applied sciences Article The Design and Simulation of an Astronomical Clock Branislav Popkonstantinovi´c 1,*, Ratko Obradovi´c 2 , Miša Stoji´cevi´c 1 , Zorana Jeli 1, Ivana Cvetkovi´c 1, Ivana Vasiljevi´c 2 and Zoran Milojevi´c 3,* 1 Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia;
[email protected] (M.S.);
[email protected] (Z.J.);
[email protected] (I.C.) 2 Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia;
[email protected] (R.O.);
[email protected] (I.V.) 3 School of Engineering, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK * Correspondence:
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[email protected] (Z.M.) Abstract: This paper describes and explains the synthesis of an astronomical clock mechanism which displays the mean position of the Sun, the Moon, the lunar node and zodiac circle as well as the Moon phases and their motion during the year as seen from the Earth. The clock face represents the stereographic projection of the celestial equator, celestial tropics, zodiac circle (ecliptic) and horizon for the latitude of Belgrade from the north celestial pole to the equator plane. The observed motions of celestial objects are realized by a set of clock gear trains with properly calculated gear ratios. The method of continued fraction is applied in the computation of proper and practically applicable gear ratios of the clock gear trains. The fully operational 3D model of the astronomical clock is created and the motion study of its operation is accomplished by using the SolidWorks 2016 application.