Generation and evaluation of product concepts by integrating extended axiomatic design,quality function deployment and design structure matrix

Existing product concept generation and evaluation methods are mainly based on designers' experience to determine design schemes in the process of product development, which is time-consuming and ineffective. This paper proposes an approach to generate and evaluate design concepts by integrating the extended axiomatic design, quality function deployment and design structure matrix. Different design domains are mapped for matrix operations to generate feasible concepts based on design criteria. A domain mapping matrix is built to determine technical measures, functional requirements and design parameters based on customer requirements. The proposed approach provides a structured method to quantify, validate and qualify design concepts. A case study of the design of a hand rehabilitation device demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Integrate design structure matrix with carbon footprint for product low carbon design

Product low-carbon design plays a significant part in reducing carbon footprint during the product life cycle. This paper proposed Design Structure Matrix integrated with Carbon Footprint (DSM-CF) to design for low carbon footprint. After the carbon footprint for product life cycle is discussed in detail, the DSM-CF is also proposed. The construction, decomposition and clustering algorithm of DSM-CF model is then put forward in detail. The impact of the carbon footprint of each design task on the entire product life cycle is analyzed, which could effectively reduce the carbon footprint of products. At the end of this paper, the DSM-CF model of the hand rehabilitation robot system is established to verify the effectiveness of the model.     

Design of distributed hybrid electric tractor based on axiomatic design and Extenics

Led by the goals of energy saving and low emissions, tractors need more efficient operations under complex farmland working environments. The powertrain architecture of the tractor has a significant influence on the performance. Therefore, the research on the innovative design of the tractor powertrain architecture can improve the efficiency, energy saving, and environmental protection effects. Based on the creative design method of Axiomatic Design (AD) and Extenics, this paper conducts an innovative design analysis of the powertrain architecture of distributed hybrid electric tractor (DHET). Firstly, AD is used to perform the hierarchical analysis of the tractor powertrain architecture design. Then according to the design content, the design matrix (DM) is established, and the matrix is transformed to extract the 3 × 3 coupling contradiction matrix. Finally, the application of Extenics solves the contradictions in the innovative design of the tractor powertrain architecture. Simulation and prototype experiments have proved that DHET has the advantages of energy saving and emission reduction. This paper analyzes the innovative design of DHET's powertrain architecture, which can provide a theoretical basis and method support for the product's innovative design.     

Application of axiomatic design method in in-pipe robot design

The traction ability of existing in-pipe robots is coupled with the velocity and up limited by the friction between robot and the inner wall of pipeline. In order to deal with this problem, this paper applies the Axiomatic design (AD) theory in evaluation of existing in-pipe robots, and then presents a new concept of in-pipe robot as well as its complete AD based design process. The traditional paradox was found to be caused by non-uncoupled designs. The maximum traction ability of proposed in-pipe robot was calculated and compared with that of the others in order to demonstrate the improved capability. The preliminary results of this work exhibit a successful application of AD in in-pipe robot design, which makes it possible that the moving velocity and traction ability can be designed or adjusted individually. As a result, the traction ability breaks the traditional superior limit.     

A complete cellular manufacturing system design methodology based on axiomatic design principles

This paper provides a framework and a road map for people who are ready to transform their traditional production system from process orientation to cellular orientation, based on Axiomatic Design (AD) principles. A feedback mechanism for continuous improvement is also suggested for evaluating and improving the cellular design against pre-selected performance criteria. A complete implementation of the proposed methodology at a manufacturing company and resulting performance improvements are also provided.     

Application of axiomatic design principles to identify more sustainable strategies for grinding

It has become increasingly important for manufacturers to implement sustainability into tool and process design. Existing models that evaluate the sustainability of abrasive processes focus mostly on case studies of selected energy and resource streams and rarely contain holistic process models. This study uses basic principles of axiomatic design to fundamentally describe grinding technology in a way that can be used for life cycle assessment. The functional requirements of the machining process are linked to process, tool, and coolant design parameters based upon common process understanding. However, these connections leave space for future quantitative and qualitative formulae. Sustainability metrics are then connected to the axiomatic process model. This work represents a first effort in developing this type of model. Finally, the model is used to qualitatively evaluate the impact of grit size on process sustainability showing that the method is feasible to identify strategies to increase sustainability in grinding.     

An assembly oriented design framework for product structure engineering and assembly sequence planning

The paper describes a novel framework for an assembly-oriented design (AOD) approach as a new functional product lifecycle management (PLM) strategy, by considering product design and assembly sequence planning phases concurrently. Integration issues of product life cycle into the product development process have received much attention over the last two decades, especially at the detailed design stage. The main objective of the research is to define assembly sequence into preliminary design stages by introducing and applying assembly process knowledge in order to provide an assembly context knowledge to support life-oriented product development process, particularly for product structuring. The proposed framework highlights a novel algorithm based on a mathematical model integrating boundary conditions related to DFA rules, engineering decisions for assembly sequence and the product structure definition. This framework has been implemented in a new system called PEGASUS considered as an AOD module for a PLM system. A case study of applying the framework to a catalytic-converter and diesel particulate filter sub-system, belonging to an exhaust system from an industrial automotive supplier, is introduced to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed AOD methodology.     

Web-based design review of fuel pumps using fuzzy set theory

While product design and development has received significant attention over the past years, the activity of Design Review (DR) has not been dealt with at the equal level, despite its paramount importance. This can be easily observed from the scarce literature and ad hoc approach in industrial practices. Few Product Data Management (PDM) systems provide facilities for design review due to the lack of rigorous DR methodologies. This paper proposes a systematic and rigorous methodology for more efficient and effective DR by applying and extending the Suh’s well-known Theory of Axiomatic Design (TAD) into a Systematic Theory of Axiomatic design Review (STAR). The resulting STAR framework is well-structured and generic enough not only to act as the basis for developing a web-based design review portal in the extended enterprise, but also to accommodate specific design review techniques such as FuzzySTAR (Fuzzy Set Theory Approach to design Review) used for reviewing the fuel pump design case study.     

基于设计结构矩阵的辅助优化系统

传统结构优化建模方法对设计人员的能力要求较高,而现有辅助优化建模工具的通用性不强,导致复杂工程优化问题的模型建立十分困难,因此提出一种通用性较强的辅助优化建模方法.该方法将设计结构矩阵(Design Structure Matrix,DSM)思想引入优化模型的建立过程中,利用DSM结构形式和算法的优点方便有效地从复杂工程问题中提取优化模型并给出合理的优化流程.基于Excel的VBA语言开发辅助优化建模工具,快速准确地提取优化模型,并通过与优化软件Isight的接口程序自动将参与优化设计的模块映射成合理的优化流程图.采用燃气轮机支架结构的优化设计问题验证该辅助优化建模工具,并取得良好效果.     

Fuzzy multi-attribute selection among transportation companies using axiomatic design and analytic hierarchy process

The basic concept in axiomatic design (AD) is the existence of design axioms. First of these axioms is the independence axiom and the second one is the information axiom. Information axiom proposes the selection of the best alternative that has minimum information. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is another multi-attribute method which is a decision-making method for selecting the best among a set of alternatives, given some criteria. The method has been extensively applied, especially in large-scale problems where many criteria must be considered and where the evaluation of alternatives is mostly subjective. Multi-attribute transportation company selection is a very important activity for effective supply chain. Selection of the best company under determined criteria (such as cost, time, damage/loss, flexibility and documentation ability) using both multi-attribute AD and AHP will be realized in this study. The fuzzy multi-attribute AD approach is also developed and it is compared by one of fuzzy AHP methods in the literature. The selection process has been accomplished by aiding a software that includes crisp AD and fuzzy AD.     

Supporting collaborative engineering design

The complexity of current engineering design demands the collaboration of specialists. Collaboration involves both communication between and coordination among members of a design team. Currently, design collaboration is carried out through the use of schedules, specifications and drawings which only capture the end results of the design process. They fail to record important design information such as the reasoning behind design decisions. In this paper, we describe a tool CADS, that supports collaboration in engineering design. CADS is based on an extension to the Axiomatic Design methodology which not only captures the design elements but also the rationale used to conceive them. CADS serves as a shared database of design information with facilities that support communication and coordination in engineering design.Currently at the Media Laboratory, MIT.     

Adaptive generic product structure modelling for design reuse in engineer-to-order products

In product lifecycle management, the efficiency of information reuse relies on the definition and management of equivalence information between various product data and structure representations. Equivalence information ensures the consistency and traceability of product information throughout the product lifecycle. The sales-delivery process of engineer-to-order (ETO) products presents a great potential for design reuse, i.e. the reuse of previously validated design solutions in the design of new product variants according to customer-specific requirements. A product family data model that focuses on the interdependencies of viewpoints on information will therefore improve the setup of design reuse mechanisms such as modularity. This paper describes the Adaptive Generic Product Structure (AGPS), a dynamic structure-based product family modelling approach that enables the systematic aggregation of product variants and their distinctive components. The purpose of the approach is to capitalize on the expanding component variety developed within previous product variants as early as the sales lead phase of the sales-delivery process, in order to reduce customer-driven design costs and shorten lead-times. An illustrative example based on the aerospace industry is presented.     

Structuring ship design project approval mechanism towards installation of operator-system interfaces via fuzzy axiomatic design principles

Managing the verification of primary design projects for ship machinery systems is one of the crucial stages in ship building processes. In particular, the design of operator-system interfaces such as remote controls, displays, alarms, workstations, and labels requires a high level of technical expertise and systematic control. This paper focuses on structuring a ship design project approval mechanism (SDPAM) based on fuzzy axiomatic design (FAD) methodology which is concerned with the system design of relevant interfaces on an engine room control console. Design characteristics such as accessibility and operational requirements are treated as “hard” constraints being encountered in this complex problem. Hence, the proposed methodology requires performance assessment using fuzzy values. This study provides original contributions to the existing approval procedures of classification societies, which are non-governmental construction and classification organizations in the shipping industry. Furthermore, the study proposes a new approach to handle uncertainty and vagueness by an axiomatic design extension to ship project execution problems.     

Axiomatic design principles in analysing the ergonomics design parameter of a virtual environment

One of the negative side effects experienced by users when interacting with virtual environment is visual symptoms. This paper explores the ergonomics design parameters of the virtual environment to minimize such negative side effect by applying axiomatic design principles. Axiomatic design is a method to provide a systematic way for designing products and large systems. The independence axiom is used to map customer domain (CAs) to functional domain (FRs) and physical domain (DPs). A paper based survey was conducted to identify and define customers' preference in the virtual environment. A virtual robot manufacturing system was developed as a case study to explore ergonomic design parameters that satisfy the independence of FRs and CAs. Results of this study shows that the ergonomic design parameters of virtual environment identified (DP₁₆₁-DP₁₆₂-DP₁₂₁-DP₁₁₁-DP₁₃₁-DP₁₄₁-DP₁₅₁-DP₁₅₂) have satisfied the independence functional requirement and desired visual comfort for users. By uncoupling the design it provides an efficient and effective sequence of design activities FR₁₆₁-FR₁₆₂-FR₁₂₁-FR₁₁₁-FR₁₃₁-FR₁₄₁-FR₁₅₁-FR₁₅₂.     

A systematic approach for supply chain improvement using design structure matrix

Supply chain is a complex system that involves many system elements from various functional areas. Performance of a supply chain heavily depends on the effectiveness of communication and coordination among these system elements and functional areas. However, a large and complex supply chain usually makes it difficult to coordinate and thus degrades its performance. This paper focuses on the development of a systematic approach with the following objectives: (1) to identify and quantify the interactions among the system elements in a supply chain; (2) to decompose the large interdependent group of system elements into smaller and manageable sub-groups; and thus (3) to improve the structure of the supply chain system. A supply chain system is first decomposed into subsystems and system elements from which the interactions (i.e., independent, dependent and interdependent relationships) are studied and documented by design structure matrix (DSM). Next, the interaction strengths among the related system elements are quantified. Cluster analysis is used to decompose the large interdependent group into smaller ones in order to provide a better supply chain system structure. The effectiveness of this systematic approach is demonstrated by an illustrative example. The result shows that it is able to improve the system structure of a supply chain that will be useful for the supply chain reengineering.     

Computer-aided design method for the components made of heterogeneous materials

With rapid developments of high-tech in various fields, there appear more critical requirements for special functions of components/products, which can be satisfied only by using heterogeneous materials: composite materials, functionally graded materials, or heterogeneous materials with a periodic microstructure. However, currently there exists no systematic and effective method for designing components made of these heterogeneous materials. This paper develops such a computer-aided design method, under the guide of Axiomatic Design, which can apply the functions of current CAD/CAE software. With the design method, all the information about both configuration and materials of a heterogeneous component, needed for creating its CAD model, can be obtained.     

基于设计结构矩阵的耦合活动集求解改进算法

邻接矩阵求幂法和可达矩阵法是当前常用的项目耦合活动集求解算法,但是采用这两种算法求解出的耦合活动集中可能隐含更小的耦合活动集,对此在邻接矩阵求幂法的基础上,对求出的耦合活动集进行真实性判断及后续处理,找出了耦合活动集中存在的子耦合活动集,获得了更为精确的耦合活动集。     

Healthcare process modularization using design structure matrix

The healthcare industry is confronted with the challenge of offering customized services while in the meantime to control increasing healthcare costs. Modularization is an important approach to reduce healthcare costs and improve patient-centered services via decreasing process complexity and enhancing flexibility through configuring pre-identified service modules. Recognizing the importance of modularity for healthcare services, this paper introduces Design Structure Matrix (DSM) as a technique for healthcare process modularization. A DSM-based modularization and sequencing algorithm is developed to allocate healthcare activities to service modules using Genetic Algorithm (GA) and arrange sequences of services both within and across service modules to support modular clinical pathway design. The proposed algorithm is implemented with a case study, the results of which have demonstrated the feasibility and applicability of the proposed DSM-based modularization method for healthcare process design.     

Re-engineering of the design process for concurrent engineering

According to the requirements of concurrent engineering, three interdependency relationships (uncoupled relationship, coupled relationship and decoupled relationship) between design activities are presented in this paper. And the coupled relationship plays an important role in concurrent product design process. To represent the precedence relationships among design activities, a directed graph is used to describe the design process. And the interdependency relationship between activities is illustrated by a Design Structure Matrix which is the transpose of the accessibility matrix of the corresponding graph. Using the DSM, an algorithm of recognizing the coupled activities during the design process is presented. Moreover, an algorithm to figure out the order levels of activities during the design process is proposed. And both algorithms are illustrated with a die design example.     

A computerized optimization framework for the morphological matrix applied to aircraft conceptual design

This paper presents a formal mathematical framework for the use of the morphological matrix in a computerized conceptual design framework. Within the presented framework, the matrix is quantified so that each solution principle is associated with a set of characteristics such as weight, cost, performance, etc. Selection of individual solutions is modeled with decision variables and an optimization problem is formulated. The applications are the conceptual design of subsystems for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and an aircraft fuel transfer system. Both the system models and the mathematical framework are implemented in MS Excel.