Conceptual Design Of Mechanical Products Research Articles

The Conceptual Design of Mechanical Products

The Conceptual Design of Mechanical Products

Mapping Relationships among Design Information for Green Feature

Mostly, mechanical products designers are lack of environment knowledge, and it is difficult to design environmentally friendly products rapidly. In this paper, a model of mapping relationships for green feature is established to extract the environmental impact factors, aiming at realizing green design. On the basis of the conceptual design of mechanical products, the mapping relationships between conventional and green design domains are found out to build the standard mapping relationships system of products. Then, for similar products, the green feature can be got by the system so as to do the environmental impact assessment.

Theory and method of mechanism system design

Conceptual design is the most critical and creative phase of design. Recently, increasing attention has been directed to supporting conceptual-level computer aided creative design and its theories and methodologies. Specifically, for conceptual design of mechanical products, this paper presents a novel function solving model for mechanical product design and highlights the importance of systematic synthesis to achieve creative design. Then it builds a framework as a function-effect-process-action-mechanisms (FEPAM) mapping process, which enables creative design on the basis of conceiving different action schemes. After that, several key points are elaborated including 1) representing and decomposition methods of functions and motion behaviors; 2) action scheme representing method based on network plan techniques; and 3) variation and creation methods based on action scheme transformations.

Genetic model for conceptual design of mechanical products based on functional surface

Computer-aided conceptual design (CACD) aims to increase efficiency and quality of design work but with little essential progress due to the gap between abstract concept and detailed structure. In order to tackle the problem concerned with conceptual design process and automation, this paper introduces the concept of functional surface as the information carrier to link together product function and structure and describes a product genetic model to represent and organize product information. Functional surface is used to formalize the product gene, a varied-length coding scheme for functional surface and product gene is proposed, and the design process model for conceptual design is established based on product gene. Finally, a prototype system for CACD is introduced to demonstrate how a product can be designed based on the proposed model.

An agent-based framework for guiding conceptual design of mechanical products

To strengthen the competitive force in the current global market, the manufacturing enterprise should constantly carry out innovative design and produce new products in an effective way. However, up to 85% of the lifecycle costs of a product are determined during the conceptual design, while at this stage only about 5% of the lifecycle costs has been spent. Therefore, decisions made at this stage have significant influence. At the same time, product conceptual design is the process of collaboration with multidisciplinary experts. In this paper, an agent-based approach is presented for guiding mechanical product conceptual design. First, the functional parameters and design variables are given by analysing mechanical product design requirements, and a behavioural matrix model is proposed by using bond graph fundamental elements. Then, an agent-based framework is established for solving behavioural matrix model, realizing effort-flow transforming operations to produce functional means tree and multi-solutions, and making further evaluation with the aid of agent technologies. Finally, an example of the design synthesis is represented to show an application for the special jig design in the machine centre.

NEW ITERATION-BASED CONCEPTUAL DESIGN MODEL OF COMPLEX MECHANICAL PRODUCTS

In view of the complexity of the conceptual design of mechanical products,an iteration-based function-bchavior- mechanisms-structure(FBMS)model is proposed.According to the characteristics of the design of mechanical products,the close relationships among the function,behavior,mechanisms and structure of the mechanical systems arc studied,which imply that the behavior and mechanisms are a bridge across function and structure.Therefore,a new model,which supports the iterative process in the conceptual design and func- tion-behavior-mechanisms-structure mapping approaches,is established,further,the formal description method of the model is proposed by taking key points of the model into account. Based on the analysis of the operational characteristics of be- haviors and mechanisms in iterativc design process,the detailed steps of iterative design and the corresponding iterativc algo- rithm are presented.Finally,thc design of a real-life mechanical product is taken as an example to validate the effectiveness of the FBMS model,and then the integral characteristics of the model arc analyzed by comparing with those of existed models. The results show that the model is helpful for thc innovative synthesis of mechanisms and optimal function-structure match- ing in the conceptual design.

A genetics-based approach for the principle conceptual design of mechanical products

This paper presents a genetics-based approach for solving conceptual design problems in dealing with functional relation changes. A functional representation model based on verb-attributes is proposed to supply computers with sufficient functional information needed in principle conceptual design. Using bio-genetics as a blueprint, a concept of product gene is proposed, which is employed to index principle solutions (PSs), and therefore bridges the gap between relation change-based functions (RCFs) and their corresponding PSs. A knowledge base is built by extracting product genes from existing PSs by means of reverse transcription and translation. An illustrative design example has been provided to show the capability and effectiveness of the developed, genetics-based principle conceptual design platform (GPCDP).

Case-based similar method for conceptual design of mechanical products

Case-based similar method for conceptual design of mechanical products

Current research in the conceptual design of mechanical products

Decisions made at the conceptual design stage have significant influence on factors such as costs, performance, reliability, safety and environmental impact of a product. However, knowledge of all the design requirements and constraints during this early phase of a product's life cycle is usually imprecise, approximate or unknown. Faced with such complexity, individual designers have restricted themselves to narrow, well-defined sub-tasks and as a result, progress in this area has been patchy and spasmodic. The purpose of this survey is to document the current state of research and development in this crucial design activity and in doing so, to identify avenues of fruitful exploration. In this paper, we provide a comparison of the advantages/disadvantages and limitations between the various techniques/tools and, where applicable, suggest possible future research directions.

Product design logic for an intelligent product modelling system

Recent research in CAD systems has been conducted to realize intelligent processing. Several CAD systems and product modelling systems have been developed using AI techniques. However, in order to develop more intelligent CAD systems, the design logic which connects the functional requirement to the geometric and the technological information of the designed product must be evaluated. A product model used in such intelligent CAD systems has to include not only the geometric and the technological information of the product but also the designer's thought process which explains the design logic. Design logic is generally divided into two parts. One is the generalized design logic which is commonly used in the conceptual design of mechanical products. The other is the product specified design logic which is used in the fundamental and detailed design phase. Different logic is applied to each product. This type of design logic is often used in modification design and compilation design, where the dimensions of parts have to be modified according to different functional requirements. When the dimensions and accuracies of the products are defined in connection with the functional requirements through design logic, the CAD system can automatically make decisions according to the given requirements. In this paper, suitable presentation formats and processing functions for these two types of design logic are discussed. The importance of design logic in product modelling is proven through several case studies in this paper. As a conclusion, the intelligent product modelling system is developed, which should expedite the progress of design automation in the near future. In conceptual design, the design logic is processed in the modelling system and the product structure, with the technological information decided automatically from the functional requirement. Automation in the detailed design phase is also facilitated by the modelling system using the product specified design logic in the product model.