Abstract:

Multi-symmetry widely exists in mechanical system, and plays an important role in meeting design requirements. The development strategy of the mechanical design at home and abroad is analyzed systematically. The insights of the mechanical conceptual and detailed design, the functional and principle design, the symmetry of design requirements, the symmetry of mechanical functions, the symmetry of principles and the symmetry of structures are discussed and a conclusion is that function structures are the result of functional design and reflect the principles and structure layouts of a system solution. A multi-symmetry mechanical system classification framework is proposed. Through the analysis of more than one thousand mechanical instances, the existence forms of the multi-symmetry in function structures and their mechanical effects are explored. The function structures of the multi-symmetry mechanical systems are composed by several basic modes such as the function parallel decomposition and combination, function series decomposition and combination, function cross series and parallel combination, function parallel compound, function circulation, function selection and decision. And then the relevant knowledge between the deployment of function carriers of mechanical systems and multi-symmetry types, and the regular knowledge for employing the multi-symmetry in the function design of mechanical systems are acquired. A wave power generation device which has multi-symmetry characteristics is invented by using the above knowledge and its function structures are given finally.

Key words: deployment of function carriers design knowledge, function structures, functional design, multi-symmetry mechanical system