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Maple based Design Tool for Modelling and Simulating the Dynamics of Mechanical Multibody Systems

Designed by MotionPro Inc., and launched under the MapleConnect™ Premier program, DynaFlexPro is the result of many years of research and development, with applications in complex mechanisms, vehicle suspensions, stability control, trains, articulated vehicles, vibration analysis, robotics, biomedical prosthesis design and piano mechanisms. DynaFlexPro overcomes the shortcomings of existing mechanical analysis tools, which use inefficient numerical algorithms to evaluate rotations, displacements, forces and torques in a mechanism. Other tools introduce errors in analysis and the analysis is very slow—too slow for implementation in a real-time simulator, for example. In addition, models are difficult to parameterize, which means, if, for example, a link length is changed, the whole model must be recomputed for the new value.

DynaFlexPro solves these problems by using Maple—the most powerful and intuitive tool for solving complex mathematical problems and creating rich, executable technical applications—to symbolically generate the equations of motion for the mechanism. This results in an exact-form representation of the mechanical system that is completely parameterized, error-free and very quick to evaluate when numeric data is introduced making the model ideal for real-time use. Furthermore, the Maple code generation capability can be used to export the model to other tools such as MATLAB®/Simulink®, MATRIXx™/SystemBuild™ and LabVIEW™.

A graphical user interface, DynaFlexPro ModelBuilder™, facilitates the rapid creation of system models using block diagrams and drop-down menus. DynaFlexPro combines graph theory with engineering mechanics in algorithms that automatically generate the system equations from the system model. Powerful Maple computer algebra technologies are used to create small and efficient sets of system equations in symbolic form, which allows for viewing, physical insight and sharing. This symbolic approach facilitates the design, optimization, simulation and control of complex engineering systems, and is well suited for teaching mechanical system design.

“The design optimisation of mechanical, biomechanical and mechatronic multibody systems reduces development and testing costs and time-to-market for developers,” said Dr. John McPhee, Chief Scientist at MotionPro Inc., “but the available tools are cumbersome, slow and susceptible to floating-point errors. We designed DynaFlexPro to overcome these issues so that engineering product developers can optimize, simulate and control their designs to reduce prototyping time and bring their products to market faster than ever before.”

Paul Goossens, Director of Commercial Market Development at Maplesoft, says, “DynaFlexPro is a classic example of how symbolic solvers can completely change the way engineering design is carried out. Anyone who has first-hand experience of the limitations of currently-available multibody software packages that employ purely numerical approaches will find this tool to be invaluable. Now, engineers with a dynamic mechanical system to design or analyze are able to use DynaFlexPro to rapidly derive high-fidelity system models for many time-critical applications, including real-time engineering simulators for hardware-in-the-loop testing.”

DynaFlexPro is supplied and supported in the UK and Ireland by Adept Scientific plc, Amor Way, Letchworth, Herts. SG6 1ZA; telephone (01462) 480055, fax (01462) 480213, e-mail maple@adeptscience.co.uk; or see Adept’s World Wide Web site http://www.adeptscience.co.uk/.

With offices in the UK, USA, Germany and throughout the Nordic region, Adept Scientific is one of the world’s leading suppliers of software and hardware products for research, scientific, engineering and technical applications on desktop computers.