2.2 Show Simple Prop Application

The moment balance problem becomes more complicated with the addition of the gas spring as shown in Figure 13.

Figure 13

This problem would still be solved by performing a moment balance
with the below formula:

: Force of gas spring
: Angle between of gas spring and line normal to line through A & B

NOTE: The solution to this problem is dependent upon the angles and
and will change as they change.

Since most people do not think in terms of trigonometry functions, it is easier to think of this problem in terms of the force lines of action". Design spreadsheets should use the trigonometry functions, but lines of action thinking will help the designer to more quickly develop a good gas spring application.Figure 14 shows the same problem as Figure 13 but illustrates the lines of action method. These revised lengths from those used in the above formulas can be obtained either by scaling from a drawing or from querying for the distances in a CAD program.The formulas from above become:

: Length of line normal to of gas spring through point A
: Length of line through point A to vertical line of action for weight

Figure 14

---