11. Numerical Simulation of Electrical Operated Mechanism Considering Impact Force

Electrical operated mechanism (EOM) is used to remotely open and close the switching device. This is achieved by electrically actuating a mechanism working against the stored energy of spring. It is required that this switching should happen instantaneously, hence the need for higher spring force resulting in the high-speed mechanism, also necessitating the criticality of impact force assessment at the design stage. EOM under consideration is a compact gear train comprising of the worm–worm wheel, rack and pinion, and planetary gear arrangement of spur and worm gear assembly. All the spur gears and rack are glass-filled plastics which make it critical from strength consideration, particularly in the event of high-speed impact. The mechanism is simulated using a rigid dynamic solver which gives important parameters such as velocity, torque reduction ratio, and impact forces acting on the gear tooth. This data is then used in FEA solver to obtain peak stresses and deformation on all the assembly components and is compared with the allowable strength of each material. The results from rigid dynamic solver aided with FEA are used for design qualification of mechanism, material selection, and in optimizing the performance of EOM. Further to augment the reliability of simulation model, high-speed imaging of mechanism is also performed.