Supersystem digital twin-driven framework for new product conceptual design

Abstract

Digital twin (DT) is a technology that creates a digital replica of its physical entity with full information including historical and real-time data. They are expected to become an essential tool in industry 4.0 due to their ability to collect massive amounts of real-world data which can be utilized by artificial inelegance technologies for various purposes. The application of DT concepts in product design field has drawn wide interest, and DT has recently been proposed as a tool for supporting early-stage product design. Based on the difference in physical entities, DTs are classified as similar-product DT and mock-up prototype DT in this paper. Since there is often no product or physical prototype in early design stages, these two types of DTs for product design are primarily for re-design cases where data is collected from the DT of the similar products or prototypes. Introducing DTs to a new product design scenario is rarely explored. To fill the gap, this paper proposes the third type of DT, Supersystem DT that collects data from a product’s supersystem (i.e., the working/operation environment). A systematic framework that integrates the Supersystem DT and Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (i.e., TRIZ) tools are presented for early design activities including task clarification and conceptual design. A case study of designing a new camper box of an expedition vehicle is presented to show the process and effectiveness of the proposed framework. Finally, guidelines for selecting the three types of DTs in different design scenarios are discussed.