Conceptual design of mechanisms based on computational synthesis and simulation of kinematic building blocks

Although many ingenious mechanisms have been designed, the fundamental task of conceptualizing these devices is, to a great extent, still an art. While sophisticated computational tools for dynamic analysis of mechanisms exist, hardly any computational methods exist for generalized synthesis. To develop a computational model for synthesis, a formal foundation for mechanisms design must be laid by rationalizing the process of mechanical synthesis. Rationalization in synthesis implies that complex mechanical motions can be described in terms of primitives or building blocks. In this paper, we present a matrix methodology that forms the basis for a computable approach to design synthesis. In this methodology, the continuous design space of a mechanisms domain is discretized into functional subspaces, and each subspace is represented uniquely by a conceptual building block. The matrix scheme serves as a formal means to (a) represent and reason with the building blocks at different levels of abstraction, (b) generate alternate conceptual design configurations, and (c) facilitate rapid simulation of design concepts by connecting a series of building blocks.