Abstract
The application of design knowledge determines the innovativeness of a technical scheme obtained by trimming (a tool for problem analysis and solving in TRIZ). However, limitations in the knowledge, experience and expertise of designers constrain the range of design knowledge that they can apply, thus reducing the effectiveness of trimming. In this paper, biological strategies are introduced to the trimming process to compensate for limitations imposed by the insufficient professional knowledge of designers, thereby improving design innovation. Therefore, this paper proposes a new design method that combines the trimming method and bio-inspired design (BID). First, a trimming analysis of the target system is carried out. Taking the missing functions of the trimmed system as a potential breakthrough point, a keyword search mode based on “V(verb)O(object)P(property) + the effect/features of the associated function” is used to search for biological prototypes in the biological knowledge base. Second, a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method is used to analyze the biological prototypes from three dimensions, namely, compatibility, completeness and feasibility, and the best-matching biological prototype is selected. Finally, the biological solution is transformed into an engineering design scheme through a resource derivation process based on structure–function–attribute analogies. The proposed method can expand the range of design solutions by adding biological strategies as a new resource to solve trimming problems. The feasibility and effectiveness of the method are verified by redesigning a steel tape armoring machine.
Highlights
In today’s fiercely competitive market, companies largely depend on innovation to succeed, and refined design is one of the most important routes to achieving product innovations
As a method for solving refined design problems, trimming, which originates from the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ), has become a widespread method to realize product innovations
According to the above evaluation results, we can conclude that the proposed trimming method based on bio-inspired design (BID) is highly effective in generating innovation compared with other methods
Summary
In today’s fiercely competitive market, companies largely depend on innovation to succeed, and refined design is one of the most important routes to achieving product innovations. The objective of trimming is to use existing resources after removing harmful components while streamlining design schemes, resulting in improved system ideality. Solutions to trimming problems strongly depend on the knowledge and experience of designers, as trimming usually transforms contradiction problems into “how to” formulations that require the innovative use of resources to rebuild trimmed systems, which is a key design issue and a frequent difficulty for designers [2,3]. When using the trimming method to solve innovative problems, engineering designers mainly rely on their professional experience to search for and identify suitable resources. In most cases, they need to retrieve potential knowledge from outside their professional fields, which is a difficult task
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