Project Team
Students
Aemen Ali
Computer Science
Penn State Lehigh Valley
Faculty Mentors
Tracey Carbonetto
Penn State Lehigh Valley
Mechanical Engineering
Jared Butler
Penn State University Park
Engineering Design, Mechanical Engineering, & Additive Manufacturing and Design
Project
Project Video
Project Abstract
This study aims to develop an app that will determine the mechanical advantage of a pulley system, which can be used in industry and engineering education in reinforcing the concept of mechanical advantage. The mechanical advantage of a pulley system, “rigging,” is the ratio of force needed to move the dependent object (load) divided by the force applied. Mechanical advantage is generated through integral positioning of fixed or change of direction pulleys and moveable pulleys. A specific number of lengths create the connection between objects.
In a two-object system, one object is considered the independent object. This may be in the form of a block, motor, winch, or an end of the cable to which a force (pulling) is applied. The configuration of the system determines the mechanical advantage. These configurations are produced based on various factors: the number of fixed and moveable pulleys available, the number of external supports or the attachments to a permanent structure, the number of cords utilized, and how the objects are attached to the system either at a free end or a pulley itself.
A series of rigging system concepts were prototyped and recorded into a data table. The displacement of the loads was measured to calculate the system’s mechanical advantage. The results revealed that the mechanical advantage of a pulley system could be determined through the position vectors representing the moveable length of the cord(s) and the attachment to the moveable pulley(s). These data informed MATLAB app development. The simulation in MATLAB prompts the user to enter the number of cords, fixed and moveable pulleys, loads, and a free or fixed end. The user then assembles the rigging system according to the input variables, and the app computes the mechanical advantage when completed.
The results exhibited from both the prototype methods and the MATLAB simulation suggest that the configuration of the input variables in a pulley system is vital in analyzing the correlation between the input data and generating an effective computer program that computes the mechanical advantage. In addition, the use of an input table allowed for identifying attributes that must be accounted for in developing the algorithm. Although a calculation was derived for rigging systems employing multiple cords, future research may involve more complex rigging systems (such as use of compound pulleys) and methodology to determine configurations and execute them into MATLAB.
Evaluate this Project
Use this form link to provide feedback to the presenters, and add your project evaluation for award(s) consideration.