Robust Adaptable Design Considering Changes of Parameter Values in Product Operation Stage

Abstract

Increasing competition in the global marketplace demands products be adaptable to the changes of functional requirements, operation environments, and technology advancement. Adaptable design can be used for developing adaptable products that can be easily changed, such as reconfigured or upgraded, in the product operation stage. In addition, since the uncertainties in product parameters and environment parameters usually lead to the variations of functional performance, robust design has to be carried out to identify the design whose functional performance is the least sensitive to the variations of product and environment parameters. In this research, a robust adaptable design method is developed to identify the product whose parameter values can be changed in the product operation stage. First, a mathematical model is established to describe the relationships among product functional performances, parameters, and variations of these parameters. Then, an optimization-based design model is developed to achieve the robust adaptable design. A case study has also been developed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the newly developed robust adaptable design method.