Research On Concept, Function And Application Of Mechanical Structure Symmetry-Breaking

Symmetry-breaking is a common phenomenon in product structure and its evolution process, but the exiting research has not paid enough attention to it both at home and abroad. Over 600 instances of mechanical structure symmetry-breaking were collected, and the forms of existence and their effects were analyzed under a uniform standard. On these bases, research on concept, function and application of mechanical structure symmetry-breaking is carried out. The main research contents and results are focused on the following four aspects:1. Establishment of concept and classification system of mechanical structure symmetry-breaking. After the analysis of structure symmetry-breaking instances, also with reference to the research achievements of structure symmetry, the concept of mechanical structure symmetry-breaking was proposed, and the classification system including structure static symmetry-breaking, structure dynamic symmetry-breaking and structure selective symmetry-breaking was built.2. Association knowledge mining and analysis of structure symmetry-breaking instances. After establishing the instance database and design requirements database, the association rules between all kinds of structure symmetry-breaking and design requirements were mined using association analysis algorithm. Then the effects of structure symmetry-breaking including meeting functional requirements, performance requirements, and other design constraints were concluded.3. Research on asymmetry matching principle and its application method. Based on the inspiration from associating knowledge and manual analysis of products improvement instances, the asymmetry matching principle along with its four different types were proposed. And the application method of asymmetry matching principle was also summed up.4. Development of Knowledge Application Platform of Mechanical Symmetry-Breaking (KAPMSS). Based on the above theoretical study, a knowledge application platform integrating functions of instances management, knowledge mining, knowledge management and application was founded. Furthermore, an improved design of a small-scale wind generator was taken as an example to verify the utility of the platform preliminarily.