Preface
In July 2005 I finished all my classes and internships and was ready for my graduation
assignment. After the summer I started on my assignment at SAFAN B.V. in Lochem, the
Netherlands. After familiarizing myself with the material I got the freedom to choose my
own path within the assignment and choose where to concentrate my efforts. Throughout
the year traveled to Lochem once every week, reporting my progress there. About halfway
through my project, I proposed to perform tests on some designs but unfortunately near the
end of my project, the last-minute decision was made to abandon this idea. Despite the lack
of experimental results to back up the analytical calculations and numerical simulations, I
feel this report shows a feasible improvement to the machines that SAFAN builds.
I would like to thank everybody who helped me complete my master’s thesis throughout
the past year: First of all my coach Nick Rosielle and my coaches at SAFAN Teun Slot and
Gerrit Schutte. Secondly I thank all my fellow students at the Constructions & Mechanisms
group for their input during all the Monday-meetings and for letting me in on their various
assignments. Finally I thank my friends, family and my girlfriend Sara for technical and
non-technical support.
Jasper Simons
Eindhoven, 4th August 2006