Product Development Cycle Research Articles

Design and Optimization of Mechatronic Systems Using a Holistic and Parametric Simulation Approach

In the field of vibration technology mechatronic systems are frequently used for noise and vibration control, condition monitoring or energy harvesting. Numerical simulations and optimizations support the virtual design and development process. Yet, most systems are usually designed as auxiliary systems based on existing host structures and are optimized for only one main purpose (e.g. maximum vibration reduction). Time costly parameter optimizations with complex models in late phases of the development process are still common. In this paper a holistic approach for the design and optimization of mechatronic systems is presented. Efficient and parametric models of the mechanical host structure are integrated within a multi-objective optimization environment for mechatronic systems. This will help to accelerate product development cycles and enables fast parameter studies in combination with detailed and accurate numerical models. The performance of the proposed approach is demonstrated by an exemplary application, where the structural dynamics, vibration control and energy flows are considered within a holistic optimization.

Knowledge-based service oriented architecture for automotive product development: South East Asia scenario

This paper presents an application of knowledge-based service oriented architecture (SOA) systems for complex engineering design problems. A knowledge-based design approach integrates all aspects of product design, manufacturing tools and a powerful decision-making for reducing the time between product conception and final production. Knowledge-based SOA is able to provide a substantial impact to the product development cycle especially for automotive part manufacturers who their product cycles are quite short. The approach is applied for a number of automotive part manufacturers. The results show an improvement on product cycle time and expert skill management. The specification of the products are improved and obtained at a competitive cost. This will be a great value added to the manufacturers to sustain in their business.

Estimation of Component Fatigue Lives under Service Load-Time Functions Using an Advanced Transfer Methodology for the Transition from Specimen to Component Related Material Behaviour

Due to steadily shortening product development cycles, the design and validation of new products mainly takes place in a virtual environment. The structural durability and a reliable lightweight design is the key target to be achieved during the product development process. A fatigue assessment has therefore to be included in the product design process from the very beginning. Because prototypes are usually not available during early product development stages, it is necessary to estimate the component behaviour by transferring material properties, which have been determined by fatigue tests on material specimens with standardized geometry, to the component geometry. In order to enable a reliable statement about the structural durability based on these simplified tests, different influencing factors have to be considered. Some of the major influencing factors on fatigue are the component size and geometry, the boundary conditions of the loading and the load-time function, and a possible location and load-history dependency of the material behaviour. The presented work will discuss those influences and how they can be treated by simplified approaches during the assessment of the component fatigue strength.

Displaying Product Manufacturing Information in Augmented Reality for Inspection

Model-based definition and augmented reality are two emerging technologies, which enable a faster product development cycle and better dimensional control. They are an enabler of industry 4.0, and a better way to transfer the data to the user. Although each of the technologies is well researched, their combination presents a challenge from a research perspective. Model-based definition enables the product manufacturing data to be used in downstream processes, which include quality control and inspection. We developed and presented a method that enables the transfer of product manufacturing information from a 3D model and displays the graphical presentation to the user in augmented reality. The presented data is expected to aid the user with performing quality control more effectively, which needs to be tested.

Software effort estimation using FAHP and weighted kernel LSSVM machine

In the life cycle of software product development, the software effort estimation (SEE) has always been a critical activity. The researchers have proposed numerous estimation methods since the inception of software engineering as a research area. The diversity of estimation approaches is very high and increasing, but it has been interpreted that no single technique performs consistently for each project and environment. Multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach generates more credible estimates, which is subjected to expert’s experience. In this paper, a hybrid model has been developed to combine MCDM (for handling uncertainty) and machine learning algorithm (for handling imprecision) approach to predict the effort more accurately. Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) has been used effectively for feature ranking. Ranks generated from FAHP have been integrated into weighted kernel least square support vector machine for effort estimation. The model developed has been empirically validated on data repositories available for SEE. The combination of weights generated by FAHP and the radial basis function (RBF) kernel has resulted in more accurate effort estimates in comparison with bee colony optimisation and basic RBF kernel-based model.

Research on product innovation design of modularization based on theory of TRIZ and axiomatic design

Modular design can shorten the product development cycle and enhance the product research and development capability of enterprises. To better solve the problem of module interface coupling after module partition, the present modular product design method has been improved based on the theory of inventive problem solving and axiomatic design theory. This article summarizes the engineering parameters commonly used in modular design based on the requirement analysis and conflict problems of modular structure design. And in the process of dividing the functional modules by fuzzy clustering algorithm, we propose defining and classifying the principle (technical) correlation between parts by these parameters. Then the coupling relation of each module interface is analyzed by the design matrix of axiomatic design and the conflict solving tool of the theory of inventive problem solving is utilized for decoupling. Finally, the high chair is taken as the design object and the design process is used to verify the feasibility of this method.

Effect of wire tension on different output responses during wire electric discharge machining on AISI 304 stainless steel

Abstract WEDM is used in machining conductive materials where it is required to obtained complicated and intricate shapes with high accuracy. Various applications are in the field of automobile, medical industries, aerospace etc. WEDM is an economical machining option with short product development cycle. Surface roughness, kerf width, Material removal rate, Recast layer hardness and surface microhardness in WEDM are most important responses. In this paper, effect of varied Wire tension on SR, KW, MRR, RCL hardness and surface microhardness on AISI 304 have been investigated. Pulse on time, pulse off time, current and dielectric fluid are taken as fixed parameter. Results show that Wire tension influences the SR, MRR and Surface microhardness and has no effect on kerf width in case of Stainless steel 304.

Design, stiffness analysis and experimental study of a cable-driven parallel 3D printer

Although additive manufacturing (AM) has been developed rapidly and become an absolutely necessary tool for reducing the cycle and cost of new product development, the mechanical structures of most 3D printers based on Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology are still traditional serial or parallel mechanisms with rigid components. In this paper, a novel cable-driven parallel 3D printer (CDPP) is developed. Compared with the traditional rigid mechanisms, CDPP has the advantages of larger workspace, higher payload-to-weight ratio, easier modularity and reconfigurability. A cable-driven module with three translational degrees of freedom and a follow-up tensioning module with a spring are adopted for positioning. Firstly, the inverse kinematics of the CDPP is derived considering the cable length constraint. The inverse dynamics model of the CDPP is established based on the Newton–Euler equation and the kinematics. Secondly, the system stiffness of the CDPP and stiffness along three coordinate axes are derived, respectively. The system static stiffness with respect to the stiffness constant of the spring and the coordinates of the moving platform are obtained. Finally, the experiments are performed based on numerical simulation. The results of experiments without executing extrusion demonstrate the simulation results about the static stiffness. The feasibility of the CDPP is verified via the experiments while executing extrusion.

Enhancing creativity through Biological Stimuli during new products ideation

The development of new and innovative products consists in a competitive advantage, allowing companies to overcome competitors, maintain or even increase its market share. As the product development cycle is shortening, a greater effort is required at the ideation of new technologies and products. In this context, the bio-inspired design has been receiving attention as a creativity strengthening method. However, the majority of methods and tools proposed in this field present biological stimuli in the form of literature extracts, requiring a great cognitive effort from the design teams in abstracting principles to generate ideas. In this paper a systematic approach to biological stimuli development is presented, as well as its contribution during the ideation process. An experiment was conducted on the context of a product design course. As result, it was evidenced that the biological stimulators contributed to the increase of the ideas' utility and variety, favoring the innovation process.

Management priorities of digital health service start-ups in California

Digitalisation has revolutionised health service delivery, which has provided global business opportunities for start-ups that specialise in digital innovations. Such start-ups challenge the traditional healthcare service industry by introducing radical and sustainable innovations in the agile product development cycle and the creative acquisition of resources within their networks. Starting up is the most critical period in establishing a new digital health service company. However, little is known about the critical early growth processes of newly established digital healthcare service businesses. The aim of this study is to clarify the experience-based priorities of managers of digital health service businesses in California during the critical start-up stage. Based on this multiple case study, the qualitative and contextual characteristics of growth in California-based digital health service start-ups were clarified, and a framework of management priorities was formed. Network management is a high priority in digital service start-ups that are focused on bringing radical innovations to the complex and hard-to-access market where fundraising is an integral part of success.

A review of computational modeling in powder-based additive manufacturing for metallic part qualification

PurposeAdditive manufacturing (AM) is revolutionizing the manufacturing industry due to several advantages and capabilities, including use of rapid prototyping, fabrication of complex geometries, reduction of product development cycles and minimization of material waste. As metal AM becomes increasingly popular for aerospace and defense original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), a major barrier that remains is rapid qualification of components. Several potential defects (such as porosity, residual stress and microstructural inhomogeneity) occur during layer-by-layer processing. Current methods to qualify AM parts heavily rely on experimental testing, which is economically inefficient and technically insufficient to comprehensively evaluate components. Approaches for high fidelity qualification of AM parts are necessary.Design/methodology/approachThis review summarizes the existing powder-based fusion computational models and their feasibility in AM processes through discrete aspects, including process and microstructure modeling.FindingsCurrent progresses and challenges in high fidelity modeling of AM processes are presented.Originality/valuePotential opportunities are discussed toward high-level assurance of AM component quality through a comprehensive computational tool.

The Conundrum of Application of Intellectual Property (Ip) Strategy in Light of Business Strategy, and its Significance to the Corporate World in Contemporary Settings

Every leading firm of the current time cements their foundation with their IP portfolio. By integrating IP into every vertical — like R&D, strategic planning, product development cycles — a firm can seamlessly leverage multiple opportunities and enhance its value in the competitive market as well as protect itself from the same. In fact, reading one’s own IP portfolio and of the other entities working in the domain can be goaded in such a manner to derive practical strategic insights that can help firms positively. Thus, the issue being addressed in this paper is related to the parameters necessary for such strategizing. Specifically, it relates to utilizing more empirical and data-driven parameters, rather than plain theoretical hypotheses. Further, these parameters can be utilized to construct a representative matrix (a 3-dimensional graph) with respect to a subject company; this matrix would help in identifying the company’s position in a particular domain — against the other entities that also work in the domain. In effect, this matrix can be utilized to obtain insights and design strategies that the company can use with respect to these other entities in its vision.

CAD-based identification of product low-carbon design optimization potential: a case study of low-carbon design for automotive in China

The low-carbon design strategy that most Chinese manufacturers evaluate and improve in the product’s life cycle in the late stage of product development extends the product development cycle. This paper combines low-carbon design theory with 3D design software, in the early stage of product design, by identifying low-carbon design optimization potential, the feedback mechanism of evaluation results and design recommendations is established to guide designers’ conduct in low-carbon design in real time. Taking low-carbon design of Chinese automobile for instance, based on the life cycle carbon emission analysis of automobile products and the construction of a quantification model of the life cycle carbon emission, from the viewpoints of the structure, material, process, disassembly, and recycling of automobile products, this paper constructs the low-carbon evaluation index of automobile products; puts forward the method of identifying low-carbon design optimization potential of automobile parts, which is used to develop a low-carbon design integrated system for automobile products; and explains the workflow and theoretical realization scheme of the integrated system. Finally, taking the design process of automobile engine as an example, through the analysis results of the integrated system, it can be seen that the raw material acquisition stage of the engine has the largest carbon emission, and the carbon emission of the cylinder block is the largest. Based on the established evaluation model, the optimization suggestions are given on the structure and materials, and the feasibility of the integrated system is verified.

A digital expression method for the module interface in a practical bus chassis modular design and case history

Modular design of products can effectively reduce product development cycle with the idea of concurrent engineering, the efficient management of module interface information in the design process is the premise and foundation for module sharing. This study aims to develop a methodology for interface information management in bus chassis modular design. The characteristics of module interfaces in mechanical design are first investigated by the comparison with Universal Serial Bus interfaces. A digital expression method is then proposed to describe the characteristics of interface geometry information using two matrices with mapping relationships. An encoding method is then developed for the interface information management in modular design. Finally, the implementation of the above method was illustrated with a case study of an electric bus chassis modular design. The results indicate that the digital expression method can represent the geometric information of the module interface precisely and provide a good foundation for the establishment of the modules database for the bus chassis. Novelty of the research is to provide a methodology to represent the characteristics of interface in mechanical design through digital expression.

Numerical simulation for the investment casting process of a large-size titanium alloy thin-wall casing

To optimize the investment casting process when producing high quality large-size titanium alloy thin-wall components is a time-consuming job due to the complicated metallurgical process. Numerical simulation is a high-efficiency method compared with trial and error, and therefore is introduced to the investment casting process optimization to shorten the new product development cycle and reduce the production cost. In this study, weakly compressible model (WCM) and ununiformed finite difference mesh (UFDM) was developed to reduce the memory consumption and ensure the simulation efficiency. The precision of the WCM and UFDM were verified by numerical simulation of cavity heat convection in a square cavity and hydraulics simulation of centrifugal filling in a transparent cavity. The numerical simulation of the investment casting process of a titanium alloy thin-wall casing under different process conditions was accomplished using a self-developed software, and the distribution characteristics of potential shrinkage defects were predicted. It was found that the predicted defects in the titanium alloy casing matched well with the actual X-ray experimental results. For the components investigated in this paper, more numerical simulation results show that the centrifugal casting process with respect to gravity casting had no obvious improvements in the concentrated shrinkage defects, and the gravity casting process can be more reasonable from the engineering point of view.

A customization-oriented framework for product development. Case study- energy-efficient windows

This paper presents the authors’ approach to producing customised products. The authors address the support of information sharing and activity synchronization within and between teams. The paper discusses a methodology for modelling data and original software for product data management that includes customers’ preferences and specifications. The developed system has the ability to select an activity, as well as machining processes and parameters based on a set of design and production parameters, and to estimate product cost throughout the entire product development cycle. The case study refers to a product type called “energy-efficient windows”. Window panes must be delivered to customers in a variety of shapes, dimensions, and materials according to certain specifications. The Access database provides the geometrical data for the next module, the CAD module that is achieved using Solid Works.

Direct contact membrane distillation module scale-up calculations: Choosing between convective and conjugate approaches

Membrane distillation (MD) process technology is swiftly moving to industrial prototyping where efficient scale-up calculations are crucial to shorten product development cycle. The aim of this numerical investigation is to suggest the best modeling strategy that will enable to innovate; modify or check new direct contact MD (DCMD) module designs or operation in a timely manner. Two main modeling strategies are presented, namely convective and conjugate approaches. For a given flat module, it is shown that replacing the permeate side by a modified convection boundary condition that accounts for every known resistance to heat transfer gives similar results in the feed side as a coupled conjugate approach where the membrane, with a modified thermal conductivity, is part of the computational domain. The two methods are compared for different module lengths in terms of permeate flux and temperature distribution. Simulation time reports show the important gain in CPU time when using the convective approach while retaining desired calculation accuracy during scale-up. Furthermore, investigations were carried out to assess the effect of 3D inlet and outlet effects. Results for a laboratory scale module suggest that the convective approach can be safely used during early design stages and scale-up of single modules in the range of high permeate fluxes, while the conjugate approach has to be used for an accurate prediction of permeate temperatures needed in heat recovery strategy and equipment design.

Compressed New Product Development Cycle & its Impact on Outsourcing Decisions in Auto Component Industry

Compressed New Product Development Cycle & its Impact on Outsourcing Decisions in Auto Component Industry

Security in Cyber-Enabled Design and Manufacturing: A Survey

Developments in digital technology and manufacturing processes have expanded the horizon of designer innovation in creating products. In addition to this, real-time collaborative platforms help designers shorten the product development cycle by enabling collaborations with domain experts from concept generation to product realization and after-market. These collaborations are extending beyond enterprise and national boundaries, contributing to a growing concern among designers regarding the security of their sensitive information such as intellectual property (IP) and trade secrets. The source of such sensitive information leaks could be external (e.g., hacker) or internal (e.g., disgruntled employee) to the collaboration. From a designer's perspective, this fear can inhibit participation in a collaboration even though it might result in better products or services. In this paper, we aim to contextualize this evolving security space by discussing various security practices in digital domains, such as encryption and secret sharing, as well as manufacturing domains, such as physically unclonable function (PUF) and physical part watermarking for anticounterfeiting and tamper evidence purposes. Further, we classify these practices with respect to their performance against different adversarial models for different stages in product development. Such a classification can help designers to make informed decisions regarding security practices during the product realization process.

Optimal Design for an Extruder Head Runner Based on Response Surface Method and Simulated Annealing Algorithm

The head runner of a rubber extruder is important for controlling rubber flow and improving extrudate quality. To clarify the effect of the structure parameters of the head runner of a doubleplex tread extruder on extrudate quality and obtain high-quality rubber extrusions, a finite element model of the down head runner was established. The extrusion process was analyzed through numerical simulations, wherein the Bird–Carreau constitutive equation and Navier slip law were used along with some computational methods, such as quadratic interpolation of velocity and linear interpolation of pressure and viscosity. The Newton iteration algorithm was used for numerical calculations. The mean-square deviation of velocity (SDV) of rubber flow in the outlet cross section was selected as the evaluation objective. A Placket–Burman design was used to select three key factors—angles A and B and outlet width D—from among eight runner structure parameters affecting the velocity variance. By using central composite design (CCD), the quadratic response surface model using the three key factors was established, and the influence law of a combination of the three key factors on SDV was obtained. The response surface model was optimized using the simulated annealing (SA) algorithm, and the optimal key factors of the head runner were obtained. The optimal runner design realizes a more uniform velocity distribution in the outlet cross section. Furthermore, a comparison of the simulated flow velocities of the original and optimal head runners at different inlet flow ratios and temperatures indicates that the optimal head runner flow velocity improves the extrusion quality. Thus, an optimal runner with optimal key factors was manufactured. Test results of the rubber flow state indicated that the flow is regular and that warping disappears. The proposed optimization strategy can be used practically for improving the head runner design, shortening the product development cycle, and reducing the production cost.