| dc.description.abstract | By combining the principles of knowledge-based engineering (KBE) and concurrent engineering in the design process, repetitive tasks are reduced and design tasks are conducted simultaneously, enabling the engineer to explore a large design space early in the deign process, when the committed production costs are low. This thesis investigates the principles of KBE, concurrent engineering, mechanisms, the mechanism design process and user interface development. Rapid Mechanism Modelling System (RaMMS) is described, it is a knowledge-based engineering application, whose goal is to automate tasks in the mechanism design process. The application is based on the object-oriented programming language Adaptive Modeling Language (AML), and enables for automatic modelling of mechanisms, the generated mechanism models is geometric representations with attached mechanism specific knowledge. User interface concepts for enhancing the manual optimisation process of mechanisms is presented, together with implementation details. The updated user interface allows for the application to be used in a larger part of the design process, enabling for dynamic simulation to be used in all phases, and consequently, aiding designers to explore a larger design space. | |
