Kinematics Tutorial: Finding Linkage Cognates with SolidWorks
Lately, I have been thoroughly enjoying learning about linkages, their motion, and their synthesis. Anyone who has tried to find the cognates of a four-bar linkage may have noticed that the process is time-consuming and a bit tedious.
SolidWorks to the rescue!
SolidWorks makes it easy to build the Cayley diagram of a linkage, and subsequently move this diagram to find the cognates. In theory, movement of links 2 and 4 to their designated positions will cause the cognates of the linkage to appear, and luckily, in this case, theory becomes reality. The different cognates are color coded:
This certainly makes life easier. Thanks for viewing!
Dave Knight
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Mechanical Engineering, 2013