How Motion Simulation Can Help Optimize Products Virtually

Today, we’re going to take a look at an often underutilized aspect of SOLIDWORKS Premium, SOLIDWORKS Motion. SOLIDWORKS Motion is a powerful kinematic simulation tool that allows engineers to preview assembly motion and verify power requirements for their products. SOLIDWORKS Motion is built on the existing assembly mates, so there’s no duplication of work when you decide to run some Motion Simulation studies on your assembly! Let’s take a look at a quick example with this car jack:

The assembly is mated together with hinge mates and a screw mate to simulate the mechanical advantage we gain as we spin the screw rod. The boundary conditions I’m going to add are gravity and the weight of the car at the top support. We can then spin the screw rod and watch the assembly move as it would in real life!

The reason I wanted to run this analysis was to size the motor necessary to lift this car without having to guess and check by plugging in motors from different suppliers. With SOLIDWORKS Motion, the torque and power requirements are super easy to gather.

So I know exactly what size motor I need to lift my car. If this sounds intimidating, don’t worry! We have a team of SOLIDWORKS Experts that can help guide you through a Motion analysis and get the results you need to move forward with your design. Reach out to us today to get started!