A simple mechanical system

Objectives

• Constructing a complex system using a line connection.

• Moving a component connected to a line without disconnecting the line.

• Putting labels on the sketch.

• Aliasing parameters, variables and submodels.

• Using the External Variables facility.

• Using Plot.

• Using a Continuation run. Figure 2: Quarter car system

In this exercise you will construct the system shown above. It is built partly from components from the Signal, Control category (red) and partly from the Mechanical category (green).

This is a model of car suspension. We want to simulate the displacement of the wheel and the body when the car goes over a step.

Another important point is that a line run line run is used. It is composed of line segments line segment which run parallel to the edges of the screen. Note that we could have connected the "Road profile" icon directly to the mechanical category icon but maybe it looks better with the line.

Start a new system and construct the model with the components shown in the following figure. At any time you can save your model, you will just be asked for a name the first time you do this operation.

Figure 3: Build the system

Note this system contains two components of the following families:

• Signal duty cycle.

• Signal to physical unit.

These components are in reverse video in the figure above because they are not connected yet.

Connecting the signal submodel to the mechanical submodel requires a little care. Follow the procedure in the following section.