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Development of a novel mechatronic system for mechanical weed ...

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Materials and methods<br />

environments (Waurzyniak 2000). If necessary, virtual prototypes can be<br />

transferred across different plat<strong>for</strong>ms <strong>for</strong> further design modifications, when<br />

some special influences are <strong>of</strong> crucial importance (e.g. environment is not solid<br />

but fluid etc.).<br />

A final possibility with the virtual prototyping approach is the creation <strong>of</strong> a mock–<br />

up. In contrast to a prototype, which is usually functional and represents the<br />

latest version <strong>of</strong> a design, a mock–up is normally set up early in the design<br />

process when design ideas have not yet been solidified (Holub 2007). It is <strong>of</strong>ten<br />

either <strong>for</strong> a purely functional purpose with no aesthetics taken into account, or<br />

the opposite, where only the external appearance is created and no functionality<br />

is made available. The advantage is that a mock–up can be created quickly to<br />

give an early preview <strong>of</strong> a design, be<strong>for</strong>e it has been developed very far. Virtual<br />

prototyping allows very quick design <strong>of</strong> a mock–up, as a simulation assembly<br />

with very little functionality, including the prototype within its environment. This<br />

assembly can then be used to show what a model will look like without having<br />

to waste time defining the motion constrains required <strong>for</strong> movement. In this way,<br />

the functionality, speed and usefulness <strong>of</strong> a mock–up development are easily<br />

duplicated.<br />

4.2.2.1 Pro/Engineer as a s<strong>of</strong>tware tool<br />

In the past, even when parts and models were drawn in three-dimensions using<br />

s<strong>of</strong>tware such as AutoCAD, per<strong>for</strong>ming any sort <strong>of</strong> kinematical or dynamic test<br />

required a copy <strong>of</strong> the original to be completely redrawn and redefined in<br />

another s<strong>of</strong>tware application. This was because the above mentioned<br />

simulation capabilities were simply not present in drawing s<strong>of</strong>tware packages.<br />

However, several s<strong>of</strong>tware packages have recently begun to <strong>of</strong>fer all in one<br />

solutions. For example PTC’s Pro/ENGINEER (Pro/E), has the built in<br />

capabilities <strong>of</strong> Pro/MECHANICA, which is a linear Finite Element Analysis<br />

package, since the Wildfire 2.0 release. This integration allows utilisation <strong>of</strong> the<br />

same s<strong>of</strong>tware tool <strong>for</strong> both the design and simulation, making possible building,<br />

testing, and analysing <strong>of</strong> a virtual prototype in parallel. With full CAD/CAM/CAE<br />

45

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