the armature significantly (e.g., by doubling it). All other
parameters of the motor are preserved as they were (radius of the armature, strength of the
magnatic field, and so on). Describe the influence (if any) on:

a) stall torque
b) no load speed

Commutator

F
c) maximum power

Parts of an Electric Motor

+ .

NORTH

SOUTH
Brushes
Axle

To Battery
+ .

Armature
FIELD MAGNET

Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare.

2. (5 points) The components shown here (resistor,

capacitor, LED, and normally-open-button) are
connected in series. The button is pressed and the LED
lights up and then slowly dims over the course of 5
seconds. The button is released and 5 more seconds
pass. The button is pressed again. Which statement
best describes what happens:

a) The LED lights up and then slowly dims over the

course of 5 seconds
b) The LED starts dim then slowly brightens over the
course of 5 seconds
c) The LED lights up steadily
d) LED does not light
3. (5 points) In the Pugh method of controlled convergence:

a) The datum concept should be a strong design concept so that the team can visualize
opportunities to improve on the best available ideas
b) The datum concept should be an avergae design concept so that the matrix will be filled
with a balance of + and – ratings providing the maximum information for decision-
making
c) The datum concept should be a weak design concept so that each team member will feel
motivated because the design concepts they propose will have more + ratings than –
ratings
d) The datum concept should be selected at random to avoid bias in the decision making
process

4. (5 points) A vehicle is composed of a box shaped structure with permanent magnet DC

motors placed at all four corners and driving all four wheels (through a gear train). All these
motors are attached to a 5V NiCad battery pack. The vehicle is climbing a 20 degree incline.
The coefficient of static friction between the wheels and the inclined surface is 0.5. The
vehicle is proceeding very slowly since the motors are nearly stalled. At that moment, an
additional object is placed on top of the vehicle which doubles the weight of the overall
vehicle plus its payload. Which statement best describes the events that will transpire?

a) The wheels will begin to slip with respect to the surface of the incline, but the vehicle
will continue to climb, power delivered by the battery will drop somewhat
b) The wheels will turn at half the rate and therefore half the power, but the vehicle will
continue to climb, power delivered by the battery will drop somewhat
c) The wheels will turn in the opposite direction, moving the vehicle back down the ramp,
backdriving the gear train, delivering power back to the voltage supply
d) The wheels will turn in the opposite direction, moving the vehicle back down the ramp,
backdriving the gear train, and power delivered by the voltage supply will increase
5. (20pts total) This question and its several parts (a-e) are based on the line drawing of the
part below.

Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare.

a) (2pts) Which features of this part might be described as a “rib”? Annotate the drawing
above.
b) (2pts) What term would you use to describe the circular feature extending from the left
side of the part?
c) (2pts) If you were to add hidden lines to this drawing, how would the hole on the top of
this drawing manifest itself in the rest of the drawing below the hole? Add a sketch of
the lines onto the drawing above. Explain any assumptions you needed to make about the
geometry of the part not visible in the drawing.
d) (4pts) Explain briefly why it is appropriate to show a line on this drawing at the location
indicated above by “Line” and not to show a line at the location indicated above by “No
Line”.
e) (10pts) Sketch front and side views of the part by hand below. Don’t include hidden
lines. Do retain the proportions approximately correct and align the two views with one
another.
6. (25 points total) The brakes on passenger automobiles are often “drum” brakes operated by a
hydraulic system. A real drum brake and a simplified schematic are shown below.
Hydraulic cylinder –
Pin joints
Brake fluid flows in and pushes out
pistons in both directions
Drum rotates

Image removed due to copyright restrictions. Hydraulic cylinder

Please see any photo of a drum brake,
body fixed to the
such as http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Trabant_601_duplex_brake.jpg Hydraulic piston spindle assembly
slides within the
Brake shoe cylinder body

Brake lining –
material firmly
attached to the
shoe Pin joints supported on the spindle
a. (5 points) Analyze the kinematic degrees of freedom of the mechanism. To assembly
keep things simple, just
consider the mechanism comprised of the left brake shoe and the piston attached to it and the related
pin joints. How many degrees of freedom does this mechanism have?
b. (10 points) Draw a free body diagram of the left shoe assuming the hydraulic cylinder is applying a
force F sufficient to displace the shoe outboard to contact the drum. The drum is rotating and is in
contact with the shoe, so frictional forces or tractions should be included on your diagram.
c. (5 points) Estimate the torque applied to the drum by the left shoe if the force applied by the
hydraulic piston on the left shoe is 100N. The drum is rotating and has a coefficient of kinetic
friction with the brake lining of .
d. (5 points) Imagine that, subsequent to initiating braking, the brake fluid pressure suddenly drops to
zero. Estimate the torque applied (if any) to the drum by the left shoe in this circumstance.
7. (25 pts total) Make an isometric sketch of a two-bolt flange based on the three views shown
here.

Part geometry from SolidWorks, Inc.

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2.007 Design and Manufacturing I

Spring 2009

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 2.007 – Design and Manufacturing I
Practice Exam on Drawing, CAD, Motors, Pneumatics, and Mechanisms
This practice exam is intended for a 1.5 hour period. It has 8 problems and 100 points total.
NOTE: These are problems we made up and decided not to use on the exam in this form. We
thought maybe they were not as clear as we wanted or didn’t match our objectives perfectly. So,
this practice exam is not quite representative, but practicing on imperfect problems is better than
not practicing.

1. (20 points) A vehicle is composed of a box shaped structure with permanent magnet DC
motors placed at all four corners and driving all four wheels (each through a gear train). All
these motors are attached to a 5V NiCad battery pack. The coefficient of static friction
between the wheels and the surface is 0.5. The vehicle starts from a stand still on level
ground. The stall torque is 0.3Nm and the no load speed os 50rpm. The vehicle weight is 1N
and the wheels are fairly hard.

a) (5 pts) Draw a torque speed curve for the motor.

b) (10 pts) Describe the situation when the voltage is first applied to the motors. Indicate
the operating point on the torque speed curve.
c) (5 pts) Describe the situation when the vehicle reaches its steady state velocity on level
ground. Indicate the operating point on the torque speed curve.

2. (10 points) A bottle of soda is to be poured by a

machine. Three positions desired are depicted here to
the right. We want to make 4 bar mechanism that
attaches to the locations indicated by the arrows.
a) Synthesize the mechanism.
b) Sketch the mechanism in the first position where the
bottle is still on the table.

c) Describe your steps.

3. (10 points) A vehicle is composed of 3

pneumatic pistons attached to a straight
shaft at one end and a crankshaft at the
other. Each piston is atatched to two
compressed air lines, one for extension
and one for retraction. Each air line is
attached to a spply of high pressure air
through a solenoid actuated valve. The
crankshaft has three pins displaced from
the main bearings by one inch and
separated from each other pin by 120
degrees. Describe using words and
graphics, a process by which solenoid actuated valves can be used to drive the rear wheel
clockwise and therefore propel the vehicle forward. What specifically is the sequence of
“firing” of the pneumatic actuators you propose for propelling the vehicle?

4. (10 points) Consider the same vehicle as

in problem 5. It is proposed to steer the
vehicle using a standard hobby
servomotor. The vehicle is segmented
into a front and aft part and a pin joint is
arranged in the middle to connect them.
The body of the servomotor is rigidly
attached to the rear segment of the
vehicle. The end of the servo horn is
connected to a link and the other end of
that link is pinned to the rear segment of
the vehicle.

a. Make a free body diagram of the vehicle and its front and rear segements. Assume the
car was proceeding straight when, at that moment, a torque of 0.3 N*m is applied by the
servo.
b. Explain what will happen in words and graphics. Will the vehicle be able to turn with a
servo connected in this manner? Will the front or rear wheels slide laterally?
 Force applied to
rope

5. (10 points) A person wishes to keep a rope in a fixed location despite a force applied to the
rope by another person seeking to move it. They propose to wrap the rope once around a
PVC pipe (as shown above). The end of the PVC pipe is placed within a hole in a 2 in by 4
in piece of lumber which is then pinned in place (the pin is not shown above) .

a. Make a free body diagram of the PVC pipe.

b. Estimate the force that will result in moving the rope. You may assume the tension in the
left side of the rope is initially 20N and that the coefficient of friction between the rope
and PVC pipe is 0.3.
6. (5 points) How many degrees of fredom does this mechanism possess? Describe your
solution process.
7. (15 pts total) This question and its several parts (a-d) are based on the two images of a
piston below.

φ4
4.50

0.25

Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare.

Part geometry from SpinMaster Toys, Inc.

a) (3pts) The interior surface at the bottom of the piston is defined by the sketch geometry in
the graphic. What operation do you think transformed the sketch into the 3D feature?
Briefly explain why.
b) (2pts) Given the way that the sketch is dimensioned and constrained including the
tangency of the line and the circle, describe briefly in words how the resulting cavity be
affected by changes in its overall depth (which is currently 4.50mm). How will the angle
subtended by the arc and the angle of the tangent line vary?
c) (5pts) Make a sketch of the part with the cavity depth decreased to 2.00mm.
d) (5pts) Describe what engineering concerns may arise if the cavity depth is increased to,
for example, 9mm.
8. (20 pts total) Make three view drawing from the isometric drawing shown here.
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2.007 Design and Manufacturing I

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 Page 1 of 10

2.007 – Design and Manufacturing I

Draft Exam on Gears, Springs, Mechanisms, and Drawing

This is a practice exam. On the real exam, you’ll have 1.5 hours to answer about 7 questions.
This exam is somewhat longer and would take about 2.5 hours by my reckoning. Point allocations
(out of 100 total) are listed for each question based on what they’d be worth on the real exam. So,
this practice exam adds up to about 160 points.

1. (10 points) Define the term “hysteresis.” Explain its significance for sensors and for energy
storage elements (e.g. rubber bands).

2. (10 points) You fill a one liter container with air at 60 psi gauge pressure and plan to use it as
a source of power for a machine. The air in the bottle is at thermal equilibrium with the air in the
room at 20 degree Centigrade. Estimate the force applied if a valve is opened connecting the
reservoir of air to a piston with a three inch internal diameter and a four inch throw.
 Page 2 of 10

3. (20 points) Sketch the mechanism in a position that places it in static equilibrium.
Assume the joints have negligable friction. The drawing is scaled properly in all
dimensions so you can estimate any dimensions you need from the figure.

Briefly justify your solution with a couple equations, schematic diagrams, and/or a few
sentences of explanation.

5 cm
These springs are at
their natural length
Lamp head has a
and have a spring
weight of 1N
constant of 10N/cm

These parts have a

weight of 0.1N
3 cm

Base is fixed to the

table
 Page 3 of 10

4. (20 points) The subproblems below refer to the page from a bearing catalog provided here.

A) (5 points) If gear PX32B-10 and

PX32B-20 are mated together in a
gear train, how far apart should the
centers of their shafts be placed?

B) (5 points) If gear PX32B-10 and

PX32B-20 are mated together in a
gear train and a torque of 2 ft lbs is
applied to PX32B-10, what is the
torque on PX32B-20?

Courtesy of W. M. Berg, Inc. Used with permission.

C) (10 points) If gear PX32B-10 and PX32B-20 are mated together in a gear train and a torque of 2 ft lbs
is applied to PX32B-10, what is the direction and magnitude of the reaction force at the shaft where
PX32B-20 is mounted? State any assumptions needed to arrive at your answer.
 Page 4 of 10

6. (10 points) Match the items below to the terms that describe them.

Planetary gear set

Extension spring

Bevel gear

Torsion spring

Compound gear train

Rack

Images from melloveschallah, gregpc, and wizard23 on Flickr, and Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org
 Page 5 of 10

7. (10 points) It is proposed to use the arrangement below to transmit torque from the drive shaft of
an engine to the rear wheels of a small vehicle. Explain why this might be a good design for a
small race car yet not a good choice for a typical family sedan.
 Page 6 of 10

8. (10 points) A circuit is arranged with a relays, a DC motor, and sources of voltage (+5V)
Vdd shown below. A set of code is downloaded to a Basic Stamp Homework board is
also given below. Describe what will happen when the code is run. (The specification
sheet for the relays is shown on the next page for reference. )

' {$STAMP BS2}

' {$PBASIC 2.5}
i VAR nib
DO
FOR i=1 TO 10
LOW 0
HIGH 1
PAUSE 1000
LOW 1
HIGH 0
PAUSE 1000
NEXT
FOR i=1 TO 10
HIGH 0
HIGH 1
PAUSE 1000
LOW 1
LOW 0
Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare. PAUSE 1000
NEXT
LOOP
 Page 7 of 10

Text removed due to copyright restrictions.

Please see the data sheet for AZ822 subminiature DIP relays,
http://www.azettler.com/pdfs/az822.pdf
 Page 8 of 10

9. (25 points) Give short answers to the subquestions below.

A) (5 points) What does it mean to say that a pair of mating gears exhibit “conjugate action”?

B) (5 points) Consider the statement “the involute curve is the only shape for gears that provides
conjugate action.” Is this true or false? Justify your answer.

C) (5 points) Describe, in your own words, the meaning of the term “pitch diameter”.

D) (5 points) Consider the statement “Gear teeth designed using an involute curve provide conjugate
action even if the gears are mounted at a slightly greater distance greater than half the sum of the pitch
diameters of the mating gears.” Is this true or false?

E) (5 points) Name and briefly describe two different ways that spur gears are manufactured and the
differences in performance and cost of the resulting gears.
 Page 9 of 10

10) (20 points)

A) (10 points) Make a three view drawing, complete with dimensions, of the part below.
Show the dimensions on the view that best communicates each feature.
B) (10 points) Suggest a sequence of manufacturing steps to make the part. You can
suggest and describe one or two small changes that would make the part easier to
fabricate.

1.30

2.50

1.00

1.20

.80

Y 3.80
1.00
0 2.20
X

Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare.

 Page 10 of 10

11) (20 points) (Adapted from Shigley and Mischke, NOTE: The values of variables have been
changed) A hydraulic cylinder has a diameter D = 4 inches, a wall thickness t= 1/2 inch, length L
= 12 inches, and bracket thickness of w = ¾ inch. The brackets and cylinder are made of steel.
Six 3/8 in SAE grade 7 coarse threaded
bolts are used and tightened to 75% of proof w L w
t
load (120,000psi for SAE grade 7). By how
much will the bolts increase in length when
the cylinder changes from applying no load D

to applying a load of 4000 lbs (applied at the

output on the right)?

Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare.

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 Page 1 of 8

2.007 – Design and Manufacturing I

Draft Exam on Drawing, CAD, Motors, Pneumatics, and Mechanisms

You have 1.5 hours to answer the following 9 questions. Please show your work to the extent
possible given the allotted time. Point allocations (out of 100 total) are listed for each question.

1. (10 points) What tension, T, must be applied to raise the 4 N weight at a constant rate?

pulley
10 cm

T
Going up!

First, I deal with the right side which is a capstan and NOT a pulley

Fbetween

Going down!

5N

By the capstan equation Fbetween=5N*e^(-*)=5N*e^(-0.3*/2)=3.12N

NOTE the sign in the exponent. It is nagative because the 5N weight is going down and the
frictional forces oppose the motion resulting in a lower tensile force in the rope in between the
capstan and the pulley than was applied by gravity.

Next, I deal with the left side which is a pulley and NOT a capstan

Sum of moments about the pivot SM=4N*10cm-Fbetween*10cm-T*5cm=0 Fbetween

T=1.76N

T
4N
 Page 2 of 8

2. (5 points) How many degrees of freedom does this mechanism possess?

4
4 Bodies each with 3 DOF = 12 DOF
5 full pin joints eacg remove 2 DOF = -10 DOF
3
Leaving 2 DOF of the mechanism

One of the DOF is associated with the parallelogram linkage 1 2

Comprised of the base, two links extending from the base, and
the triangular piece near the top of the lamp.
The other degree of freedom is associated with the lamp head itself which
Is free to rotate about its pivot.

Some students thought perhps some of the elements of the mechanism were
Redundant, but none of them are.
Base is fixed to the
table

3. (5 points) The components shown here (resistor, Switch is closed for 5 seconds
LED, capacitor, battery, and switch) are connected in
series. The switch is closed for 5 seconds. During
that time, the LED lights and then gradually dims.
+
The capacitor is then removed from the circuit and 5V 2 kΩ
reconnected as shown. The switch is then closed.
Which statement best describes what happens after -
the switch is closed again:
470 μF
a) The LED lights up and then slowly dims over the
course of 5 seconds - +
b) The LED starts dim then slowly brightens over the
course of 5 seconds
c) The LED lights up steadily
Switch is closed again
d) LED does not light

The capacitor is charged during the first 5 sec

interval. It is discharged in the next interval. Note

2 kΩ
Circuit is
that the capacitor is placed in the circuit facing the

re-arranged
opposite direction which is necessary to put the

higher voltage at the correct side of the diode. Note

470 μF
also that the time constant RC has not changed so the

- +
dimming should occur at the same rate as before.

 Page 3 of 8

4. (15 points) Sketch a four bar mechansim that could guide the trash barrel and the frame
supporting it through the three positions indicated here so that compost can be deposited
automatically in the hopper to the right. Please use the attachment points on the frame
indicated by arrows.

Attach links
here

See the working model file online – composter1

 Page 4 of 8

5. (20pts total) Make three views (top, front, and side) of the part that is shown in an
isometric view below. Please retain the proportions and show hidden lines and center
lines as appropriate. Please align the three views with respect to one another.

This line should not be there.

My mistake (well, Solidworks

puts it there and I forgot to get
rid of it).

NOTE: I had to make the figure

in the
 Page 5 of 8

6. (5 points) Describe a step you might take in Solidworks to fully constrain the sketch
below.

You can place an angular dimension between any pair lines. Similarly, you can place some
other constraint that removes a single degree of freedom. Any action that removes two or
more degrees of freedom (such as fixing a point or dimensioning two angles) will OVER
dimension the sketch.
 Page 6 of 8

7. (10 points) A bike is travelling straight and at a constant speed up a 30 degree hill. The
bike and rider together weight 200N. Estimate the tension in the part of the chain
indicated by the arrow.

NOTE: The wheels are about 3 times the diameter of the front sprocket and about 7 times
the diameter of the rear sprocket.

What is the tension in

the chain at this
location?

deg

Sum the forces in the direction along the surface. That will show the frictional force needed to
keep the bike moving at a constant speed is 200N*sin(30*deg)=100N.

Note that only the rear wheel will apply a substantial frictional force pushing the rider up the hill.
The front wheel should roll along applying the needed reaction force and maybe some rolling
resistance which we can neglect for the purpose of this problem.
Note that a 200N bike and rider is awfully light. Might be a 4-year-old girl.

Sum the monents about the rear wheel. There is only the 100N frictional force applied at the
bottom edge and tangent to it and the chain tension which is applied at the top of the rear
sprocket and tangent to it. The ratio of the two radii is 7, so the solution is 700N.
 Page 7 of 8

8. (10 points) A designer proposes to change the dimensions of an electric motor by

increasing the radius of the armature significantly (e.g., by 50%) (see the figure below).
All other parameters of the motor are preserved as they were (number of windings,
strength of the magnetic field, and so on). Which statement is most accurate:

a) (5 points) State the effect on the stall torque. Increases by 50%

b) (5 points) State the effect on the no load speed. Decreases proportionally to 1/1.5
which is a 33% decrease
Commutator

+ .
F
Parts of an Electric Motor

+ .
NORTH

SOUTH
Brushes
Axle

+ .
To Battery

+ .
Armature

FIELD MAGNET

Figures by MIT OpenCourseWare.

Motor before
Motor with longer armature radius
changes

NOTE: The equations below have been proposed to model the behavior of a permanent magnet
DC motor.

𝑉𝑖𝑛 = 𝑅𝑖 + 𝑉𝑒

𝑉𝑒 = 𝐾𝑡 𝜔

𝑇 = 𝐾𝑡 𝑖

𝐾𝑡 = 2𝑛𝐿𝑟𝐵 where n is the number of windings, L is the length of each winding, r is the radius
of the armature, and B is the magnetic field strength
 Page 8 of 8

9. (10 points) A circuit is arranged with a switching transistor as shown below. The supply
is a 9V battery. The terminal labeled “Stamp pin” is at 5V for 0.005 sec, 0V for 0.01 sec
and then repeats that pattern over and over. A DC motor is connected between the
battery and the transistor. Its specification sheet indicates a no load speed of 10,000 rpm
at 5V DC. Estimate the rpm of the motor when run within this circuit with no load
applied to its output shaft.

BATTERY
Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare.

Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare.

The Stamp in will, when raised to 5V, create a connection path for the current to flow through
the motor to the ground (- terminal of the battery). The pin is at 5V for only 1/3 of the duty
cycle, so the effective voltage seen by the load is 1/3 of the supply voltage which is 9V, not 5V.
The voltage is effectively 3V applied to the motor (see the wikipedia entry on pulse width
modulation). The no load speed at 5V is 10,000 rpm. The motor’s no load speed at 3V is
proportially less -- 6000 rpm with no load at 3V.
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2.007 Design and Manufacturing I

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 2.007 – Design and Manufacturing I
Practice Exam on Drawing, CAD, Motors, Pneumatics, and Mechanisms
This practice exam is meant for a 1.5 hour period. It has 7 problems and 100 points total.
NOTE: These are problems we made up and decided not to use on the exam in this form. We
thought maybe they were not as clear as we wanted or didn’t match our objectives perfectly. So,
this practice exam is not quite representative, but practicing on imperfect problems is better than
not practicing.

1. (15 points) A designer proposes to change the an electric motor by increasing the number of
windings of wire around the armature significantly (e.g., by doubling it). All other
parameters of the motor are preserved as they were (radius of the armature, strength of the
magnetic field, and so on). Describe the influence (if any) on:

a) stall torque- It would double (NOTE: to keep the winding resistance constant while
doubling the number of windings, the cross sectional area of the windings would
have to be doubled.)
b) no load speed- It would be cut in half

c) maximum power- It would be essentially constant

Commutator

F
Parts of an Electric Motor
+ .

NORTH

SOUTH
Brushes
Axle

To Battery
+ .

Armature
FIELD MAGNET

Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare.

2. (5 points) The components shown here (resistor,

capacitor, LED, and normally-open-button) are
connected in series. The button is pressed and the LED
lights up and then slowly dims over the course of 5
seconds. The button is released and 5 more seconds
pass. The button is pressed again. Which statement
best describes what happens:

a) The LED lights up and then slowly dims over the

course of 5 seconds

b) The LED starts dim then slowly brightens over the

course of 5 seconds

c) The LED lights up steadily

d) LED does not light -- Because the capacitor is already charged up to the supply
voltage.
3. (5 points) In the Pugh method of controlled convergence:

a) The datum concept should be a strong design concept so that the team can visualize
opportunities to improve on the best available ideas
b) The datum concept should be an avergae design concept so that the matrix will be filled
with a balance of + and – ratings providing the maximum information for decision-
making
c) The datum concept should be a weak design concept so that each team member will feel
motivated because the design concepts they propose will have more + ratings than –
ratings
d) The datum concept should be selected at random to avoid bias in the decision making
process

4. (5 points) A vehicle is composed of a box shaped structure with permanent magnet DC

motors placed at all four corners and driving all four wheels (through a gear train). All these
motors are attached to a 5V NiCad battery pack. The vehicle is climbing a 20 degree incline.
The coefficient of static friction between the wheels and the inclined surface is 0.5. The
vehicle is proceeding very slowly since the motors are nearly stalled. At that moment, an
additional object is placed on top of the vehicle which doubles the weight of the overall
vehicle plus its payload. Which statement best describes the events that will transpire?

a) The wheels will begin to slip with respect to the surface of the incline, but the vehicle
will continue to climb, power delivered by the battery will drop somewhat
b) The wheels will turn at half the rate and therefore half the power, but the vehicle will
continue to climb, power delivered by the battery will drop somewhat
c) The wheels will turn in the opposite direction, moving the vehicle back down the ramp,
backdriving the gear train, delivering power back to the voltage supply
d) The wheels will turn in the opposite direction, moving the vehicle back down the
ramp, backdriving the gear train, and power delivered by the voltage supply will
increase
5. (20pts total) This question and its several parts (a-e) are based on the line drawing of the
part below.

Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare.

Part geometry from SpinMaster Toys, Inc.

a) (2pts) Which features of this part might be described as a “rib”? Annotate the drawing
above. See annotation on drawing above.
b) (2pts) What term would you use to describe the circular feature extending from the left
side of the part? “Boss”
c) (2pts) If you were to add hidden lines to this drawing, how would the hole on the top of
this drawing manifest itself in the rest of the drawing below the hole? Add a sketch of
the lines onto the drawing above. Explain any assumptions you needed to make about the
geometry of the part not visible in the drawing. See annotation on drawing above.
d) (4pts) Explain briefly why it is appropriate to show a line on this drawing at the location
indicated above by “Line” and not to show a line at the location indicated above by “No
Line”. There is a suden change in slope at one edge and none at the other.
e) (10pts) Sketch front and side views of the part by hand below. Don’t include hidden
lines. Do retain the proportions approximately correct and align the two views with one
another.
 6. (25 points total) The brakes on passenger automobiles are often “drum” brakes operated by a
hydraulic system. A real drum brake and a simplified schematic are shown below.
Hydraulic cylinder –
Pin joints
Brake fluid flows in and pushes out
pistons in both directions
Drum rotates

Image removed due to copyright restrictions. Hydraulic cylinder

Please see any photo of a drum brake, body fixed to the
such as http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
Hydraulic piston spindle assembly
File:Trabant_601_duplex_brake.jpg
slides within the
Brake shoe cylinder body

Brake lining –
material firmly
attached to the
shoe Pin joints supported on the spindle
a. (5 points) Analyze the kinematic degrees of freedom of the mechanism. To assembly
keep things simple, just
consider the mechanism comprised of the left brake shoe and the piston attached to it and the related
pin joints. How many degrees of freedom does this mechanism have? 0 DOF
Two bodies each with 3DOF, the shoe and piston. Two pin joints. One slider. 2*3-2*2-2=0 There
appears to be some redundancy in the constraints. Maybe the pin joint at the top of the shoe is
shaped like a slot.
b. (10 points) Draw a free body diagram of the left shoe assuming the hydraulic cylinder is applying a
force F sufficient to displace the shoe outboard to contact the drum. The drum is rotating and is in
contact with the shoe, so frictional forces or tractions should be included on your diagram.

Piston pushes outward

Pressure against drum

Friction with drum

Pivot reaction forces

in x and y directions
c. (5 points) Estimate the torque applied to the drum by the left shoe if the force applied by the
hydraulic piston on the left shoe is 100N. The drum is rotating and has a coefficient of kinetic
friction with the brake lining of .
d. (5 points) Imagine that, subsequent to initiating braking, the brake fluid pressure suddenly drops to
zero. Estimate the torque applied (if any) to the drum by the left shoe in this circumstance.
7. (25 pts total) Make an isometric sketch of a two-bolt flange based on the three views shown
here.

Part geometry from SolidWorks, Inc.

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 2.007 – Design and Manufacturing I
Practice Exam on Drawing, CAD, Motors, Pneumatics, and Mechanisms
This practice exam is intended for a 1.5 hour period. It has 8 problems and 100 points total.
NOTE: These are problems we made up and decided not to use on the exam in this form. We
thought maybe they were not as clear as we wanted or didn’t match our objectives perfectly. So,
this practice exam is not quite representative, but practicing on imperfect problems is better than
not practicing.

1. (20 points) A vehicle is composed of a box shaped structure with permanent magnet DC
motors placed at all four corners and driving all four wheels (each through a gear train). All
these motors are attached to a 5V NiCad battery pack. The coefficient of static friction
between the wheels and the surface is 0.5. The vehicle starts from a stand still on level
ground. The stall torque is 0.3Nm and the no load speed os 50rpm. The vehicle weight is 1N
and the wheels are fairly hard.

a) (5 pts) Draw a torque speed curve for the motor.

b) (10 pts) Describe the situation when the voltage is first applied to the motors. Indicate
the operating point on the torque speed curve.
When the voltage is first applied, the motor is at it stall condition since the shaft speed is
zero and so the torque is that the stall torque.
c) (5 pts) Describe the situation when the vehicle reaches its steady state velocity on level
ground. Indicate the operating point on the torque speed curve.
When the vehicle is at its top speed, the motor may be very close to its no load speed.
If the rolling resistance and drag are low, the top speed might be set at nearly the no
load speed times the wheel radius.

2. (10 points) A bottle of soda is to be poured by a

machine. Three positions desired are depicted here to
the right. We want to make 4 bar mechanism that
attaches to the locations indicated by the arrows.
a) Synthesize the mechanism. By “synthesize the
mechanism”, I just mean sketch out the three
points the end of the coupler curve must occupy
and draw the circle defined by that set of 3
points indicating it center.
b) Sketch the mechanism in the first position where the
bottle is still on the table.
Draw a link from the center of the cirle to the point
on the first position of the bottle.
c) Describe your steps.
3. (10 points) A vehicle is composed of 3
pneumatic pistons attached to a straight
shaft at one end and a crankshaft at the
other. Each piston is atatched to two
compressed air lines, one for extension
and one for retraction. Each air line is
attached to a spply of high pressure air
through a solenoid actuated valve. The
crankshaft has three pins displaced from
the main bearings by one inch and
separated from each other pin by 120
degrees. Describe using words and
graphics, a process by which solenoid actuated valves can be used to drive the rear wheel
clockwise and therefore propel the vehicle forward. What specifically is the sequence of
“firing” of the pneumatic actuators you propose for propelling the vehicle?
The valves can be use to extend two of the pistons and retract the other. Then one can be
extended while the other two are retracted. This scheme can be repeated through six
different states. A firing sequence I propose is.
Piston
1 2 3
+ +
+-
+-+
--+
-++
-+

4. (10 points) Consider the same vehicle as

in problem 5. It is proposed to steer the
vehicle using a standard hobby
servomotor. The vehicle is segmented
into a front and aft part and a pin joint is
arranged in the middle to connect them.
The body of the servomotor is rigidly
attached to the rear segment of the
vehicle. The end of the servo horn is
connected to a link and the other end of
that link is pinned to the rear segment of
the vehicle.
 a. Make a free body diagram of the vehicle and its front and rear segements. Assume the
car was proceeding straight when, at that moment, a torque of 0.3 N*m is applied by the
servo.

b. Explain what will happen in words and graphics. Will the vehicle be able to turn with a
servo connected in this manner? Will the front or rear wheels slide laterally?

The vehicle will turn using this scheme. The middle of the vehicle will displace while the
wheels stay relatively stationary. The wheels will not displace laterally very much unless
the weight distribution is far from even.

Force applied to
rope
5. (10 points) A person wishes to keep a rope in a fixed location despite a force applied to the
rope by another person seeking to move it. They propose to wrap the rope once around a
PVC pipe (as shown above). The end of the PVC pipe is placed within a hole in a 2 in by 4
in piece of lumber which is then pinned in place (the pin is not shown above) .

a. Make a free body diagram of the PVC pipe.

b. Estimate the force that will result in moving the rope. You may assume the tension in the
left side of the rope is initially 20N and that the coefficient of friction between the rope
and PVC pipe is 0.3.

T=W*e^(mu*theta)=20N*e^(0.3*2*pi)~130N
6. (5 points) How many degrees of fredom does this mechanism possess? Describe your
solution process.

3*5 = 15 DOF for the 5 bodies.

7*2=14 DOF for the 7 full pin joints

Leaving 1DOF
 7. (15 pts total) This question and its several parts (a-d) are based on the two images of a
piston below.

φ4
4.50

0.25

Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare.

Part geometry from SpinMaster Toys, Inc.

a) (3pts) The interior surface at the bottom of the piston is defined by the sketch geometry in
the graphic. What operation do you think transformed the sketch into the 3D feature?
Briefly explain why.
CUT REVOLVE
b) (2pts) Given the way that the sketch is dimensioned and constrained including the
tangency of the line and the circle, describe briefly in words how the resulting cavity be
affected by changes in its overall depth (which is currently 4.50mm). How will the angle
subtended by the arc and the angle of the tangent line vary?
If the depth is reduced, the cone in the bottom will become shallow. The arc subtended by
the circle will be reduced.
c) (5pts) Make a sketch of the part with the cavity depth decreased to 2.00mm.
 d) (5pts) Describe what engineering concerns may arise if the cavity depth is increased to,
for example, 9mm.

At 9mm cavity depth, the cavity will extend out above the surface above it. This will rend
the part into two separate pieces.
8. (20 pts total) Make three view drawing from the isometric drawing shown here.
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 Page 1 of 9

NAME:____”Solution”_______________________
2.007 – Design and Manufacturing I

Exam on Gears, Springs, Sensors, Programming, Drawing, etc.

You have 1.5 hours to answer the following 11 questions. Please show your work and explain
your resoning to the extent possible given the allotted time. Point allocations (out of 100 total) are
listed for each question.

1. (5 points) Define the term “conjugate action.” Briefly (using one or two sentences) explain
its significance for design of power transmission systems.

“Conjugate action” is the property of a transmission that delivers constant rate of rotation
of the output shaft if rate of rotation of the input shaft is also constant. It is important to
note that this not not simply valuable in and of itself, but is also a requirement for smooth
transmission of power. It reduces vibration, noise, and premature failure due to fatigue of
the machine elements.

2. (10 points) You fill a one liter container with air at 60 psi gauge pressure and plan to use it as
a source of power for a machine. The air in the bottle is at thermal equilibrium with the air in the
room at 20 degrees Centigrade. Estimate (within ±10% is fine) the force applied if a valve is
opened connecting the reservoir of air to a piston with a one inch internal diameter and a two
inch stroke assuming the piston extends its full stroke in about 2 seconds.

Dislacement of the piston

 2
 ( 1 in)  2 in  0.026L
4

Since the piston is only 2% of the volume of the reservoir and we only need an estimate
with 10%, it’s good enough to just multiply the original gauge pressure times the area of
the face.

  2
2
 ( 1 in)  60 psi  47.124lbf  ( 1 in)  60 psi  209.618N
4 4
 Page 2 of 9

3. (15 points) Sketch the mechanism in a position that places it in static equilibrium. Base
your drawing on an estimate of the displacements to within ± 20%. Assume the joints
have negligable friction and that the pulleys and links have negiligable weight. The 10
cm radius pulley is fixed with respect to the table and cannot rotate. You can assume the
toothed belt will not slip. The extension springs are at their natural length. You may
assume that the extension springs apply tension with the spring constant indicated but
cannot apply any appreciable force in compression (they buckle). Briefly justify your
solution with a couple equations, schematic diagrams, and/or a few sentences of
explanation. Be sure to indicate clearly:
 Whether you think the 3cm pulley rotates clockwise or counterclockwise
 Whether you think the arm connecting the pulleys rotates clockwise or
counterclockwise
 Whether you think the arm 1 kg mass is higher or lower at equilibrium than at the
starting position

Consider a modest clockwise rotation of the arm, say 0.1 radian (6 deg). To maintain the
proper position of the belt, tangent to both pullleys, the belt will have to wrap arong the top
of the 10 cm rad pulley by 10cm*0.1 rad or 1cm. The kinematics of a belt drive demand
that the same 1cm of belt feeds off of the 3cm pulley which requires a 1cm/3cm=0.33 rad
(18 deg) rotation of the 3cm dia pulley relative to the arm or 0.23 with respect to the fixed
frame of reference.

This 0.1 deg rotation of the arm would also extend the left spring by 1.1cm leading to a 11N
downward foce. The extension spring on the right side is placed in compression and we
assume it buckles out of the way or othjerwise goes slack and applies negligable force.

Due to the small angles and generous ± 20%

allowance for our estimate, we can linearize. We
have a motion of the weight due to two factors:
Rotation of the arm => 0.1 rad*24*cm=2.4 cm
downward
Rotation of the 3cm pulley => 0.33 rad*3cm=1cm
upward
So a net motion of 1.4 cm downward.

Kinematically, the pulley arrangement is similar to

attaching the weight directly to the arm at 14 cm. I
infer the guess of 0.1 rad of rotation was a bit low. I
update my guess by 30% throughout to:

0.13 rad (7.5deg) CW rotation of the arm

0.23 rad (17deg) CCW rotation of the 3cm pulley
net motion of 1.8 cm downward of the 1 kg mass
as a check I see if the energy stored in the spring
equals the energy lost by the mass mgh=0.18J
0.5*K*x^2=0.5*10*(N/cm)*(0.13*11cm)^2=0.19J close enough.
 Page 3 of 9

4. (5 points) The components shown here (resistor, Switch is closed for 5 seconds
LED, capacitor, battery, and switch) are connected in
series. The switch is closed for 5 seconds. During
that time, the LED lights and then gradually dims.
+
The circuit composed of the very same components is 5V 2 kΩ
then reconfigured and reconnected as shown. The
switch is then closed. Which statement best describes -
what happens after the switch is closed again:
470 μF
a) The LED lights up and then slowly dims over the
course of 5 seconds - +
b) The LED starts dim then slowly brightens over the
course of 5 seconds
c) The LED lights up steadily
Switch is closed again
d) LED does not light
M
Many students did not notice that the scenario differed in
an important way from the problem on the last exam.
The capacitor was left in the same orientation this time 2 kΩ
whereas it was reversed previously between charging and
discharging. In this case, in the new problem, the
capactor cannot dischage at all due to the orientation of
470 μF
the diode. The + and – on the lower figure should have
helped to cue you in to that. Circuit is - +
re-arranged
I note that I didn’t cover diodes very effectively in 2.007.
I covered them in 2.670 but a good number of students didn’t take that course this year. I
put a diode on the first exam, but that didn’t raise the question and prompt us to discuss
diodes in 2.007. In any case, my bad. The wikipedia entry for diodes states “Diodes have
two active electrodes between which the signal of interest may flow, and most are used for
their unidirectional electric current property.” This is the main thing you need to know
about a diode and what it does. The symbol for the element is a good reminder.
 Page 4 of 9

5. (10 points) Consider a rear wheel drive vehicle with a four

speed manual transmission connected to a conventional
differential (such as the one depicted to the right). The
vehicle is placed in first gear, the engine is turned off.

Image from Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org.

Please also see
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Transmission_diagram.JPG
A) (5 points) The front and rear driver’s side rear tires are “chocked” by placing wedges in front and
behind them. A jack is used to raise the passenger’s side tires slightly off the ground. Using your
hands, you apply a clock-wise torque to the passenger’s side rear tire. Briefly describe what you
think will happen.

With the engine off and the manual transmission in first gear, the drive shaft into the
differential will be fixed. With the driver’s side wheel chocked, it is also fixed. The differential
has 2 kinematic DOF so it has been frozen and the passenger’s side wheel cannot be turned by
hand.

B) 5 points) Again, the engine is off and the manual transmission is in first gear. The front tires are
chocked and a jack is used to raise BOTH the rear tires slightly off the ground. Using your
hands, you apply a clock-wise torque to the driver’s side rear tire. Briefly describe what you
think will happen.

Again, with the engine off and the manual transmission in first gear, the drive shaft into the
differential will be fixed. With the driver’s side wheel up in the air now, it is free to turn. If
you apply a torque and turn by hand either rear wheel, the opposite side will also turn BUT IN
THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION. So you’ll observe CCW rotation of the passenger’s side wheel.
 Page 5 of 9

6. (15 points) The subproblems below refer to the page from a bearing catalog provided here.

A) (5 points) If gear PX24B-8 and PX24B­

22 are mated together in a gear train, how
far apart should the centers of their shafts
be placed?

(0.333+0.916)/2=

0.625 inches apart

B) (5 points) If gear PX24B-8 and PX24B­

22 are mated together in a gear train and a
torque of 2 ft lbs is applied to PX24B-8,
what is the separation force?

24 inch lbs / radius of 0.333/2 leads to a

tangential force of

144 lbs.

To get separation force, multiply by

tan(20deg)

= 52.5lbs

Courtesy of W. M. Berg, Inc. Used with permission.

C) (5 points) If gear PX24B-8 and PX24B-22 are mated together 0.02 inches farther apart than you
determined in part A, what are the primary consequences? Would your answer to part B change and if so
would it rise or fall?

Such as mall displacement with leave the gears in mesh still. Not much of a problem. Mainly the
backlash would increase. Conjugate action would be preserved. The separation force would rise a
small amount due to the larger pressure angle as the gears mesh at point farther from the gear’s
centers.
 Page 6 of 9

7. (5pts) Add hidden lines and center lines to the views below.

Many students forgot to add these lines

associated with the holes here.
Many students extended these lines associated with the
holes too far, beyond the surface where the hole ends.
 Page 7 of 9

8. (15 points) Match the items below to the terms that describe them.

The crank shaft seems to have thrown a fair

number of people off. Many students thought Torsion spring
it might be a cam shaft. The lobes on this item
aren’t cams, but rather counterweights.
Extension spring

Tapered roller bearing

Bevel gear

Cam shaft

Worm gear

V belt pulley

Constant force spring

Crank shaft

Compression spring
spring
Timing belt pulley

Rack

Ball bearing

These lobe shaped things

here are cams.

These features on a timing belt pulley

engage with the teeth on a toothed belt.

Images by melloveschallah, gregpc, elsie, and cycleologist on Flickr, and Silberwolf and Alex Kovach on Wikipedia.
Other images from Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org
 Page 8 of 9

9. (5 points) A vehicle is composed of a box shaped structure with permanent magnet DC

motors placed at all four corners and driving all four wheels (through a gear train). All these
motors are attached to a 5V NiCad battery pack. The vehicle is climbing a 20 degree incline.
The vehicle is proceeding very slowly since the motors are nearly stalled. The coefficient of
static friction between the wheels and the inclined surface is 50% greater than that needed to
maintain a steady climb up that grade. At a particular moment, the mass of the vehicle is
reduced by 25% because a robot arm on the vehicle takes an object off the vehicle and lays it
to the side. Circle the item below that best describes the events that would likely transpire.

a) The vehicle will continue up the ramp at the same speed as before.
b) The normal force of the wheels on the surface will decrease causing the wheels will to
begin to slip with respect to the surface of the incline reducing the vehicle’s speed.
c) The vehicle’s velocity will increase instantaneously when the block is released so that the
vehicle’s momentum will remain constant even as the mass is reduced.
d) The vehicle will accelerate smoothly up the ramp until it reaches a higher steady-state
velocity.
e) The wheels will not slip but will turn backwards causing the vehicle to go back down the
ramp.
Answer C seems to have caught quite a few people. The phrase “velocity will increase
instantaneously” should be a cue that something is wrong. A body cannot increase in speed
“instantaneously” unless a huge force is applied for a very short period, such as a bullet in the
chamber of a pistol. The phrase “the vehicle’s momentus remains constant even as the mass is
reduced” also must have sounded attractive. Indeed, a system of bodies will have a constant total
momentum when there is no net external force applied. In this case, the block that is dropped
would have its share of the system’s momentum and would initially keep moving at the same
velocity as the robot. Subsequently, it could have significant forces aplied to it by the ramp to stop
it, but this would not cause the robot to accelerate to make up for its lost momentum since there are
no forces between the two bodies once released.

10. (5 points) Explain in a few sentences why a lead acid battery is a reasonable choice for use in
typical commercially available automobiles today, but may not be a reasonable choice for a
plug-in electric vehicle.

The high power density of lead acid batteries is useful for starting a car since it takes a lot of power
to turn over a cold engine. The low energy density is not a big deal for most cars today because you
don’t take much time to start the car (1 sec of cranking?), so the battery doesn’t have to be so large
and is a small fraction of the weight of the car anyway. It helps too that lead acid batteries perform
well at cold temperatures. The low number of cycles to failure is not usually a problem because
starting is really not a cycle. Letting the battery go fully dead is bad practice. My advice is –do not
leave your head lights on all night or you’ll have to replace your lead acid battery frequently.

For a plug-in electric car, the demands on the battery are very different. You need much greater
energy density and far more cycles of charging and re-charging. The speed of charging might be an
issue also, although some people propose that plug-in vehicles should have batteries swapped in and
out rather than charging on the car and tying up that valuable asset waiting for the charge to
complete.
 Page 9 of 9

11. (10 points) A Homework board is wired with an ultrasonic sensor and a continuous rotation
servo as shown below and the code below has been uploaded onto the EEPROM. The sensor
points forward on the vehicle and the servo is configured to drive the wheels. Describe in a
few sentences how the system behaves.

time VAR Word

speed VAR Word
LABEL1:
PAUSE 14
PULSOUT 15, 5
PULSIN 15, 1, time
IF (time<150) THEN
' time of 150 is about two inches
PULSOUT 14, 750
' this sends a 1.5 millisec pulse which will
command the servo to remain still
GOTO LABEL1
ELSE
GOTO LABEL2
ENDIF
LABEL2:
PULSOUT 15, 5
PULSIN 15, 1, time
IF (time>450) THEN This code would have the vehicle wait and idle as long as a
PULSOUT 14, 1000 barrier (the door of the robot’s house?) is no more than 2
' command the servo to go forward inches from the front of the vehicle. Once that barrier is
ELSEIF (time<300) THEN removed, the vehicle would drive forward until it meets an
PULSOUT 14, 500 object. It should stop when the object (the rail of the contest
' command the servo to go backward field?) is 6 inches from the nose and wait. If subsequently,
ELSE
something new (a botherbot?) is placed between the vehicle
PULSOUT 14, 750
' command the servo to remain still and the object, the vehicle backs up to seek a 4 inch spacing.
ENDIF So the polite little bot will step aside for the bother bot. Then it
PAUSE 14 wil close up the gap again to place the rail 6 inches away again.
GOTO LABEL2
The most common concern I had with student’s answers is that
they mixed up concerns of the first “waiting” phase with the subsequent object seeking
phase. It was common to see descriptions like “when the object is beteen two and four
inches from an object it will…”. But the two inch distance is only in the waiting phase and
the four inch distance is only relevant in the “seeking” phase. This is a little like describing
a frog jumping off a lilypad and then breathing in the water using its gills. It used to have
gills when it was a tadpole, but, when it was a tadpole, it couldn’t jump off a lily pad.
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 Page 1 of 13

2.007 – Design and Manufacturing I

Draft Exam on Gears, Springs, Mechanisms, and Drawing

This is a practice exam. On the real exam, you’ll have 1.5 hours to answer about 7 questions.
This exam is somewhat longer and would take about 2.5 hours by my reckoning. Point allocations
(out of 100 total) are listed for each question based on what they’d be worth on the real exam. So,
this practice exam adds up to about 160 points.

1. (10 points) Define the term “hysteresis.” Explain its significance for sensors and for energy
storage elements (e.g. rubber bands).

The wikipedia entry for hysteresis inluded the following material I find both accurate and relevant to the
course:

“a system with hysteresis exhibits path-dependence”

“A simple way to understand it is in terms of a rubber band with weights attached to it. If the top of a
rubber band is hung on a hook and small weights are attached to the bottom of the band one at a time, it
will get longer. As more weights are loaded onto it, the band will continue to extend because the force the
weights are exerting on the band is increasing. When each weight is taken off, or unloaded, it will get
shorter as the force is reduced. As the weights are taken off,
each weight that produced a specific length as it was loaded
onto the band now produces a slightly longer length as it is
unloaded. … In one sense the rubber band was harder to stretch
when it was being loaded than when it was being unloaded.
…In another sense more energy was required during the
loading than the unloading; that energy must have gone
somewhere, it was dissipated or "lost" as heat. Elastic
hysteresis is more pronounced when the loading and unloading
is done quickly than when it's done slowly…”

Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare. Please also see

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Elastic_Hysteresis.jpg

The Flexiforce sensors available to you in the contest “kit” exhibit a modest degree of hysteresis
http://www.tekscan.com/pdfs/FlexiforceUserManual.pdf:
 Page 2 of 13

2. (10 points) You fill a one liter container with air at 60 psi gauge pressure and plan to use it as
a source of power for a machine. The air in the bottle is at thermal equilibrium with the air in the
room at 20 degree Centigrade. Estimate the force applied if a valve is opened connecting the
reservoir of air to a piston with a three inch internal diameter and a four inch throw.

First, consider the case that the air flow is minimal, for example if the actuator is used to apply a force at
the beginning of its throw. If we assume the volume of the pneumatic lines is small compared to the one
liter reservir, then 60 psi is applied to the face of the piston. The piston has a three inch diameter, about 7
square inches of area, and therefore 7in^2*60psi=420 pounds of force would be applied.

Now consider the more complicated situation in which the force is applied near the end of the stroke. The
volume increase due to the 4 inch stroke is 7*4in^3 =0.46 liters. Going from 1.0 liter to 1.46 liters drops
the pressure. If we assume the temperature is constant, the absolute pressure drops proportionally.
Assuming adiabatic expansion, the pressure would drop even more. The gauge pressure can be computed
by accounting for atmospheric pressure.

Assuming isothermal expansion

1 liter
P2  ( 60  14.7)  psi   14.7psi
  36.464psi

1.46liter

Assuming adiabatic expansion

1.4
1 liter 
P2  ( 60  14.7)  psi     14.7psi
  29.277psi
 
1.46liter
I would say that adiabatic expansion more nearly describes the use of pneumatics in this biref event. So,
the gauge pressure drops about in half and I will estimate 210 pounds of force – a halving of my previous
estimate assuming no volume change.
 Page 3 of 13

3. (20 points) Sketch the mechanism in a position that places it in static equilibrium.
Assume the joints have negligable friction. The drawing is scaled properly in all
dimensions so you can estimate any dimensions you need from the figure.

Briefly justify your solution with a couple equations, schematic diagrams, and/or a few
sentences of explanation.

5 cm
These springs are at
their natural length
Lamp head has a
and have a spring
weight of 1N
constant of 10N/cm

These parts have a

weight of 0.1N
3 cm

Base is fixed to the

table

Because the lamp is on a parallelogram linkage we can take its two degrees of freedom in turn,
fiurst the head and then the lower part. This is a subtle point. We know that whatever changes
occur in the parallelogram part of the linkage, they will not cause any rotation that might affect
the relative orientation of the weight vector and the spring tension. So, first we consider the
head of the lamp.

The lamp head has 1N of weight. It acts at about 2.5 times the perpendicular distance from the
pivot as compared to the spring. So the spring must apply about 2.5 N and extend about 0.25 cm
to do this. The perpendicular distance of the lamp spring to the pivot is about 2cm, so around 1/8
of a radian or 7 degrees will extend the spring ¼ of a cm. The head will look very similar as
before, roughly like this:
 Page 4 of 13

Based on the solution for the head, I make an initial guess that the lower part of the mechanism
will also experience a rotation of 7 degrees. Similar to the other configuration, this causes about
0.25 cm of extension and 2.5 N of tension. As before, the lamp head has 1N of weight. But in
this displaced 7 deg configuration, it acts at about 4 times the perpendicular distance from the
pivot as compared to the spring. So the spring must apply about 4 N rather than the 2.5 N it
would apply in this configuration. So I update my guess to 15 deg. Then the lamp will look
roughly like sketched below. This would extend the spring about 0.5cm causing a tension of
about 5N. The weight of the lamp is about 5 times the perpendiclar distance from the front pivot
as the spring, so it should be nearly in equilibrium.

Here again I’ve made a simplifying assumption that may require more explanation. I treated the
lower part of the mechanism as if the load of the lamp head were rigidly attached to the left arm
of the parallelogram linkage. That is not quite true, but is close enough for the purposes of
estimation +/- 20% in this problem. You can convince yourself of this by using virtual work.
Imagine the lamp is in the position shown below and rotates by a small amount, say 5 degrees.
What is the difference between the vertical displacement of the lamp head c.g. if the mechanism
is a linkage as shown or if it is more simply a weldment including the left link, triqangle, and
lamp head. I reckon the vertical motion of the weldment scenario is only about 20% higher than
in the actual scenario. Close enough for this quick estimate where we have just about 10 minutes
to work out a solution.

Lamp head has a

Spring has a
weight of 1N
tension of 5N
 Page 5 of 13

4. (20 points) The subproblems below refer to the page from a bearing catalog provided here.

A) (5 points) If gear PX32B-10 and

PX32B-20 are mated together in a
gear train, how far apart should the
centers of their shafts be placed?

These gears have pitch diameters

of .312 and .625. Sum them and
divide by two – mount them 0.469
inches apart.

B) (5 points) If gear PX32B-10 and

PX32B-20 are mated together in a
gear train and a torque of 2 ft lbs is
applied to PX32B-10, what is the
torque on PX32B-20?

The ratio of the two torques is 2

(the same ratio as the ratio of the
number of teeth) with the larger
gear experiencing the larger
torque. The answer is 4 ft lbs.

Courtesy of W. M. Berg, Inc. Used with permission.

C) (10 points) If gear PX32B-10 and PX32B-20 are mated together in a gear train and a torque of 2 ft lbs
is applied to PX32B-10, what is the direction and magnitude of the reaction force at the shaft where
PX32B-20 is mounted? State any assumptions needed to arrive at your answer.

From (B) 4 ft lbs ia applied to PX32B-20. This is caused by a tangential force acting at the radius of
0.312 inches. Must be 154 lbs of tangential force. The gears have a pressure angle of 20 deg. The
 Page 6 of 13

separation force is therefore 154lb*tan (20deg)=56lbs. Both the tangential and separation forces
are reacted at the bearing with the separation force acting toward the center of the other gear
PX32B-10 and the tangential force acting perpendicular to that.
 Page 7 of 13

6. (10 points) Match the items below to the terms that describe them.

Planetary gear set

Extension spring

Bevel gear

Torsion spring

Compound gear train

Rack

Images from melloveschallah, gregpc, and wizard23 on Flickr, and Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org
 Page 8 of 13

7. (10 points) It is proposed to use the arrangement below to transmit torque from the drive shaft of
an engine to the rear wheels of a small vehicle. Explain why this might be a good design for a
small race car yet not a good choice for a typical family sedan.

This looks like a sprocket, so I guess the team decided to have a chain to transmit the engine’s
torque to the rear wheels. I like this idea because a passenger car would accomplish this function
with a shaft, probably requiring a U joint to accommodate up and own motion and a differential to
change the direction of the applied torque. The chain drive should be much lighter. In a race car,
weight is at a premium, so this seems like a good choice. But a chain is also loud and has a shorter
life in general. Also, the exposed chain may be OK for a race car where the debris on the road
would be removed before a race and fair weather operation is ensured. In a passenger car, these
factors would surely rule out a chain driven rear axle.

NOTE: What is that device in the middle. Can it allow the two wheels to rotate at different speeds
during turns? I don’t think I’ve shown enough details here for you to tell, but something would
have to carry out that function.

FSAE section members: What would you add

to this discussion?
 Page 9 of 13

8. (10 points) A circuit is arranged with a relays, a DC motor, and sources of voltage (+5V)
Vdd shown below. A set of code is downloaded to a Basic Stamp Homework board is
also given below. Describe what will happen when the code is run. (The specification
sheet for the relays is shown on the next page for reference. )

' {$STAMP BS2}

' {$PBASIC 2.5}
i VAR nib
DO
FOR i=1 TO 10
LOW 0
HIGH 1
PAUSE 1000
LOW 1
HIGH 0
PAUSE 1000
NEXT
FOR i=1 TO 10
HIGH 0
HIGH 1
PAUSE 1000
LOW 1
LOW 0
Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare.
PAUSE 1000
NEXT
LOOP

The wiring of the relays is similar to that needed for an H-bridge, but it doesn’t connect the
voltage supply in the opposite direction as it should. During the first FOR loop, the pins for the
two directions are in opposite states (as needed for proper operation of an H bridge) and they
toggle each second. If this were a proper H bridge, the motor would reverse directions going
CW ten times and CCW ten times. Instead, this circuit just keeps going in the same direction as
if it were connected continuously. During the second FOR loop, both pins are set to HIGH and
 Page 10 of 13

all the relays in the bridge close. This would be just the same as before – on all the time. If this
were a real H bridge, closing all the relays at one time would cause a short circuit condition.

Thought question: How would you change a small number of wires to get a proper H bridge?

Text removed due to copyright restrictions.

Please see the data sheet for AZ822 subminiature DIP relays,
http://www.azettler.com/pdfs/az822.pdf
 Page 11 of 13

9. (25 points) Give short answers to the subquestions below.

A) (5 points) What does it mean to say that a pair of mating gears exhibit “conjugate action”?

Conjugate action refers to the property that constant rate of rotation of the driving grear will lead
to constant rate of rotation of the driven gear.

B) (5 points) Consider the statement “the involute curve is the only shape for gears that provides
conjugate action.” Is this true or false? Justify your answer.

The involute curve is not the only gear profile that provides conjugate action. For example,
epicycloidal and hypocycloidal gear tooth profiles also have the property and are widely used in
positive displacement gear pumps. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gear_pump

C) (5 points) Describe, in your own words, the meaning of the term “pitch diameter”.

The pitch diameters of two mating gears are the diameters of two friction drive elements that would
provide the same speed reduction as the meshing set of gears.

D) (5 points) Consider the statement “Gear teeth designed using an involute curve provide conjugate
action even if the gears are mounted at a slightly greater distance greater than half the sum of the pitch
diameters of the mating gears.” Is this true or false?

TRUE! This is a major benefit of the involute profile and a substantial reason for their popularity.

E) (5 points) Name and briefly describe two different ways that spur gears are manufactured and the
differences in performance and cost of the resulting gears.

Molding and hobbing. Molding is inexpensive if you have high enough production volumes, but not
all materials can be molded (mostly thermo-plastic gears are molded). Hobbing is common for steel
gears and provides high accuracy and good surface finish.
 Page 12 of 13

10) (20 points)

A) (10 points) Make a three view drawing, complete with dimensions, of the part below.
Show the dimensions on the view that best communicates each feature.
B) (10 points) Suggest a sequence of manufacturing steps to make the part. You can
suggest and describe one or two small changes that would make the part easier to
fabricate.

1.30

2.50
1.30 2.20
.80
1.00 1.00

1.20
2.50 1.20

.80
1.00

z 3.80

Y 3.80
1.00
0 2.20
X

Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare.

Thought questions: Why isn’t the angle dimensioned?

Does this use first or third angle projection?

 Page 13 of 13

11) (20 points) (Adapted from Shigley and Mischke, NOTE: The values of variables have been
changed) A hydraulic cylinder has a diameter D = 4 inches, a wall thickness t= 1/2 inch, length L
= 12 inches, and bracket thickness of w = ¾ inch. The brackets and cylinder are made of steel.
Six 3/8 in SAE grade 7 coarse threaded
w L w
bolts are used and tightened to 75% of proof t

load (120,000psi for SAE grade 7). By how

much will the bolts increase in length when D

the cylinder changes from applying no load

to applying a load of 4000 lbs (applied at the
output on the right)?

Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare.

This one is on the hard side. I didn’t cover this much in lecture and I am not sure you got this in
2.001 either. But I wanted you to see this sort of analysis at some point. It is very important if
you ever use bolts in a design that has to survive cycling loads. So here its is.

Each bolt is loaded to about 75% of proof load or 90,000psi. When the bolts are tightened to this load, the
bolts stretch. Young’s modulus of steel is about 30 10^6 psi, so the bolts stretch 0.3% of their length of 12
iches or 36 thousandths of an inch. Each bolt is about 0.1 sq inches in cross sectional area so at 90,00psi, each
bolt squeezes the structure with 9,000 lbs force. There are six of them, so the structure is experiencing 54,000
pounds of compression when the hydraulic fluid is not under pressure. When the piston is loaded with 4,000
lbs, the machine has to carry this additional load. Some might think this load is carries by the bolts, so they
need to stretch another but – maybe 4000/54000 or 7% of what they already stretched, maybe another 3
thousandths of an inch. But what actually happens is very different. The walls of the cylinder are 4 inches in
diameter as ½ thick, so they have a cross sectional area of about 6 square inches. That’s roughly ten times the
cross sectional area of the bolts. The wall and bolts have basically the same Young’s modulus so I guess the
wall is 10 times as stiff as the bolts. If the bolts stretch, the wall also stretch the same amount. So, when the
pressure in the fluid rises about ten times as much change in force occurs in the walls as in the bolts. Therefore
the bolts stretch only about 0.3 thousandths of an inch. This helps a great deal as they are much less likely to
fail due to fatigue if they see very little change in length as th structure is cycled. The bottom line lesson is that
bolts should be tightened a lot. 75% of proof load sounds like a lot, but it’s OK. In many applications, bolts
are tightened right to their yield point.