Assembly process analysis and system design for deep in-situ fidelity corer

Abstract

The deep in-situ corer is an essential tool for exploring the physical and mechanical behaviours of rocks at varying depths. Corers are multi-part products, encompassing extensive redundant assembly information stemming from the intricate assembly processes and numerous components. Thus, designing assembly systems for corers poses complexity challenges. This paper proposes an automated assembly system design framework, comprising assembly process analysis and system development. The proposed framework offers comprehensive design processes for multi-part product assembly systems, emphasizing managing information amount and complexity during the design phase. Specially, design principles and methods for minimizing information amount are analysed. And the directed graph is utilized to express the assembly information. Building upon this foundation, automated assemblability assessment and assembly process modular clustering is proposed to amalgamate and streamline assembly information, thus reducing design complexity. Leveraging pre-processed assembly information, the sub-functional solutions for assembly system are solved and optimized with AD (Axiomatic Design) and TRIZ (the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving). A case study of the deep-sea gas hydrate corer validated the effectiveness of the proposed methods in reducing information amount and yielding sub-functional solutions, thereby facilitating overall system design realization. Assembly experiments verified the designed system accomplished functional requirements. This study serves as a valuable reference for automated assembly analysis and system development for multi-part products, offering technical insights into developing deep in-situ cores from an assembly perspective.