Effective Visualization and Validation of Motion of a Mechanical System Using Application Programming Interface of a CAD Software

Mechanical systems with relative motions in them are found in abundance. Before developing a physical prototype, it is a good practice to visualize the relative motion. One can use a Computer Aided Design (CAD) software to design the parts and assemble them by assigning appropriate assembly constraints or joints. Actuation or providing input motion to certain joints is supported in such CAD software in the form of kinematics or dynamics plugin or modules. However, there are instances when custom input motion has to be provided to the components or links in the system and observe the output motion. In other cases, newly formulated models based on geometry require validation and can be carried out in CAD software. However, to obtain the validation across a large set of input values, it is desired to have it done in a programmatical manner. In this paper, attempts by the author in developing virtual models in Autodesk Inventor and their actuation or usage from an external software using the Application Programming Interface (API) of CAD software are reported. These provide guidance for researchers on how the API of a suitable CAD software can be useful in their research work.