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.