CP5065-2021S1-2A07-GROUP3
WEEK 13 - OPERATING PRINCIPLES
For week 13, we were taught on how operating principles play a pivotal role in our everyday items, there are many examples of operating principles that all serve a similar purpose of improving how certain mechanisms work, usually improving in its overall effectiveness.
EXAMPLES OF OPERATING MECHANISMS
Operating mechanisms play an essential role in prototypes in which they help improve one of its weak points which is making it realistic and look more like the final product. Some of these mechanisms include:
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Actuators
Cams
Gears
Lever
Ratchets
Springs
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And much more! There are an abundance of operating mechanisms that serve its own purpose and has its own set of advantages and disadvantages but they all are capable to excel when used in an appropriate situation and will definitely improve the effectiveness of a product.
PING PONG BALL LAUNCHER
To test our knowledge on operating mechanisms, our class was given a similar topic; create a ping pong ball launcher and present on it, while it may look simple it has almost an infinite set of possibilities in which it can be designed and the design will hence affect what operating mechanism that you use, we realise that while we were doing our own design which is something we found quite interesting on how many different possibilities are available for something so basic.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, what we learnt today is important as it highlights just how essential operating mechanisms are and how prominent they are in our daily lives, appearing in almost everything we use. This can be seen from our own chemical product, the air pump definitely utilizes an operating mechanism such as gears, this leads us to realise that understanding how your tools work allows you to have greater flexibility on how you use it.