DEVELOPMENT OF A DESIGN INFERENCE ENGINE, WITH APPLICATION TO MECHANISM SYNTHESIS. PART 1: INTRODUCTION OF THE INFERENCE ENGINE.

Automation of the mechanism synthesis process is a challenging goal requiring tools and techniques specially designed for automating general mechanical design. A new automated reasoning mechanism (inference engine) is introduced for use in a mechanism synthesis expert system. Following a brief discussion of expert systems and inference engines, the requirements of the conceptual and preliminary stages of design are analyzed. An overview of a previously presented conceptual design inference engine is covered. Substantial enhancements to this engine enabling the preliminary stage of design are presented.