MCAD - ECAD INTEGRATION

Mechatronic systems encompass a wide range of §disciplines and hence the development process for §mechatronic system is collaborative in nature. §Currently the collaborative development of §mechatronic systems is inefficient because §contemporary design environments do not allow §sufficient information flow of design data across§different engineering domains. Mechatronic systems §need to be designed in an integrated fashion §allowing designers from multiple engineering domains §to receive updates regarding design modifications §throughout the design process.§§In this thesis, the information exchange between §mechanical and electrical domains is explored from §two perspectives: conceptual design perspective, in §which constraint relationship between attributes of §mechanical and electrical components is identified §and classified based on the physical forms, §functions, and behavior of the mechatronic system; §system realization perspective, in which the §identified constraints are modeled for propagation §between MCAD and ECAD systems.