Although the Pro/MECHANISM module (MDX) has been available since approximately 2000, it remains a very under-utilised product in many organisations.  The surprising fact is that designers have access to the module because it is now bundled up in PTC’s Wildfire Foundation Advantage package.

The software adds to Pro/ENGINEER’s ability as a design tool, in three main areas;

·          Traditional mechanism design.

·          Conveying design intent, particularly at the beginning of a design task.

·          Performing accurate interference checking.

Mechanism functionality most certainly does not compromise Pro/ENGINEER assemblies – to the contrary, it only increases their value.  Pro-ACTIVE Engineering has the ability to demonstrate top-down methodologies that include Mechanism functionality.  This ensures that mechanisms can still be used with both traditional static skeletons and family tables - thus allowing for controlled mechanism position when leaving assemblies, plus the ability to make 2D documentation to describe event-points in the mechanism’s cycle.

Additionally, Mechanism functionality also allows an assembly to manually dragged, or put into motion using analyses.  Limits can be used to control non-cyclic mechanisms, thus imposing real-life limitations.

Upon returning to the standard Pro/ENGINEER design environment, the mechanism can be regenerated to a controlled position defined by the designer, thus allowing for static interference checks to be performed correctly.

Mechanism functionality allows for dynamic interference checking, although this is not in the same league as that in the static global interference checking tool.  To speed up interference checking, Mechanism design can be used in simplified reps, thus having the ability to perform checks on a specifically chosen set of parts.

It is also possible to generate motion envelopes of mechanisms.  In today’s global design environment, such functionality means that potentially unvetted project partners do not need to know the complete detail of mechanisms, thus giving organisations the confidence that their confidential design could be passed on to unauthorised persons.

PTC continues to improve the robustness and usability of this product, and other significant modifications have just been announced for Wildfire3.

Through our Virtual Managed Network we have the ability to leverage Mechanism functionality against mechanism analysis using Mechanism Dynamics Option (MDO).   MDO allows you to virtually prove mechanism performance, adding such physical components as springs and dampers, plus the effects of mass and friction.  Mechanism performance and component stress can be analysed, and there is the ability to run optimisations based on pre-defined variables.