Automated synthesis of mechanisms with consideration of mechanical efficiency

Conceptual design of mechanisms is an early stage in the product design process, which has an essential effect on product innovation. However, existing approaches for automated synthesis of mechanisms are either inextensible to achieve the conceptual design of complex mechanisms or prone to a loss of optimal solutions with consideration of mechanical efficiency. This paper is devoted to a systematic weighted directed graph-based methodology for automated synthesis algorithm of mechanisms under mechanical efficiency consideration. After the motion element pair is proposed, a general functional representation model is then put forward to generate a motion functional graph. An exhaustive functional synthesis of motion element pair with K-highest mechanical efficiency algorithm is then proposed to produce solutions with K-highest mechanical efficiency. To curb the combinatorial explosion and evaluate optimal combinatorial solutions effectively, design constraint verification approach and design evaluation approach are also proposed. The conceptual design of new devices of jacking up system for offshore platform is given as an example, which demonstrates that the methodology is helpful to produce valuable mechanism solutions with high mechanical efficiency.