# Analysis of a Mechanism Used to Operate an Oscillating Separator
## 2 Materials  
As previously indicated, a variety of mechanical separators are utilized in order to perform size-based separation of a heterogeneous mixture of solid particles. The characteristics of the product undergoing the separation process (the size and shape of the particles in the mixtures, the density of the solid particles, the surface condition, etc.), as well as the type of surface used (a working surface made of different types of materials or made by different methods--by weaving or by stamping), are the factors that affect how the separation surface moves [11].  
Oscillating screens (linear motion) are a common feature of various technological processes because of their numerous advantages. These include their simplicity of construction, relatively high feed rate, good displacement efficiency, and simple and low-cost operation and maintenance. For this reason, this article examines the movement of such a separator [53].  
The initial stage of the investigation involved identifying the type of motion produced by the classical mechanism that drives an oscillating system. This mechanism is present in the majority of plane oscillating separators (Figure 1a) [53]. The conventional kinematic configuration of this type of mechanism is presented in Figure 1b, which features two rocker elements. Figure 1c illustrates the principle of the corresponding classical mechanism, which utilizes a single rocker element. This was created using Linkage software. The mechanism under investigation is composed of the following elements:  
* Crank--represented as element AB, in both Figure 1b,c;
* Connecting rod--represented in Figure 1b as element BE and in Figure 1c as element BC;
* Tie rod--represented in Figure 1b as elements CD and GF, and in Figure 1c as element CD.  
Figure 1: Four-bar mechanism: (**a**) the mechanical separator with oscillatory motion is designed for the separation of solid particles [53]; (**b**) a kinematic scheme for driving the oscillating surface; and (**c**) a schematic representation of the principle kinematic diagram of the corresponding four-bar mechanism: the letters A–G represent the couplings of the mechanisms; numbers 1–3 present the elements of the mechanism in Linkage software (they are presented above).  
The study of the crank's action is uninteresting since it is a circular movement. Nevertheless, the movement of the rocker's arm is produced by this kinematic element through the connecting rod, and the trajectory it describes generates the movement that the oscillating surface performs. The geometrical analysis of this gearing has been discussed in various articles published in the scientific literature, including [53; 54], which refer to it as the four-bar mechanism.  
The trajectory of the tie rod, as illustrated in Figure 1 (which is shown in Figure 2), is the subject matter of our subsequent analysis. Based on this, we examined various systems that carry out the same action. The mechanism, illustrated in Figure 3 (the [PERSON] mechanism with six bars), was selected from a total of 47 design options using the WATT software because of the resulting trajectory's high degree of similarity.  
The mechanism chosen for study is a six-element mechanism (Figure 3), which comprises the following components:  
* The AB element that cranks;
* The DC element, the left side rocker arm, represents a binary element;
* The CEB element, the connecting rod, represents a ternary element;
* The EF element that has the second connecting rod, which could materialize the movement trajectory of the oscillating screen;
* GF is the second rocker arm from the right side;
* The points A,\(\ldots\), G are located at the centers of the kinematic rotation couples.  
Figure 3: The mechanism under analysis (represented with the help of the Roberts program).