Computer-Aided mechanical Assembly Design Using Configuration Spaces

We describe a. unified approach to computer-aided mechanical assembly design in which all design tasks are performed within a single computational paradigm supported by integrated design software. We have developed a prototype design environment for planar assemblies, called HIPAIR, that automates dynamical simulation and provides novel support for tolerancing and parametric design. We organize design tasks around the fundamental task of contact analysis, which we automate by configuration space computation. Configuration space is a complete, concise, and explicit representation of rigid body interactions and contains the requisite information for design tasks involving contacts. We describe algorithms for dynamical simulation, kinematic tolerancing, and parametric design of planar assemblies based on configuration space computation. HIPAIR allows designers to perform computations that lie outside the scope of previous software and that defy manual analysis. It allows them to visualize assembly function under a range of operating conditions, to find and correct design flaws, and to evaluate the functional effects of part tolerances. It has been tested on hundreds of pairs and on a dozen assemblies. HIPAIR performs at interactive speed on assemblies of ten pa.rts with tens of thousands of contacts. Submitted to Computer-Aided Design, January 1997.