Machine and mechanism design at UMinho: research-teaching interaction

Abstract

The Multiweave project involved the design of a prototype machine with several mecha-nisms, namely gear trains and various conjugate cams with oscillating roller followers. For this design phase the research team integrated postgraduate student work. In order to evaluate the quality of the manufactured cam profiles as well as the accuracy of the follower’s displacement, an experimental work has been designed. This study, which was carried out within a final year Mechanical Engineering student’s group project, was of great importance in the development of the prototype machine to pro-duce multidirectional woven fabrics, which was the main objective of the Multiweave project. The whole set-up is presented with the experimental details and the results are analysed and discussed. This measurement system is based on a laser triangulation sensor Micro-Epsilon ILD 1302-50 to measure with no contact and high resolution. The obtained results were compared with the expected theoretical values and it could be concluded that, in general, the experimental results adjust very well to the theo-retical ones. However it was possible to conclude about the existence of some differences due to clear-ances in joints, geometric differences in the kinematic chain and manufacturing defects on the follower in terms of irregularities and surface roughness as well as some manufacturing imperfections of the cam surface.