Control motion use VDISP

[liq001]

Hi everyone,

I am trying to define the movement of a conveyor belt, the conveyor moving with constant velocity, may I get your advise what is the best way to define the BCs for this type of simulation. Since the belts driven by driving rollers are not able to move stably, I am thinking use VDISP to control the motion of the belt. Should I control all nodes with displacement BC to achieve my goal? Thanks in advance.

Best
Lee

 

[FEA way]

Connector elements are typically used for such purposes. But if you need more advanced control over time variation of boundary conditions (including the use of sensors) then the VUAMP subroutine may help.

 

[liq001]

Thanks FEAway, My problem is not complicated at all. I just need let the belt moving in a big loop in a constant velocity. So can I use VDISP to define the BC s on each node and let it moving in big loop (like the image in my first post, think I have only one node and moving in a loop like a conveyor )? Should I use piecewise function to define the motion as a function of time and what is the function should look like?

Best
lee

 

[FEA way]

Maybe subroutines won’t be necessary here. A combination of connectors (including SLIPRING) should do the job.

 

[liq001]

Thanks again FEAway, any examples using connectors that I can learn from?

best
lee

 

[FEA way]

Examples of connector usage can be found in the documentation. The SLIPRING connector is included in "Verification --> Element Verification --> Connector element verification --> Tests for special-purpose connectors". There's also an example of a belt drive with no connectors (the drum is modeled as a rigid part, maybe you could do the same): "Steady-state slip of a belt drive".