This paper presents a systematic rapid creative design framework for complex mechanisms to support creative conceptual design schemes' generation and 3D virtual simulation. In conceptual design stage, a rule-based creative conceptual design system is constructed to expand conceptual design solution space through operating design rules related to functional requirements of design problems with graphic carriers. Compared with FBS models or catalogue-based matching approaches, the rule-based system can dig out more innovative conceptual design schemes including generalized mechanisms. Then a great number of conceptual design schemes generated in conceptual design are represented with symbolic schemes and identified into constituent basic mechanisms and their connections. To the constituent basic mechanisms, the object-oriented (OO) technology is applied to set up their 3D virtual solid models with encapsulated key feature parameters, which can be automatically modified by system's database with the aid of the new defined classes. According to the OO solid models of constituent basic mechanisms and their connections, a 3D space layout algorithm considering the connections among the solid models is developed to determine the position of each constituent solid basic mechanism. Finally, an object-oriented based kinematic analysis method is pro-posed to carry out automatic kinematic analysis of the complex mechanisms related to the symbolic schemes. By means of the virtual-assembly approach and the kinematic data, all constituent components in the complex mechanisms are put onto the proper positions as they are assembled manually In this way, the systematic design processes for complex mechanisms from creative conceptual design schemes' generation, to 3D virtual solid design, layout de-sign, kinematic analysis, and virtual assembly and simulation are realized automatically. Based on the framework presented in this paper, rapid generating and evaluating innovative, excellent-performance schemes of complex mechanisms in 3D virtual prototype form are possible.
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