Tool For Product Design Research Articles

Action Research on Virtual-Reality-Assisted Product and Process Design

Virtual reality (VR) technology improves engineering activities, enabling a better understanding of products and processes. A complete conversion from the existing CAx software to a VR environment could improve product and process design activities, leading to new practices. This article aims to provide key insights, technical evidences, and related impacts on the engineering activities of industrial companies while integrating the existing systems with VR as a supporting tool for product and process design. The results indicate improved design and limited negative impacts related to errors during the manufacturing phase. An action research study involving Oil&Gas manufacturing companies was conducted to explore the following four CAx-VR scenarios: CAD–VR for ergonomics/reachability, CAE(CFD)–VR and CAE(FEM)–VR for abstract data visualization, and CAM–VR for packaging. For each scenario, applicative cases focusing on Oil&Gas products, such as multistage centrifugal pumps and ball valves, have been investigated. Furthermore, a detailed discussion of the involved chain of software applications and impacts on the engineering activities for each scenario establishes the reliability of the integrated environment for CAD, CAE, and CAM data immersive visualization.

Circularity Evaluation of Alternative Concepts During Early Product Design and Development

Product design and development are essential for a circular transition. Circularity decisions, such as those concerning the type of material, assembly method, and expected lifespan, made during the early design stages will significantly influence a product’s quality, cost, esthetics, sustainability, and circularity performance over the product lifecycle. However, circularity is not often considered in the early stages of product design and development. This paper presents the development of the concept circularity evaluation tool (CCET), which aims to support the evaluation of alternative product concepts in terms of their circularity potential in the early stages of product design and development. The CCET was iteratively developed based on an extensive literature review of the success criteria for tool development, guidelines, and existing tools for circular product design and development and strong collaboration with manufacturing companies. The tool was tested and verified at four manufacturing companies in Nordic countries. The tool has been proven useful for evaluating the circularity of products and supportive in the decision-making process in the early stages of product design and development.

The Effect of Minimalist Design Expression on the Product Attitude According to Construal Level and Regulatory Focus: Focusing on the Chinese Consumers of Shandong Province

Purpose This study examined the impact of design minimalist level expression on the Chinese consumers’ product attitudes according to construal level and regulatory focus. Design/Methodology/Approach Experiment 1 used 2(minimalist level expression of product design: minimalism/non-minimalism) ☓ 2(construal level: abstract level/concrete level) groups design. Experiment 2 used 2(minimalist level expression of product design: minimalism/non-minimalism) ☓ 2(regulatory focus: promotion focus/prevention focus) groups design. In experiment 3, 2(design minimalist level expression: minimalism/non-minimalism) ☓ 2(construal level: abstract level/concrete level) ☓ 2(regulatory focus: promotion focus/prevention focus) groups design was utilized. Findings The results are summarized as follows: First, minimalist design had positive effects on the product attitudes especially for those with abstract construal level. Second, minimalist design enhanced product attitude especially for those with promotion focus. Third, the levels of construal levels and regulatory focus had interaction effects on the product attitude. Research Implications The fit between construal level and regulatory focus positively influenced the consumer attitude toward the product with minimalism design. The results confirmed that minimalism can be used as a marketing tool for product design and communication strategies.

A strategic decision making tool for new product and service design

PurposeThe present study aims to further research the theory of attractive quality for new offers by analyzing the HWWP (Health, Weapon, Wealth, Prospect) model and testing its uniformity. The purpose is to extend and refine the HWWP model based on meridian elasticity curves with the final scope of building a map for better understanding the potential value of the quality attributes in new product or strategic service design.Design/methodology/approachAfter a thorough analysis of the HWWP model for prepurchase value judgment, it has been observed that the classical form often presents a concentration of the quality attributes in its graphic representation, which limits managerial decision making. This paper presents a new methodology for testing the uniformity of the current HWWP model and a generalized approach for understanding the potential lifecycle of the new offer's features.FindingsThe results of the presented case study validate the novel tool’s applicability and can serve as a reference for managers to adequately classify customer requirements as the first step toward strategic design.Originality/valueThe author’s main contributions are: to have analyzed the current HWWP model and observed the limitations of this approach; to have proposed a statistical simple method used to test the uniformity of the HWWP model; to have developed a generalized new HWWP model that adequately explores each feature value and potential lifecycle base on meridian slices and elasticity orbits.

Emotional Map : Building a Data Tool for Geolocation-related Product Design

This article introduces a solution of design simulation system based on data processing. It is to observe and analyze user behavior by reflecting a large number of user behavior data trajectories on city maps. We believe that under the technical background of big data and cloud technology, it is possible to build a tool that can help designers to predict user behavior to a certain extent. This article describes the design of the simulation system divided into five stages: data collection, local database establishment, cloud database establishment, user model simulation, and user model-based behavior prediction. We also introduce the experimental design for the first stage: data collection. This research proposes an experimental method of using sensor-based wearable data collecting devices to simulate the scenario with users of smart wearable devices and using the method of diary studies to create user profiles. The study believes that user’s emotion data, such as subjective feelings, which is difficult to measure directly through physical sensors, also plays an important role in the simulation analysis of the design process. This study collated the multi-dimensional information categories needed for user analysis of geolocation-based designs, including geographic data, biological data, and emotional data. In the experiment, a mechanism for collecting emotional data through user’s subjective selection was also introduced.

The management of customer requirements in a product-service system context: a case study in the medical equipment sector

The paper addresses the evaluation of customer requirements (CRs) in the implementation of services in a product-service system (PSS) context. The extension of services has expanded considerably, yet their correct combination with products is still problematic to manufacturers. Services are characterised by ambiguities and vagueness, hindering their effective implementation. Conventional product design tools such as quality function deployment (QFD) are limited when comprehending the intangibility of services and hence, evaluating and prioritising customer requirements. To address this topic, QFD is adapted to a service context through the integration of the fuzzy logic and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) as a means of reducing inaccuracies. The approach is applied to a case study in the medical field and its results are compared to the traditional QFD to analyse its outcomes and the effectiveness of the augmentations in increasing the usefulness of QFD in a PSS context.

The management of customer requirements in a product-service system context: a case study in the medical equipment sector

The paper addresses the evaluation of customer requirements (CRs) in the implementation of services in a product-service system (PSS) context. The extension of services has expanded considerably, yet their correct combination with products is still problematic to manufacturers. Services are characterised by ambiguities and vagueness, hindering their effective implementation. Conventional product design tools such as quality function deployment (QFD) are limited when comprehending the intangibility of services and hence, evaluating and prioritising customer requirements. To address this topic, QFD is adapted to a service context through the integration of the fuzzy logic and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) as a means of reducing inaccuracies. The approach is applied to a case study in the medical field and its results are compared to the traditional QFD to analyse its outcomes and the effectiveness of the augmentations in increasing the usefulness of QFD in a PSS context.

ECO-Case Based Reasoning Tool for Environmental Product Design

Case Based Reasoning (CBR) is one of the artificial intelligent methodologies that is widely used in problem solving by reusing the most similar previous experiences stored in the library. A framework of ECO-CBR for Life Cycle Assessment data collection has been used and the process was carried out using SolidWorks program. The practicality of the tool has been validated using case study, which then provides solution. The output enable researchers to determine forecast error and forecast accuracy, by valuing the calculation from Total Carbon Footprint, Energy Consumption, Air Acidification, and Water Eutrophication. ECO-CBR is able to assist designers in product design. Due to the limitation of environmental impact consideration in product sustainability, there is a demand to propose a tool that can assist designers to reduce environmental impact of product design at early stage. The model works as an essential guideline to lessen repeated mistakes in the product development process and help designers measure the risks before concluding ideal decisions. Minor errors that occur through the study showed that ECO-CBR is reliable to be implemented in order to find a better solution.

Promotion of Knowledge and Technology Transfer Towards Innovative Manufacturing Process: Case Study of New Hybrid Coating Process

A new, multi-dimensional, additive manufacturing process for fine ceramics was proposed and developed as part of a national project in Japan. The process consists of three-dimensional printing and two-dimensional coating of fine ceramics. A new coating process, hybrid aerosol deposition (HAD), was proposed as the ceramic coating process. The HAD process is a hybrid of aerosol deposition (AD) and plasma spray. Such new technologies, however, usually take a long time to move from first discovery to use in producing a commercial product. For example, a past study showed that it took nearly 15 years from the invention of the AD process to the time it became a technology used at an industrial company. Therefore, it is very important to consider how to accelerate the learning and technological transfer of a new process to industry in addition to how to develop new processes once they emerge. In this study, a new scheme, a coating hub, is proposed to promote the transfer of the HAD process to industrial adoption. In the coating hub, a collaboration scheme for companies to get interest of the technology, even in the early stages of technological development, is considered. Here, needs-seeds matching, reliable relationships, intellectual property, and the generalization of technology are considered. Another important scheme of the coating hub is to try to couple design with manufacturing. Here, product design tools for agile production are provided. In order to attract and evaluate consumers for targeted products, a Kansei delight design based on the Kano model is introduced. A delight map viewer is provided to visualize potential consumers’ delight factors. Detailed planning from the early trial stage is introduced with the viewer. A topology optimization tool is also provided in the coating hub as a design tool. In order to validate this coating hub concept, a ceramic frying pan is designed as a case study. The delight map viewer proves effective for those who are not design professionals to consider the attractiveness of products based on user evaluation. The coupling of the topology optimization tool is also useful for the multidimensional additive manufacturing of ceramics proposed in this study. This case study implies that even a small manufacturer could design a new product by utilizing the coating hub concept. It would give many new opportunities not only to big manufactures interested in high-end business-to-business components but also to supporting industries and even to individuals to utilize new emerging coating technologies.

OptCAMD: An optimization-based framework and tool for molecular and mixture product design

Chemical product design determines the structure and constitution of products that satisfies all desired properties and functions. Molecular products are usually employed as the main active ingredient, or manipulated to obtain a specific function for chemical-based products, while mixtures are one of the most widely used chemical products. Therefore, the design of molecular and mixture products is the foundation of all chemical product design problems. In this paper, the development of an optimization-based framework for molecular and mixture product design is presented. The design work-flow consists of three steps involving preliminary design, CAMD (Computer Aided Molecular-Mixture Design), as well as product evaluation and verification. In the preliminary design step, the product attributes are collected and converted into a set of desired physico-chemical properties with associated targets to formulate the CAMD problem. In the CAMD step, an optimization-based mathematical programming model is established and solved to generate feasible molecules and/or mixtures together with optimal product candidates. In the product evaluation and verification step, final selection of the optimal chemical product is made based on evaluation of in-use product performance attributes and additional properties not included in the CAMD step. The three steps have been implemented within a molecular-mixture design toolbox called “OptCAMD”, which is integrated in ProCAPD, a versatile tool for chemical product design and evaluation. Case studies highlighting different aspects of OptCAMD involving the design of various types of chemical products are presented.

A Novel Approach for Reliability Investigation of LEDs on Molded Interconnect Devices Based on FE-Analysis Coupled to Injection Molding Simulation

Due to many advantages, such as cost-effective production, design freedom, and weight reduction, plastics have replaced metals and ceramics in many fields. However, engineering plastics are good thermal insulators. This characteristic, although beneficial in certain applications, poses many challenges in many heat-generating applications. This can lead to hot spots or even to an increase in the device temperature. Along with the increasing demand for plastics in areas of the lighting technology or in the automotive field due to the free shaping potential, the requirements are becoming more challenging. Driven by the trend of miniaturization, applications with high heat generation often have to operate in the tightest of spaces. Since not always sufficient space for complex cooling systems is given, the housing or the substrate should assume the task of thermal management. In regard to this fact, the use of thermally conductive thermoplastics seems to be very appealing. Quality loss, poorer reliability, loss of performance, and even failure can occur in case of insufficient heat dissipation. In order to improve the properties of these polymers, highly heat-conducting fillers are added in order to improve the thermal conductivity of the compound. Another technology trend that has been prevalent for years is the use of simulations. Due to shorter product life cycles and therefore shorter development times, simulation has become an indispensable part of the chain of product development. Time-consuming and costly test series make the simulation more and more important as a tool for material and product design. In this context, this paper presents a novel approach for reliability investigation and lifetime estimation, based on simulation. Therefore, a simulative method based on coupling the results from the process simulation (injection molding simulation) to finite element analysis was developed and explained. This coupled method makes it possible to take into account the manufacturing process and its engendered filler orientation. The obtained findings are compared to conventional thermal steady-state analysis and used in order to better predict the lifetime of LEDs mounted on thermoplastic substrates, the so-called molded interconnect devices. It is demonstrated that it is necessary to consider the filler orientation, especially in the case of 3D substrates.

A cyberlearning platform for enhancing undergraduate engineering education in sustainable product design

Existing tools for educating undergraduate students about sustainable engineering methods are notably lacking. In particular, these tools are unable to support the assessment of competing objectives in the evaluation of economic, environmental, and social performance across the lifecycle during product design. In an effort to address this deficiency, an interactive, web-based learning environment, a distributed cyberlearning environment, Constructionism in Learning: Sustainable Life Cycle Engineering (CooL:SLiCE) has been created. CooL:SLiCE aims to facilitate the consideration of different human controlled/initiated impacts on the natural environment through personalized individual and team-based design activities. Thus, CooL:SLiCE enables constructionist (physical, hands-on) learning in engineering via a virtual platform that allows students to visualize/analyze the effect of changes to product designs, manufacturing processes, and supply chain configurations on sustainability performance. The overall conceptual framework of the CooL:SLiCE platform is discussed. Additionally, the application of constructionism as a pedagogical approach for sustainable engineering education is presented. The framework is designed to facilitate attainment of deeper conceptual understanding in environmentally responsible product design and manufacturing by supplying a set of tools that support a constructivist learning environment. This tool set is based on disparate methodologies from the design, industrial, and manufacturing engineering domains. A team project was undertaken to pilot the CooL:SLiCE platform to aid design and assessment during the sustainable product development process. The pilot project demonstrated the capacity of the CooL:SLiCE platform in the understanding of sustainable product design concepts. This research advances the current educational tools for sustainable product design by integrating three learning modules into a web-based environment developed in the CooL:SLiCE project to provide a platform for learning not currently accessible to engineering educators and students. Future work will mainly focus on using the platform in the classroom settings to investigate its effect on improving student understanding of sustainable life cycle engineering.

Development of SolenX: A reliable and cost effective solar aid box for underserved and rural areas in Palestine

An estimated 16% of the world’s population do not have access to electricity, and most of them live in rural areas. A reliable energy access for rural communities will help them break out of the cycle of poverty and will empower significant socio-economic benefits. Specifically, the energy sector situation in Palestine suffers from scarcity of traditional energy sources, financial crisis and unstable political conditions. Meanwhile, Palestine has high solar energy potential and an annual average solar radiation of about 5.4 kWh/m2 day. This article provides a solution by designing a solar home system represented by a small, lightweight, decentralized and autonomous generation with a combination of four different electric appliances to cover several basic needs. The design is assessed by using the product design knowledge as this publication presents an overview of the approach used in structuring and using product design tools leading to shape formulation of system which is called SolenX. The paper also examines a business model that creates a heuristic logic to connect technical potential with the realization of economic value while addressing the total estimated manufacturing cost of $416 per unit. SolenX is powered by a 60 W foldable solar panel with a battery capacity of 0.480 kWh.

Sustainable product design and development: A review of tools, applications and research prospects

Due to increasing pressure for achieving sustainability objectives, the concept of sustainable product design and development is gaining more attention in recent research. In the past, a plethora of eco-design tools that address only the environmental aspect have been developed. Hence, previous review articles focused mainly on eco-design tools, such as life cycle assessment (LCA) and others. Unlike previous studies, the main contribution of this article was to review and analyze the recent and emerging product design tools (published from 2007 to 2017) which considered other dimensions of sustainability along with the environment. Based on the criteria of sustainability dimensions, this paper proposed a generic and broader classification scheme to enhance the understanding of these recent tools. Those which included two aspects of sustainability were categorized as partial sustainable product design (P-SPD) tools, and those which covered three aspects of sustainability were classified as sustainable product design (SPD) tools. The analysis revealed that SPD tools were less mature and standard as compared to P-SPD tools. The majority of both P-SPD and SPD tools were based on a life cycle perspective. However, P-SPD tools were found to be more useful at early design stages. In addition, this paper presented the case studies of the tools to decipher their practical utility. It also discussed the hurdles and problems associated with the methodological development and practical utility of the tools. Founded on these difficulties, future research directions were presented. In essence, a coordinated and responsible effort among practitioners, governments, societies and researchers is needed to ensure the successful implementation of the tools.

Knowledge-based PPR modelling for assembly automation

The paradigm shift from mass production to mass customisation and reduced product lifecycles requires continuous re-engineering/configuration of modern manufacturing systems. Although efforts are being made to design and build manufacturing systems based on the paradigms of changeability, reconfigurability, and flexibility, the knowledge of the system's capability remains unstructured and isolated from product design and engineering tools. As a result, introducing product design changes are costly, time-consuming and error-prone. To address this problem, this research utilises a Product, Process, and Resource (PPR) ontology with a view to supporting changes through information integration and knowledge generation. The approach moves away from product-centric tools such as Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and thus a heterarchical model of the system is created. The contribution of this work is to demonstrate how modular ontologies can be utilised in a practical and industrially relevant manner by integrating the data structure of a set of component-based virtual engineering tools into the Resource domain. The research presents a proof-of-concept of the proposed approach using an automated engine assembly station as a case study. Inferences are made from explicit knowledge through rules and mapping as to whether both Product and Process requirements are met by Resource domain capabilities. The approach used in this work has the potential to significantly improve the workflow as and when new products are introduced or modifications need to be made as the scope of change can be assessed rapidly resulting in more focused engineering and design work.

Two uncertain chance-constrained programming models to setting target levels of design attributes in quality function deployment

Quality function deployment (QFD) is widely acknowledged as a customer-oriented product design tool, which is generated by translating consumer demands into design attributes of a product. In order to depict the internal ambiguous factors in the development process more appropriately, uncertain variables with a specialized kind of regular uncertainty distributions based on uncertainty theory are applied. Subsequently, two uncertain chance-constrained programming (CCP) models used for formulating the QFD procedure are set forth, whose objectives are maximizing the consumer satisfaction and minimizing the design cost, respectively. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed modelling approach, an example of the motorcycle design problem is illustrated, in which the new target levels of design attributes are selected and analyzed according to the decision-makers’ subjectivity and preference at different confidence levels. Additionally, a comparative study between the uncertain CCP approach and another uncertain expected value modelling approach is conducted. The results indicate that uncertain CCP models are more suitable for optimization in the QFD procedure.

A fuzzy quality function deployment approach to improve a component of a supervisory control and data acquisition system

Monitoring and control of electric transformer stations, frequently spread out over small or large geographical areas, are achieved with supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA). Quality function deployment (QFD) is a valuable analyzing tool in product design and development. To solve the uncertainty or inherent imprecision in QFD, many researchers have applied the fuzzy set theory to QFD and have developed various fuzzy QFD approaches. The literature regarding applying fuzzy QFD for analyzing subsystems of SCADA, to the best of our knowledge, remains inexistent. In this paper, a fuzzy QFD approach is used to effectively determine the design requirements of a SCADA component.

Using fuzzy AHP and fuzzy TOPSIS in fuzzy QFD: a case study in ceramic and tile industry of Iran

Quality function deployment (QFD) is a planning, problem-solving and customer-driven product design tool for translating customer requirements (CRs) into the design requirements (DRs) of a product. Customers' requirements play an important role in product's design and it is vital to incorporate the voice of the customers into importance rating of the customers' requirements. Producers try to know about customers' requirements to satisfy them. To tackle the vagueness or imprecision in QFD, fuzzy sets theory is used in QFD. A fuzzy mixed multiple attribute decision making approach is formulated to determine the fulfilment level of each design requirements for maximising the customer's satisfaction. Fuzzy AHP is used to weight the customers' requirements and fuzzy TOPSIS is used to rank the design requirements in house of quality. The application of fuzzy AHP-fuzzy TOPSIS approach is demonstrated in a case study of ceramic and tile industry in Iran.

Industry use of virtual reality in product design and manufacturing: a survey

In 1999, Fred Brooks, virtual reality pioneer and Professor of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, published a seminal paper describing the current state of virtual reality (VR) technologies and applications (Brooks in IEEE Comput Graph Appl 19(6):16, 1999). Through his extensive survey of industry, Brooks concluded that virtual reality had finally arrived and barely works. His report included a variety of industries which leveraged these technologies to support industry-level innovation. Virtual reality was being employed to empower decision making in design, evaluation, and training processes across multiple disciplines. Over the past two decades, both industrial and academic communities have contributed to a large knowledge base on numerous virtual reality topics. Technical advances have enabled designers and engineers to explore and interact with data in increasingly natural ways. Sixteen years have passed since Brooks original survey. Where are we now? The research presented here seeks to describe the current state of the art of virtual reality as it is used as a decision-making tool in product design, particularly in engineering-focused businesses. To this end, a survey of industry was conducted over several months spanning fall 2014 and spring 2015. Data on virtual reality applications across a variety of industries was gathered through a series of on-site visits. In total, on-site visits with 18 companies using virtual reality were conducted as well as remote conference calls with two others. The authors interviewed 62 people across numerous companies from varying disciplines and perspectives. Success stories and existing challenges were highlighted. While virtual reality hardware has made considerable strides, unique attention was given to applications and the associated decisions that they support. Results suggest that virtual reality has arrived: it works! It is mature, stable, and, most importantly, usable. VR is actively being used in a number of industries to support decision making and enable innovation. Insights from this survey can be leveraged to help guide future research directions in virtual reality technology and applications.

An evidential reasoning-based AHP approach for the selection of environmentally-friendly designs

Due to the stringent environmental regulatory requirements being imposed by cross-national bodies in recent years, manufacturers have to minimize the environmental impact of their products. Among those environmental impact evaluation tools available, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is often employed to quantify the product's environmental impact throughout its entire life cycle. However, owing to the requirements of expert knowledge in environmental science and vast effort for data collection in carrying out LCA, as well as the common absence of complete product information during product development processes, there is a need to develop a more suitable tool for product designers. An evidential reasoning-based approach, which aims at providing a fast-track method to perform design alternative evaluations for non-LCA experts, is therefore introduced as a new initiative to deal with the incomplete or uncertain information. The proposed approach also enables decision makers to quantitatively assess the life cycle phases and design alternatives by comparing their potential environmental impacts, thus effectively and efficiently facilitates the identification of greener designs. A case application is carried out to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach.