Mechanical Efficiency

Description

Mechanical Advantage and Velocity Ratio go hand in hand - you can‘t jack the car up one metre and only move the jack handle half a metre without applying a huge effort.

Features and Applications

In an ideal world, mechanical advantage and velocity ratio would always equal each other on a given system. In other words, if you lifted a car through 5cm by moving the jack handle through 500cm then the effort required would be one hundredth of the weight of the car.

Unfortunately, in the real world, friction, air resistance and other losses mean that this ideal situation is never actually achieved.

Systems are inefficient. The Efficiency of a system can be calculated by dividing its Mechanical Advantage (MA) by its Velocity Ratio (VR) and then multiplying by 100 to get a percentage.

Efficiency = MA/VR x 100%

DT Online Buyers' Guide

Simple Frames and Linkages can be explored using Construction Kits such as those listed below. More varied models can be constructed using the materials listed at Truss Bridge Models or Stripwood Technology Materials and tools described in Stripwood Technology Tools.

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