Automatic kinematic analysis and simulation of conceptual design schemes

This paper presents an automatic method to perform the kinematic analysis of the conceptual design schemes. Using the basic organ based kinematic analysis method, the system directly establishes the kinematic analysis model of the symbolic scheme which is generated by the design rules based computerized regeneration method. The 3D virtual assembly and simulation of the mechanism are also performed using the ¿background preset¿ technique. A software platform which supports the direct generation of the 3D virtual prototype from the symbolic conceptual design scheme is implemented using the OO language VC++ and the API functions provided by SolidWorks SDK. Thus the designer can evaluate and screen the conceptual design schemes on the virtual prototype level, which enables the rapid creative design of the mechanical devices.