First and Second Order Centrodes of Slider-Crank Mechanisms by Using Instantaneous Invariants

A general algorithm to trace the first and second order centrodes of slider-crank mechanisms is proposed by using the instantaneous geometric and kinematic invariants. Bresse’s circles can be also traced in order to validate the instantaneous positions of the velocity and acceleration poles. In particular, the second order centrodes give kinematic properties of the coupler motion and, thus, they are computed and traced for a constant angular velocity of the driving crank. Significant examples are included in the paper to validate the proposed algorithm.