Defining Piecewise Continuous Profiles from Segments

From the Function Builder, you can define custom motor or force profiles as piecewise continuous functions of an independent variable, time or cycle angle.

1. From the Motor or Force PropertyManager, under Type, click Segments .
2. Select the independent variable:
   • Time
   • Cycle Angle
   The independent variable defines the horizontal axis for each function.
3. Select the function Value:
   • Displacement
   • Velocity
   • Acceleration
   For path mate motors in Motion Analysis type studies, select from the following:

   • Distance Along Path
   • Tangential Velocity
   • Tangential Acceleration
4. Select Click to add row in the segment table.
5. Enter the segment data for the row:
   1. Enter the End X value to specify the segment end time or angle.
      The value of End X in a row defines the Start X value for the next row.
   2. Enter the Value to specify the function value at the segment end time or angle.
   3. Select the Segment Type to specify the function profile for the segment duration.
6. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 until you fully specify the function.
   For motor profiles, you can view displacement, velocity, acceleration, and jerk in the Function Builder. For force profiles, you can view a plot of the force profile.
7. Click OK.
   Before clicking OK, you can select Make function available to define other motors or forces for this model and enter a function Name. The function name appears in the PropertyManager.