Experiment 1: Crank and Connecting Rod

Objectives
1. To determine the relationship between the crank angle and the stroke.
2. To study the effect of changing the crank radius and connecting rod length.
3. To investigate the relationship between the angular and linear speeds of the
mechanism.

Introduction and Background Information:

In a reciprocating piston engine, the connecting rod or conrod connects the piston
to the crank or crankshaft. Together with the crank, they form a simple mechanism that
converts linear motion into rotating motion. Connecting rods may also convert rotating
motion into linear motion. As a connecting rod is rigid, it may transmit either a push or a
pull and so the rod may rotate the crank through both halves of a revolution, i.e. piston
pushing and piston pulling. Today, almost all internal combustion engines use this
technology to transform the energy in the explosion of the fuel into the more useful and
controllable rotation of the crankshaft and flywheel.
The distance between the piston and the centre of the crank is controlled by the
triangle formed by the crank, the connecting rod and the line from the piston to the centre
of the crank, as shown in Figure 1. Since the lengths of the crank and connecting rod are
constant, and the crank angle is known the triangle OAP is completely defined. From
this geometry, the distance s is given by [1]:
s  r cos  l 2  r 2 sin 2  (1)
The rightmost position of P occurs when the crank and connecting rod are in line along
the axis at P’ and the distance from O to P’ is l + r. Since the distance measured in the
experiment uses this position as the reference location, the distance measured is given by:

x  l  r  s  l  r  r cos   l 2  r 2 sin 2   (2)
This means that x is a function of the crank angle  and that the relationship is not linear.
A

r l

  x
O s P P’
\\\
Figure 1 - Geometry of Crank and Connecting Rod Mechanism
Apparatus:

TDC BDC Crank

Piston Connecting Rod Crank Radius

T.D.C = Top Dead Centre

B.D.C = Bottom Dead Centre

Procedure:
1. The apparatus is set up as shown above so that both crank radius and connecting
rod length are at a maximum with the crank arm at Bottom Dead Centre. The
piston mark is set to zero on the scale.
2. The crank is rotated 30° and the distance of piston from BDC of the pointer, L is
read accurately.
3. The results is tabulated in Table 1.
4. The crank radius are changed and steps above are repeated.
5. The connecting rod length are changed and the steps above are repeated.
6. By assuming the crank is rotating at 30° per second, the date for the first set
reading in Table 1 are used to tabulate the results in Table 2.
7. a) Graph of displacement of piston against crank angle b) Graph of velocity of
piston against time are drawn
Discussion:

From the results, it showed that the piston positions are associated with each angle
of the crank. The displacement of the piston does not move in equal amount. However, it
follows a smooth path which is non-linear as shown in Graphs A, B and C.
The position of the piston for crank rod length of 20cm is at 4.5cm for crank
radius 5.0cm, 3.4cm for crank radius 4.0cm, and 2.5cm for crank radius 2.5cm when the
crank angle was 90 °. It has not move through half of its stroke but it is near to the half of
its stroke.
For different crank radius, the ratio between the connecting rod and crank is
different. Consequently, the point of maximum displacement will also different. The
higher the ratio, the lower the maximum point of its displacement. The same theory goes
to the length of connecting rod. As when we use the same crank radius but different
length of connecting rod, the ratio also varies. So, the point of maximum displacement
will also different.
From the graphs, both the piston displacement and its velocity will go back to its
initial condition after one completion revolution of the crank. The piston reach its
maximum speed only once in a revolution. From graph D, it shows that the maximum
velocity occurs at crank angle of 180 °.
From graph D, it can be seen that when the slope start from zero and ends at zero.
That slope shows the velocity of the piston. Initially, the piston position is at 0 ° when its
velocity is 0 cm/s. After one revolution, the piston speed will return to 0 cm/s at position
360 ° which is also the same position with 0 °.

Conclusion:
In conclusion, by doing this experiment, the relationship between the crank angle
and the stroke have been learnt. By studying the graphs, the effect of changing the crank
radius and connecting rod length can be obtain easily. The higher the ratio of crank and
connecting rod, the lower the maximum point of its displacement. The relationship
between the angular and linear speed of the mechanism has been learnt.

References:
1. D.J. Dunn, http://www.freestudy.co.uk/dynamics/velaccdiag.pdf, Accessed
February 16th 2006
2. TQ Education and Training Ltd.,
http://www.tq.com/product/cart/cart/bg.asp?nfid=MM1.JPG, Accessed February
16th 2006
3. R.C.Hibbeler, Engineering Mechanics Dynamics, Prentice Hall, 2007
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crank_(mechanism)
5. http://www.history-science-technology.com/Notes/Notes%203.htm