The term ideal machine refers to a hypothetical mechanical system in which energy and power are not lost or dissipated through friction, deformation, wear, or other inefficiencies. Ideal machines have the theoretical maximum performance, and therefore are used as a baseline for evaluating the performance of real machine systems.
A simple machine, such as a lever, pulley, or gear train, is "ideal" if the power input is equal to the power output of the device, which means there are no losses. In this case, the mechanical efficiency is 100%.
Mechanical efficiency is the performance of the machine compared to its theoretical maximum as performed by an ideal machine. The mechanical efficiency of a simple machine is calculated by dividing the actual power output by the ideal power output. This is usually expressed as a percentage.
Power loss in a real system can occur in many ways, such as through friction, deformation, wear, heat losses, incomplete chemical conversion, magnetic and electrical losses.
Read more about Ideal Machine: Criteria
Famous quotes containing the words ideal and/or machine:
“The ideal American type is perfectly expressed by the Protestant, individualist, anti-conformist, and this is the type that is in the process of disappearing. In reality there are few left.”
—Orson Welles (1915–1984)
“The white man regards the universe as a gigantic machine hurtling through time and space to its final destruction: individuals in it are but tiny organisms with private lives that lead to private deaths: personal power, success and fame are the absolute measures of values, the things to live for. This outlook on life divides the universe into a host of individual little entities which cannot help being in constant conflict thereby hastening the approach of the hour of their final destruction.”
—Policy statement, 1944, of the Youth League of the African National Congress. pt. 2, ch. 4, Fatima Meer, Higher than Hope (1988)