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Lecture

Balancing Mechanisms in Engineering

In courses (2)

MICRO-200: Mechanism Design I

Ce cours introduit les bases de la mécanique des structures : calcul des contraintes et déformations provoquées par les forces extérieures et calcul des déformations. Ces enseignements théoriques sont appliqués à la conception des éléments importants des m ...

MICRO-201: Mechanism Design II

Le second semestre du cours « Conception de mécanismes » développe les capacités créatrices de conception appliquées au domaine des mécanismes microtechniques. Il s'attache tant aux connaissances (composants, principes physiques, dimensionnement) qu'au pro ...

Description

This lecture covers the formation of project groups, the role of assistants, and the allocation of rooms for in-person sessions. It also delves into the basics of mechanical balancing, focusing on concepts like equilibrium, force balancing, and moment balancing. The instructor discusses examples such as the oscillating balance wheel in watches and the use of counterweights in various mechanisms. The lecture further explores the importance of symmetry and preloading in achieving stability in mechanical systems, as well as the concept of bistability. Practical applications of balancing mechanisms, including the use of external actuators for vibration control, are also highlighted.

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Instructors (4)

Born in 1973 and of Egyptian-Swiss nationality, Simon Henein grew up in Cairo. He obtained an engineering degree at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in 1996 and went on to complete his doctorate at the EPFL in 2000. In 2001, he published the book “Conception des guidages flexibles” which has become a reference in precision engineering. He then joined the Centre Suisse d’Electronique et Microtechnique (CSEM), Neuchatel, Switzerland, where he conceived and developed mechanisms for robotic, aerospace, medical and watchmaking applications. He pursued his research career at the Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland, where he developed instruments for the Swiss Light Source Synchrotron (SLS). Since November 1st, 2012, he is associate professor in microengineering at the EPFL, holder of the Patek Philippe Chair and director of the Micromechanical and horological design laboratory (Instant-Lab).

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Related concepts (30)

Balance wheel

A balance wheel, or balance, is the timekeeping device used in mechanical watches and small clocks, analogous to the pendulum in a pendulum clock. It is a weighted wheel that rotates back and forth, being returned toward its center position by a spiral torsion spring, known as the balance spring or hairspring. It is driven by the escapement, which transforms the rotating motion of the watch gear train into impulses delivered to the balance wheel.

Mechanical watch

A mechanical watch is a watch that uses a clockwork mechanism to measure the passage of time, as opposed to quartz watches which function using the vibration modes of a piezoelectric quartz tuning fork, or radio watches, which are quartz watches synchronized to an atomic clock via radio waves. A mechanical watch is driven by a mainspring which must be wound either periodically by hand or via a self-winding mechanism. Its force is transmitted through a series of gears to power the balance wheel, a weighted wheel which oscillates back and forth at a constant rate.

Mechanical equilibrium

In classical mechanics, a particle is in mechanical equilibrium if the net force on that particle is zero. By extension, a physical system made up of many parts is in mechanical equilibrium if the net force on each of its individual parts is zero. In addition to defining mechanical equilibrium in terms of force, there are many alternative definitions for mechanical equilibrium which are all mathematically equivalent. In terms of momentum, a system is in equilibrium if the momentum of its parts is all constant.

Symmetry

Symmetry () in everyday language refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. In mathematics, the term has a more precise definition and is usually used to refer to an object that is invariant under some transformations, such as translation, reflection, rotation, or scaling. Although these two meanings of the word can sometimes be told apart, they are intricately related, and hence are discussed together in this article.

Chemical engineering

Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials into useful products. Chemical engineering uses principles of chemistry, physics, mathematics, biology, and economics to efficiently use, produce, design, transport and transform energy and materials.

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