Defence mechanisms

A defence mechanism is the act or technique of coping mechanisms that reduce anxiety generated by threats from unacceptable
or negative impulses.
[1]
Defense mechanisms, which are unconscious, are not to be confused with conscious coping strategies.
[2]
Sigmund Freud was one of the first proponents of this construct.
[3]

Defence mechanisms may result in healthy or unhealthy consequences depending on the circumstances and frequency the
mechanism is used.
[4]
In Freudian psychoanalytic theory, defence mechanisms are psychological strategies brought into play by the unconscious
[5]
to manipulate, deny, or distort reality in order to defend against feelings of anxiety and unacceptable impulses to maintain
one's self schema.
[6]
These processes that manipulate, deny, or distort reality may include the following: repression, or the burying of a painful feeling
or thought from one's awareness even though it may resurface in a symbolic form;
[4]
identification, incorporating an object or thought into oneself;
[7]
and rationalization, the justification of one's behavior and motivations by substituting "good" acceptable reasons for the
motivations.
[4][8]
Generally, repression is considered the basis for other defense mechanisms
[4]

Healthy persons normally use different defences throughout life. An ego defence mechanism becomes pathological only when its
persistent use leads to maladaptive behaviour such that the physical or mental health of the individual is adversely affected. The
purpose of ego defence mechanisms is to protect the mind/self/ego from anxiety and/or social sanctions and/or to provide a refuge
from a situation with which one cannot currently cope.
[9]

One resource used to evaluate these mechanisms is the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ-40).
[10]

Introduction to Mechanisms
1. Linkage mechanisms
1.1 Four bar linkages
Linkage are composed of links and lower pairs. The simplest closed-loop linkage is the four-bar linkage, which has three moving links, one fixed
link and four pin joints. A linkage with one link fixed is a mechanism. You can load the following four-bar linkage into SimDesign from the
file mechanisms/fourbar.sim
This mechanism has three moving links. Two of them are pinned to the frame, which is not shown in this picture. In SimDesign, you can nail
these two links to the background.
How many degrees of freedom (DOF) does this mechanism have? If it has one, you can impose one constraint on the mechanism for it to have
definite motion. For example, you can pull the nailed link on the left (making it the input link) and it will turn around the nail. The right link (now
the output link) will make an oscillating motion. Suppose you put a pen on the top of the triangle-shaped link. (The triangle is also called a link. A
link is not necessarily a simple line-shaped body). The pen will trace its path. The triangle-shaped link connects the two moving pivots and
couples the input and the output motion; hence, it is called coupler.
Linkages have different functions. The functions are classified depending on the primary goal of the mechanism:
Function generation: the relative motion between the links connected to the frame,
Path generation: the path of a tracer point, or
Motion generation: the motion of the coupler link.
1.1.1 CraneAn application of path generation is a crane in which an approximate horizontal trace is needed.
1.1.2 Hood
An example of motion generation is a hood which opens and closes.

1.1.3 Parallelogram mechanism
In a parallelogram four-bar linkage, the orientation of the coupler does not change during the motion. The figure illustrates a loader.
1.2 Slider-crank mechanisms
The four-bar mechanism has some special configurations created by making one or more links infinite in length. The slider-crank (or crank and
slider) mechanism shown below is a four-bar linkage with a slider replacing an infinitely long output link.
Pull the crank of this mechanism and you will see that it transfers rotary motion into translation. Most mechanisms are driven by motors, and
slider-cranks are often used to transform rotary motion into linear motion.
1.2.1 Crank and piston
You can also use the slider as the input link and the crank as the output link. In this case, the mechanism transfers translational motion into rotary
motion. The pistons and crank in an internal combustion engine are an example of this type of mechanism. The corresponding SimDesign file
is mechanisms/combustion.sim.
You might wonder why there is another slider and a link on the left. This mechanism has two dead points. The slider and link on the left help the
mechanism to overcome these dead points.
1.2.2 Block feeder
One interesting application of slider-crank is the block feeder. The SimDesign file can be found inmechanisms/block.feeder.sim
2. Cam mechanisms
Linkages, while useful, cannot achieve all possible motions. For example, if the output link must remain stationary for a certain period of time
while the input link keeps turning, linkages cannot be used. Cam mechanisms can realize any required output motion. The composition of a cam
mechanisms is simple: a cam, a follower and a frame. (You may find springs used in a cam mechanism to keep the follower and the cam in
contact, but it is not part of the cam mechanism.)

2.1 Rotating cam/Translating follower
If you turn the cam, the follower will move. The weight of the follower keeps them in contact. This is called agravity constraintcam.
2.2 Rotating cam/Rotating follower
The SimDesign file is mechanisms/cam.oscillating.sim. Notice that a roller is used at the end of the follower. In addition, a spring is
used to maintain the contact of the cam and the roller.
If you try to calculate the degrees of freedom (DOF) of the mechanism, you must imagine that the roller is welded onto the follower because
turning the roller does not influence the motion of the follower.
3. Gears
There are many kinds of gears. The following examples are involute spur gears. We use the word involute because the contour of gear teeth
curves inward. There are many terminologies, parameters and principles for gears. One of the important concept is thevelocity ratio, which is the
ratio of the rotary velocity of the driver gear to that of the driven gears.
The number of teeth in these gears are 15 and 30, respectively. If the 15-tooth gear is the driving gear and the 30-teeth gear is the driven gear,
their velocity ratio is 2.
An example of a set of gears is in mechanisms/gear10.30.sim.
3.1 Rack and pinion
When the number of teeth of a gear becomes infinite, the center of the gear goes to infinity. The gear becomes a rack. The following picture
shows a rack and pinion. The corresponding SimDesign file is mechanisms/gear.rack.sim.
You can pull the pinion so that it turns and drives the rack. You can also pull the rack along the guide and drive the pinion.
3.2 Ordinary gear trains
Gear trains consist of two or more gears that transmit motion from one axis to another. Ordinary gear trains have axes, relative to the frame, for
all gears comprising the train.
3.3 Planetary gear train
The SimDesign file is mechanisms/gear.planet.sim. Since the sun gear (the largest gear) is fixed, the DOF of the above mechanism is
one. When you pull the arm or the planet, the mechanism has a definite motion. If the sun gear isn't frozen, the relative motion is difficult to
control.
4. Miscellaneous mechanisms
4.1 Ratchet mechanism
A wheel with suitably shaped teeth, receiving an intermittent circular motion from an oscillating member, is a ratchet wheel. The figure below
shows a simple ratchet mechanism.
A is the ratchet wheel, and B is an oscillating link. Attached to B is a pawl which is a link designed to engage with the ratchet teeth to prevent the
wheel from moving in one direction. This mechanism has a supplementary pawl at D. When the link B moves in a counterclockwise direction, the
pawl C pushes the wheel through a partial rotation. When the link B moves clockwise, the pawl C slides over the points of the teeth while the
wheel remains at rest because of the fixed pawl D. The amount of backward motion possible varies with the pitch of the teeth. The smaller the
teeth, the smaller the backward motion. The contact surfaces of wheel and pawl should be inclined so they don't disengage under pressure.
The corresponding SimDesign file is mechanisms/ratchet.sim. The four-bar linkage on the right generates an oscillating rotation for link
B. Pull the crank to watch the ratchet work.
4.2 Geneva Wheel
An interesting example of intermittent gearing is the Geneva Wheel.
In this mechanism, for every turn of the driver wheel A, the driven wheel B makes a quarter turn. The pin, attached to driver wheel A, moves in
the slots causing the motion of wheel B. The contact between the lower part of driver A with the corresponding hollow part of wheel B, retains it
in position when the pin is out of the slot. Wheel A is cut away near the pin as shown, in order to provide clearance for wheel B as it moves. If
one of the slots is closed, A can make less than one revolution in either direction before the pin strikes the closed slot, stopping the motion. Early
watches, music boxes, etc., used Geneva wheels to prevent over winding. From this application, they also are called Geneva Stops. As a stop,
wheel A is fastened to the spring shaft, and B turns on the axis of the spring barrel. The number of slots in B depends upon the number of times
the spring shaft should be turned.