Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) software programs are used in mechanical engineering industries to reduce the time it takes to draft, simulate, machine, and plan a product. When knowledge-based expert rules, equations, and proprietary languages extend CAD/CAM software, previously designed mechanisms can be scaled to satisfy new design requirements in the shortest time.
Two major drawbacks exist in current technology. First, embedded design alternatives needed by design engineers during the product conception and rework stages are lacking. Second, an operator is required who has a thorough understanding of the intended design and the how-to expertise needed to create and optimize the design alternatives.
The focus of our research and development was to automate the intellectual operations; e.g., questioning, identifying, selecting, and coordinating the design process. A robust system emerged which:
1. Selects the best mechanisms necessary to design a power transmission device from proven solutions.
2. Aids the inexperienced operator in developing complex design solutions.
3. Provides design alternatives which add back-to-the-drawing-board capabilities to knowledge-based mechanical power transmission CAD programs.
A modified random search methodology for the design of helical gears has been developed. The technique allows for the incorporation of non-linear design functions and constraints without the need for linearization. In addition, the random serarch based method is invariant to the feasibility of the initial design. Application of the proposed optimization method to the helical gear design problem have shown promisisng results. Futhermore, the methodology can be utilized in developing a robust algorithm to initiate a feasible design to be employed by other gradient-based optimization routines.
Burmester’s solution to the problem of guiding a body through four precision points has been extended to find planar mechanisms that have their pivots located inside prescribed regions. The complex number formulation has been used to generate the Burmester curves. A random search technique was developed to choose a new set of precision points that lie within user specified limits, in order to find a set of curves that pass through the desired regions. A computer program was written to generate Burmester curves that lie within the desired regions, while maintaining a coupler motion within satisfactory limits. An automobile suspension linkage was successfully designed using this program.
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