Sensors
One of the biggest advantages of virtual design validation, especially with multibody simulation and principia MBS, is that you can add as many sensors to your model as you like. Sensors are postprocessing elements only, and as a result do not influence the computation time at all.
Throughout the definition of sensor elements, principia MBS relies on previously defined mate connectors in your Onshape assembly. The mate connectors define
- the body a sensor is placed (To Mate Connector, From Mate Connector)
- the orientation of a sensor quantity (direction for translational sensors, axis for angle measures)
principia MBS supports follwing sensor elements:
- Click Add New Sensor to add another sensor.
- Click onto the label of the new element ("New Sensor" by default)
- Change the name to a meaningful value - this can be helpful later when post-processing the results to search for entries in the list of possible elements.
- Select the sensor element you intend to create.
If you missed to define suitable mate connectors, you can return to modelling in Onshape at any time and add mate connectors in your assembly, subassemblies, or Part Studios. After successful creation of mate connectors, hit the Update Model button (remember, the label could also be CAD Data Up To Date).
In case of components that occur more than once, it is advisable to define mate connectors in the Part Studio. This allows for very efficient modeling, especially if mate connections are to be changed later on.
Next to fields To Mate Connector and From Mate Connector you find this icon.
If you click on it, you can activate the Onshape selection, which allows you to select the dropdown entry by clicking either in the Onshape model tree or in the 3D Onshape window of your assembly.