Question Details

A four bar mechanism is shown below. For the mechanism to be a crank-rocker mechanism, the length of the link PQ can be

Options

A

80 mm

B

200 mm

C

300 mm

D

350 mm

Correct Answer :

80 mm

Solution :

The correct option is 80 mm.

Analysis of the Given Four-Bar Mechanism:
Based on the provided schematic diagram (image 0), we can identify the joints and link lengths of the four-bar mechanism as follows:
1. Ground (fixed) link: PS=400 mm
2. Coupler link: QR=600 mm
3. Follower link: RS=300 mm
4. Input link: PQ (with unknown length l)

Grashof's Law and Crank-Rocker Conditions:
According to Grashof's law, for a four-bar linkage to have at least one link that can make a complete rotation of 360° (making it a Grashof linkage), the sum of the lengths of the shortest (s) and longest (l) links must be less than or equal to the sum of the lengths of the remaining two links (p and q):
s+lp+q
For a linkage to specifically function as a crank-rocker mechanism:
1. The Grashof inequality must be satisfied.
2. The shortest link must be the crank (the link that rotates fully), and it must be adjacent to the fixed link.

Step-by-Step Derivation:
Since the fixed link is PS=400 mm, the adjacent link PQ must be the shortest link (s=PQ) to act as the crank.
Since PQ is the shortest link, its length must be smaller than all other link lengths:
PQ<300 mm
Under this condition, the longest link is the coupler link, QR=600 mm (l=600).
The other two intermediate links are:
p=300 mm (link RS) and q=400 mm (link PS).

Applying the Grashof inequality:
PQ+600300+400
PQ+600700
PQ100 mm

Conclusion:
For the mechanism to behave as a crank-rocker, the length of the link PQ must be less than or equal to 100 mm.
Among the given options (80 mm, 200 mm, 300 mm, 350 mm), only 80 mm satisfies this criteria (80 mm100 mm).

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