YP Slider Crank simulates the motion of a piston activated by a slider crank mechanism. The crank is in uniform rotational motion (constant angular velocity), causing the piston to move with a variable acceleration. Relative lengths of the crank arm and the connecting rod may be changed easily. During the simulation, it is possible to display the following vectors: acceleration, velocity and position, and the following graphs: acceleration, velocity and position versus time.
New in this version:
To help understanding relative velocity, the animation can be viewed in 3 different reference frames. During the animation, the user can display a vector diagram showing how the velocity of the crank and the velocity of the connecting rod are combined together to give the velocity of the piston. A new "theory" window explains how to find the velocity of the piston.
System Requirements: YP Slider Crank runs on any Macintosh computer with MAC OS 7.0 or later. It needs about 250 Kb on your hard disk and 1 Mb of RAM. The software runs on older models with 68000 processors (Mac Plus, Mac Classic), but simulations are slower.
Program operation:
When you launch YP Slider Crank, the animation window is displayed on the screen: the animated simulation of the mechanism will appear in this window. Use the "Dimensions of Mechanism" item in the "Animation" menu to change the length of the crank or the length of the connecting rod. Choose an item from the "Vectors" menu to display the corresponding vector during the animation. Choose an item from the "Graphs" menu to display the corresponding graph during the animation.
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Using YP Slider Crank:
Note: To help you explore all menus of the program, you may use balloon help (with the "?" menu, in the top right corner of the screen).
Menus:
"Apple" Menu:
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Use this menu to
- open an item from the Apple Menu Folder,
- read information about YP Slider Crank,
- consult online help
- unlock your copy of the program.
Ñ "About YP Slider Crank..." item: When you select this item from the Apple menu, a dialog box showing information about the version number and copyright is displayed, as well as whether your copy of the software has been registered or not.
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"Unlock" button: This button is visible only if your copy of the software has not yet been personalized. After receiving your personal unlocking code, click on this button to open another dialog box so that you may enter (or paste) your name and your unlocking code in the appropriate zones.
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"Help & Info" Button: This button gives access to online help.
"File" Menu:
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Use the "File Menu" to
- save content of the active window as a PICT file,
- close the active window,
- print the active window,
- quit the application YP Slider Crank.
"Save as PICT..." item: Saves the content of the active window (mechanism picture or graph) as a PICT file, which can be open by any draw of paint program.
"Close Window" item: Closes the active window.
"Page Setup..." item: Use this item when you want to use a different paper size, or orientation.
"Print" item: Use this item to print the content of the active window.
"Quit" item: Use this item from the file menu to quit the program "YP Slider Crank".
"Edit" Menu:
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The "Cut", "Paste" and Delete" items are available only when a dialog box in which you may enter text is active.
The "Copy" item is also available when the animation window (or a graph window) is active, so you can easily copy a frame (picture) in the clipboard.
"Animation" Menu:
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Use this menu
- to change dimensions of the mechanism
- to start or stop the animation of the mechanism,
- to play the animation frame by frame,
- to control the speed of the animation,
- to reverse the direction of rotation,
- choose another frame of reference.
"Dimensions of Mechanism" item:
When you select this item from the "Animation" menu, the program displays a dialog in which you can type the length of the connecting rod and the length of the crank arm. Then you must click on the "Apply these dimensions" button" so the changes become effective.
You may enter numerical values in decimal or scientific notation (for instance: 2.4e-3 or 0.0024). The exact separators to use (point or comma) depend on the settings in the "Numbers" control panel of your computer.
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"Choose Frame of Reference╔" item:
When you select this item from the "Animation" menu, the program displays a dialog in which you can choose the frame of reference in which the animation is shown. This feature is useful to explain relative motion.
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"Vectors" Menu:
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Use this menu to display a graphical representation of the acceleration, velocity and position vectors. The animation must be running in order to see the vectors.
"Addition of Velocities╔" item:
When you select this item from the "Vectors" menu, you can see a vector diagram showing how the velocity of the crank and the velocity of the connecting rod are combined together to give the velocity of the piston. The animation must be running in order to see the vectors.
"Theory╔" item: When you select this item from the "Vectors" menu, the program display a window explaining how to find the velocity of the piston.
"Graphs" Menu:
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Use this menu to display one or several of the following graphs during animation:
Ñ acceleration versus time
Ñ velocity versus time
Ñ displacement versus time
These items are available only when the frame of reference "0" (ground) is selected.
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By using the appropriate items of the "File" and "Edit" menus, it is possible to print, copy or save these graphs (as PICT files).
"Help" Menu:
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YP Slider Crank supports Balloon Help. Use this menu to show or hide help balloons, and to display online help. The information included in the help window is basically the same you are now reading.
Ordering information:
The demo (unregistered) version of YP Slider Crank may be freely distributed to allow anybody to try it before registering. You are permitted to upload it to an internet site, distribute it on a CD-ROM, or give a copy to a friend.
If you want to use YP Slider Crank on a regular basis, you must pay for a user license. You will then receive an unlocking code that will permit you to personalize your copy of the program.
The unregistered version have the following limitations:
Ñ a window indicating how to order the full version is displayed at startup.
Ñ the mention "This copy is for evaluation only." is permanently displayed in the main window.
Ñ one item from the "Vectors" menu and one item from the "Graphs" menu are not available (the unavailable animation is chosen randomly at startup).
Ñ In the theory window, only the first page is available.
Your unlocked version will have the following advantages:
Ñ the window indicating how to order the full version is not displayed at startup.
Ñ the mention "This copy is for evaluation only." will never be displayed again in the main window.
Ñ all items of the "Vectors" and "Graphs" menus will be available.
Ñ In the theory window, all the pages will be available.
In addition, you will be able to unlock all future updates of YP Slider Crank with the same unlocking code.
Methods of Payment:
Kagi, a company located in the United States, handles the payments for my software. You can pay by credit card (Visa, Master Card, American Express), by check or postal money order (in american dollars) or with cash. Schools located in Canada or in the United States can send me a purchase order. For more information about registering YP Slider Crank, please read the file"How to Order".
Detailed Prices:
Single User License: A $15.00 US registration fee will license one copy of YP Slider Crank for use on any one computer at any one time. For example, one copy may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from one computer to another as long as there is no possibility of it being used simultaneously on more than one machine.
Site License: A license covering all computers located in the same building is available at the price of $200.00 US.
Technical Support:
If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to e-mail me at pelletier@kagi.com (or ch865@freenet.carleton.ca).
⌐ 1997-1999 Yves Pelletier
All rights reserved.
YP Slider Crank is provided ╥as-is╙. Yves Pelletier hereby disclaims all warranties relating to this software, whether express or implied, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Yves Pelletier will not be liable for any special, incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages due to loss of data or any other reason, even if Yves Pelletier or an agent of his has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event shall Yves Pelletier be liable for any damages, regardless of the form of the claim. The person using the software bears all risk as to the quality and performance of the software.
