Experiment 8

Hook’s Coupling

Objective
 To investigate the variation in displacement for a single joint at different angles.
 To demonstrate that if two joints are used together with same intermediate angle, the
variation in displacement is cancelled out.
Apparatus
 Baseboard
 Bracket
 Cursor Block
 Sector scale-left hand
 Double Hooke’s Coupling
 Product Label
 Pivoting base
 Clamp Screw
 Pivot Shaft
 Scale disc
 Circular Scale
 Sector Scale right

Theory
Flexible coupling also known as universal joint or fixed arm coupling is used to link two
shafts and transmission of circular motion from input shaft to output shafts like in between
transmission and drive shaft of an automobile. It consists of a cruciform spider pivoting in
two fork ends formed at the ends of the shafts. An arbitrary and accepted lower limit between
shaft when the joint is applied is 3 degrees although larger angles can be accommodated with
an upper limit. When a single U-joint is used there exists torque fluctuations between input
and output shafts and these don’t rotate at same speed. The angular displacements of these
shafts are also different in this arrangement. However, when two U-joints are utilized, and an
intermediate shaft incorporated the second coupling introduces equal and opposite
fluctuations that cancels resulting in smooth and uniform transmission. It should be noted that
for smooth and uniform transmission the input and output shaft must make equal angle with
the intermediate shaft.
Procedure
This experiment was conducted for two cases that are described below.
Case 1:
 Make a 20-degree angle between the input and intermediate shafts. The output and
intermediate shafts are fixed at the same angle.
 Set the angle on the disc at the input shaft to 0o and record the angle on the disc at
the output shaft.
 Rotate the input shaft by 10o intervals as observed from the disc, and record the
corresponding angles read from the disc at the output shaft.
 Draw a graph showing the relationship between the input angle (0-360) and the
output angle (0-360).
Case 2:
 Make a 45 angle between the input and intermediate shafts, and a 0o angle between the
output and intermediate shafts.
 Set the angle on the disc at the input shaft to 0o and record the angle on the disc at the
output shaft.
 Rotate the input shaft by 10o intervals as observed from the disc, and record the
corresponding angles read from the disc at the output shaft.
 Draw a graph showing the relationship between the input angle (0-360) and the output
angle (0-360)
Results
Case 1
Input Angle (θ1)0 Output Angle (θ2)0
0 70
10 59
20 48
30 39
40 26
50 16
60 7
70 354
80 346
90 335
100 324
110 316
120 308
130 298
140 290
150 282
160 272
170 261
 180 254
190 244
200 233
210 222
220 213
230 201
240 193
250 179
260 166
270 159
280 148
290 139
300 131
310 120
320 111
330 100
340 91
350 82
360 71

Graph

Case 1
400
350
300
250
Output Angle

200
150
100
50
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Input Angle

Case 2
Input Angle (θ1)0 Output Angle (θ2)0
0 79
10 68
20 59
30 49
40 35
50 27
60 9
70 355
 80 342
90 331
100 320
110 311
120 304
130 296
140 290
150 284
160 276
170 269
180 260
190 252
200 243
210 231
220 216
230 204
240 190
250 177
260 164
270 152
280 142
290 131
300 124
310 116
320 109
330 100
340 94
350 86
360 79

Graph

Case 2
400
350
300
250
Output Angle

200
150
100
50
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Input Angle