Integrated Approaches for Generating Principle and Structural Innovation Concepts of Mechanical Products

A large number of decisions are made during the stage of concept design which is characterized by a lack of complete information.While existing computer aided design(CAD) systems for supporting the structure design have little impact at the conceptual design stage.To support the top-down design process,reduce the time of mechanical product design and ensure their innovation, a novel approach of the principle and structural conceptual design for mechanical products was presented in this paper.Firstly,the state equation,which is used to solve the principle concept,was established,and the gene-sign expression and corresponding algebra of the principle concept was also provided. Secondly, the structural state equation composing a machine was established,the spatial configuration model of function and assembly symbol was also proposed using in structural conceptual design.Finally,Based on the approach,corresponding software prototype was developed,a lot of concepts was generated successfully using this software prototype.The difficult problem merging the conceptual design and the detailed design is solved,thus it is a practical top-down design.