A Design Data Model to Support Rationale Capture and Functional Synthesis

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Aurisicchio ◽  
Rob H. Bracewell ◽  
Ken M. Walllace
Keyword(s):  
Data Model ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Source Material ◽  
Design Rationale ◽  
Design Data ◽  
Arm Support ◽  
Functional Synthesis ◽  
Design Projects ◽  
And Function

Keeping design notebooks is widely considered to be a very good practice as it allows the progression of a design to be recorded, and it is one of the few spontaneous ways in which designers document their design processes. Nevertheless, design notebooks by their nature contain diverse collections of information and knowledge, lacking any clear and comprehensive structure. The aim of researching the generation and use of such design knowledge is to provide a better understanding of how it may be captured and structured for later review and reuse, either by the original designers or by others. In this paper, we explore and test ways of structuring design rationale that is recorded in design notebooks during mechanical design projects. Our investigation focuses on the application of two well-known alternative knowledge structures. These are PROSUS matrices that are used for indexing design rationale against the nodes of a product breakdown [1], and Function-Means Trees [2] that are used to represent the generation and combination of alternative partial design solutions. The results are compared with the Design Data Model, which has been proposed as a way of beneficially unifying these two seemingly incompatible approaches. Design notebooks kept during the Mobile Arm Support project, an inhouse design project undertaken between 1992 and 1997 in Cambridge Engineering Design Centre, provided the source material to illustrate our arguments.

DRed and Design Folders: A Way of Capturing, Storing and Passing On Knowledge Generated During Design Projects

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob H. Bracewell ◽  
Saeema Ahmed ◽  
Ken M. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Software Tool ◽  
Preliminary Evaluation ◽  
Design Rationale ◽  
Knowledge Model ◽  
Design Data ◽  
Design Work ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Design Projects ◽  
Design Case Study ◽  
Or Team

This paper describes a software tool called DRed (the Design Rationale editor), that allows engineering designers to record their design rationale (DR) at the time of its generation and deliberation. DRed is one of many proposed derivatives of the venerable IBIS concept, but by contrast with other tools of this type, practicing designers appear surprisingly willing to use it. DRed allows the issues addressed, options considered, and associated arguments for and against, to be captured graphically. The software, despite still being essentially a research prototype, is already in use on high profile design projects in an international aerospace company, including the presentation of results of design work to external customers. The paper compares DRed with other IBIS-derived software tools, to explain how it addresses problems that seem to have made them unsuitable for routine use by designers. In addition to the capture and presentation of the DR itself, the set of linked DR graphs can be used to provide a map of the contents of an electronic Design Folder, containing all the documents created by an individual or team during a design project. The structure of the knowledge model instantiated in such a Design Folder is described. By reprising a design case study published at the DTM 2003 conference, concerning the design of a Mobile Arm Support (MAS), the DRed knowledge model is compared with the previously proposed Design Data Model (DDM), to show how it addresses the shortcomings identified in the DDM. Finally the methodology and results of the preliminary evaluation of the use of DRed by aerospace designers are presented.

Reverse Engineering the Structure and Function of the Allegheny Mound Ant Neck (Insecta, Hymenoptera, Formica, Exsectoides)

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vienny N. Nguyen ◽  
Blaine W. Lilly ◽  
Carlos E. Castro
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Structure And Function ◽  
Load Path ◽  
Supporting Surface ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Formica Exsectoides ◽  
Sem Imaging ◽  
Heavy Loads ◽  
And Function ◽  
Mass Loads

Insects as mechanical systems have been optimized for form and function over millions of years. Ants, in particular, can lift and carry extremely heavy loads relative to their body mass. Loads are lifted with the mouthparts, transferred through the neck joint to the thorax, and distributed over six legs and feet that anchor to the supporting surface. While previous research efforts have explored attachment mechanisms of the feet, little is known about the mechanical design of the neck — the single joint that connects the load path from the thorax to the head. This work combines mechanical testing, computed tomography (CT) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) imaging, and computational modeling to better understand the mechanical structure-function relation of the ant neck joint.

scholarly journals Supporting Creative Mechanical Design

1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kun Sun ◽  
Boi Faltings
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Knowledge Bases ◽  
Creative Design ◽  
Knowledge Based Systems ◽  
Cad Systems ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Logical Language ◽  
Promising Application ◽  
Qualitative Physics ◽  
And Function

Abstract Knowledge-based CAD systems limit designers’ creativity by constraining them to work with the prototypes provided by the systems’ knowledge bases. We investigate knowledge-based CAD systems capable of supporting creative designs in the example domain of elementary mechanisms. We present a technique based on qualitative explanations which allows a designer to extend the knowledge base by demonstrating a structure which implements a function in a creative way. Structure is defined as the geometry of the parts, and function using a general logical language based on qualitative physics. We argue that the technique can accommodate any creative design in the example domain, and we demonstrate the technique using an example of a creative design. The use of qualitative physics as a tool for extensible knowledge-based systems points out a new and promising application area for qualitative physics.

Integration of Heterogeneous Product Information for Industrial Cluster

2012 ◽  
Vol 201-202 ◽  
pp. 898-901
Author(s):  
Jun He Yu ◽  
Hong Fei Zhan
Keyword(s):  
Data Model ◽  
Product Information ◽  
Industrial Cluster ◽  
Structure And Properties ◽  
Integration Framework ◽  
Product Data ◽  
Product Data Model ◽  
Model Class ◽  
And Function ◽  
Classification Structure

This paper analyzed the heterogeneous product information for industrial cluster. It plays an important role in collaboration of enterprise and product information inquires in industrial cluster. The paper presented globe product data model based on PLIB standard. The globe classification structure and properties definition were given as the globe ontology for industrial cluster. The product class was expressed by general model class and function model class. The class is defined with the properties. The class and properties for injection machine were described as an example. According to the globe product data model, the integration framework can make the integration of heterogeneous product information and provide the unique inquire interface for the end customer. The integration framework was presented and analyzed.

Function and Mechanism Formalization in Task Based Conceptual Design Method

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. V. Darbinyan
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Design Method ◽  
General Concept ◽  
Design Tool ◽  
Concept Design ◽  
Scope Of Application ◽  
Core Idea ◽  
And Function ◽  
Mechanical Objects

Mechanism and function formalization problem is touched in a novel task based conceptual mechanical design method. The general concept and a specific application of this method were reported in earlier publications. Direct dependence between the function and mechanism, identical synthesis tools for various stages of design and for various mechanical objects are the features making the suggested method advantageously different from existing concept design approaches. The core idea of suggested conceptual design method is the direct relation between challenged function and the mechanical entity which is in charge of implementing the requested function. The existing task based conceptual design methods are not satisfying the designer’s needs for scope of application, universality of design means, visualization and formalization of both mechanical and functional fields. Formalization of functions and mechanisms is an important design tool that will facilitate synthesis, analyzes, visualization and archiving (data base creating) processes of mechanical development. Further progress in unveiling the resources of the suggested design method is mostly based on development of formalization means for both categories of functions and mechanisms. The current study is unveiling newly developed function and mechanism description language that is helping to formalize both mechanical and functional categories facilitating their involvement in design process and making the description of a new product’s mechanical development easy and understandable. Function formalization in conjunction with mechanism formalization allows to formulate precisely the design task and concentrate the designer’s attention on solution of a single task strictly arranged in the hierarchical function tree of all involved tasks and functions.

Reusing design information: an investigation of the document creation process in service design projects

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Tzu Lin
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Service Design ◽  
Social Aspect ◽  
Design Rationale ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Creation Process ◽  
Design Information ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Design Projects ◽  
Is Design

PurposeDesign rationale is design information that explains why an entity is designed as it is. This paper investigates how the documentation process and the use of documents in service design projects influence the reuse of design information across projects.Design/methodology/approachThis study analyzes two sets of data collected through interviews and field observation. It first applied Lund's (2004) four elements of documentation process to categorize the collected data. Then it used bottom-up data analysis approach to identify patterns of the documentation process.FindingsThe author speculates designers' focus on certain documents' social aspect instead of material aspect influences how they reuse design information across projects. Some documents are important because they represent a consensus, and some are important because of the document producers rather than its content. The author also found a similarity between economists and service designers by comparing the study results with Harper and Sellen's (1995) findings. Based on the comparison, the author concludes that detailed research reports are easily reusable across design projects. Finally, although the author observed that designers are using templates to explicate design rationale, the created content is not used across projects.Originality/valueThis study identifies six types of documents that are commonly created in service design projects, three types of producer involvement and three types of provisional design outcomes. It also provides two suggestions for designers to reuse design information across service design projects better and two implications for future study.

Paper 29: Systematic Design Review and Fault Analysis

1969 ◽  
Vol 184 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Green
Keyword(s):  
Failure Analysis ◽  
Control Method ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Fault Analysis ◽  
Systematic Design ◽  
Project Control ◽  
Design Review ◽  
Analysis Methods ◽  
And Function

Comprehensive failure analysis methods are currently available to electronic designers, extending to the use of computers to estimate the probability of failures. The mechanical designer has few such tools at his disposal. The paper presents two practical methods of reviewing a mechanical design to improve its reliability. The first is a potential fault analysis, which considers each component and its relation to the function of the whole. The use of this analysis as a project control method is also shown. The second method is a systematic design review method, which aims to consider every aspect and function of a design and its components, to ensure that no factor has been overlooked. The application of these methods is discussed.

scholarly journals Synthetic biology open language visual (SBOL visual) version 3.0

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hasan Baig ◽  
Pedro Fontanarossa ◽  
James McLaughlin ◽  
James Scott-Brown ◽  
Prashant Vaidyanathan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nucleic Acid ◽  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Molecular Species ◽  
Data Model ◽  
Structure And Function ◽  
Sequence Features ◽  
Functional Relationships ◽  
Synthetic Biology Open Language ◽  
And Function ◽  
Biological Organisms

Abstract People who engineer biological organisms often find it useful to draw diagrams in order to communicate both the structure of the nucleic acid sequences that they are engineering and the functional relationships between sequence features and other molecular species. Some typical practices and conventions have begun to emerge for such diagrams. SBOL Visual aims to organize and systematize such conventions in order to produce a coherent language for expressing the structure and function of genetic designs. This document details version 3.0 of SBOL Visual, a new major revision of the standard. The major difference between SBOL Visual 3 and SBOL Visual 2 is that diagrams and glyphs are defined with respect to the SBOL 3 data model rather than the SBOL 2 data model. A byproduct of this change is that the use of dashed undirected lines for subsystem mappings has been removed, pending future determination on how to represent general SBOL 3 constraints; in the interim, this annotation can still be used as an annotation. Finally, deprecated material has been removed from collection of glyphs: the deprecated “insulator” glyph and “macromolecule” alternative glyphs have been removed, as have the deprecated BioPAX alternatives to SBO terms.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document