Thedevelopmentofnewproductsofhighquality,lowunitcost,andshortleadtimetomarketarethekeyelementsrequiredforanyenterprisetoobtainacompetitiveadvantage.Forshortingtheleadtimetomarketandimprovingthecreativityandperformancesoftheproduct,arule-basedconceptualdesignapproachandamethodologytosimulatetheconceptualdesignresultsgeneratedinconceptualdesignprocessinautomaticalvirtualentityformarepresentedinthispaper.Thispartofpaperpresentsarule-basedconceptualdesignmethodforgeneratingcreativeconceptualdesignschemesofmechanismsbasedonYan’skinematicchainregenerationcreativedesignmethod.Thedesignrulesareadoptedtodescribethedesignrequirementsofthefunctionalcharacteristics,theconnectionrelationshipsandtopologicalcharacteristicsamongmechanisms.Throughthegraphs-basedreasoningprocess,theconceptualdesignspaceisexpandedextremely,andthepotentialcreativeconceptualdesignresultsarethendugout.Byrefiningthedesignrules,thesolutionexplorationproblemisavioded,andthetendentiousconceptualdesignschemesaregenerated.Sincemechanical,electricalandhydraulicsubsystemscanbetransformedintogeneralmechansims,theconceptualdesignmethodpresentedinthispapercanalsobeappliedintheconceptualdesignproblemofcomplexmechatronicsystems.Andthenthemethodtoidentifyconceptualdesignschemesisgiven.
