Machine element
Basically an element of a machine that fulfills just one singular well defined function.
Like e.g. a bearing, a gear, a spring, a flywheel, and such.
See Wikipedias definition (extrnal links section) for a thorough treatment and commonly agreed on interpretation.
The discussion here is just a short coverage in the context of this wiki.
Limits to delineation
The distinctions upwards to bigger assemblies and downwards to smaller ones may not always be clear and definite but is rather context dependent.
E.g. in a gear bearing the whole thing can be considered a machine element but
just as well each gear inside can be considered a machine element too (especially if the bearing can be disassembled).
Mechanical electrical analogies
For some machine elements there is a more or less direct analogy to electrical components.
- spring - capacitor
- flywheel - inductor
- "friction" element (dissipative snapback) - resistor
- unidirectional clutches - diodes
- controllable clutches - transistors
- gear-trains - transformers (quite some difference here)
Related
- List of machine elements, Suitable mechanisms
- Terminology for parts
- Component (gem-gum factory)
- Mechanical electrical analogies
External links
- Wikipedia Machine element
