High speed machinery has played and continues to play a vital role in
the manufacture and production of consumer goods. In the design of high
speed systems there are two key considerations: power transmission and
motion control. Although there is considerable computer-based support for
the design of systems to achieve requirements of power transmission, there
is only limited support for the design of systems to deliver complex
motion control. This is particularly the case where mechanism and linkage
systems are considered in order to achieve large displacements and
intricate paths involving reentrant and reciprocating components. One
explanation for this relative lack of supportive tools is the underlying
reasoning and analysis techniques implemented within many commercial and
research software environments. To overcome these limitations a
constraint-based approach has been employed to provide the fundamental
elements of a design environment for mechanisms and machine systems. The
design environment provides support for the transition from concept to
embodiment stages of the design process and the subsequent stages of
detailed design and optimization. In contrast to many research approaches
the design environment presented in this paper has been created and
developed through close collaboration with industry and through extensive
application to real design scenarios. First, the underlying
representations and methods are presented. The fundamental elements of the
design environment are then described and its capabilities discussed with
particular reference to the use of constraints in design.