Motion Study Elements Overview

Use the Motion Study elements to model the motion of a component or assembly. Available elements are:

• Motors

• Gravity (Motion Analysis and Basic Motion only)

• Springs (Motion Analysis and Basic Motion only)

• Dampers (Motion Analysis only)

• Forces (Motion Analysis only )

• Contact (Motion Analysis and Basic Motion only )

You can also use the following to model properties of mates for a motion study:

• Friction

• Bushings

See MotionManager Tools for more information on availability of Motion Study elements for each type of study.

Motors

Using motors in motion studies, you can apply motion to a component without consideration of mass or inertia. Motion due to a motor supersedes motion due to any other Motion Study element. Any element that tends to resist motor motion increases the power consumption of the motor, but does not slow down the motor motion. You can view this effect, for example, in Motion Analysis results. However, if something causes the reference of the motor direction to change, the motor motion is applied in the new direction. You can select motor motion from a set of defined motor types, or you can use mathematical expressions .

Force Elements

Force elements do not prohibit or prescribe motion. Therefore, they do not add or remove degrees of freedom from your model. Forces may resist motion or they may induce motion.

Motion Studies provides the following type of force elements:

• Gravity.

• Springs, dampers, friction, and bushings. Forces apply to translational springs, torsion springs, translational dampers, torsion dampers, static friction, dynamic friction, joint friction, and bushings.

• Forces. Applied forces in SolidWorks Motion define loads and compliances on parts so that they move in certain directions. You must select the type of Force Function and its parameter values. You can also use mathematical expressions for forces. You can apply combinations of Linear force or Torque.

• Contact. Forces are generated between contacting components, or components are constrained to touch continually. Define contact to prevent the components from passing through each other during the motion analysis.