Creative Design of Mechanical Devices

Creative Design of Mechanical Devices presents engineering creative techniques and a novel creative design methodology for the systematic generation of all possible design configurations of mechanical devices. It provides a solid background to assist instructors teaching creative design in mechanical engineering. It helps students to hone their creative talents in an effective manner, and it supplies a powerful tool for design engineers to come up with fresh concepts to meet new design requirements and constraints, and/or to avoid patent protection of existing products. The text is organized in such a way that it can be used for teaching or for self-study. Part I (chapters 1 & 2) addresses background material. Part II (chapters 3-5) covers creative techniques for engineering problem solving. Part III (chapters 6-10) presents a methodology for the creative design of mechanical devices based on the concepts of generalization and specialization. Part IV (chapters 11-14) offers design examples to illustrate the applications of the creative design methodology. The book can be used for undergraduate courses of engineering design and/or senior design projects. It can also be adopted for graduate courses of advanced machine design, advanced kinematics, and/or special topics for teaching the subject of creative design in mechanical engineering. This book should fill the needs both for academic teaching and industrial applications, for the systematic thinking and generation of new design concepts for mechnical devices.

Introduction. - Mechanical Devices. - Engineering Creativity. - Rational Problem Solving. - Creative Techniques. - Creative Design Methodology. - Generalization. - Generalized Chains. - Kinematic Chains. - Specialization. - Clamping Devices. - Motorcross Suspension Mechanisms. - Infinitely Variable Transmissions. - Configurations of Machining Centers. - Index.