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Design synthetic reasoning: A methodology for mechanical design

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Abstract

Design synthetic reasoning is a methodology to support the process of design synthesis and includes within its scope support for associated processes of design verification, behavior derivation, and function justification. The design synthesis of machines is viewed as the development of a specification of required behavior, and transformation of the specification into the description of a structure (or assembly) of machine components. In this paper, the process of design synthesis is modeled as a sequence of applications of transformation rules. These rules either respecify, elaborate, reduce, or reformulate the expression of required behavior, and ultimately allow matching and selection of structurally compatible machine components and relationships from a design library. The specification of required behavior for a simple rotary actuator is developed and progressively transformed to synthesize the structures of two different patented rotary actuating devices. The ability of both devices to produce the required behavior is verified, and the property of self-locking for both the devices is derived from the structure descriptions. The functions (purposes) of components and relationships in each device are extracted from the trace of transformation rules applied during the verification and derivation process for each device.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, 78712, Austin, TX, USA

    Srikanth M. Kannapan & Kurt M. Marshek

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  1. Srikanth M. Kannapan
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  2. Kurt M. Marshek
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Kannapan, S.M., Marshek, K.M. Design synthetic reasoning: A methodology for mechanical design. Research in Engineering Design 2, 221–238 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01579219

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