The maintenance and handling of constraints in machine design

The engineering design process can be considered to be constraint oriented. It involves the identification, negotiation and resolution of an evolving set of constraints. The nature of engineering design is that such problems are rarely as simple as satisfying a single objective with all the design variation continuous and unbounded. Previous research has shown that as the design evolves, the designer can miss or overlook some of these constraints. To overcome this, the paper presents a supportive approach which allows the designer to annotate the initial CAD drawn models with the design constraints. These constraints are then maintained with the model as it evolves, this presents the opportunity to refine the constraints when the design activity requires. The approach has been created to support manufacturing machinery design and is demonstrated with an industrial case study.