DESIGN KNOWLEDGE REUSE IN DESIGN OF PROGRESSIVE STAMPING TOOLS: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

Progressive stamping tools are widely used in mass-production of sheet metal components and their performance is critical as the design of the tool impact the cost of the manufactured component significantly.Knowledge reuse is an important part of successful design in general, and in progressive stamping tool design in particular. In the study described in this paper, 8 tool designers from 5 different Swedish companies were interviewed about (1) at what points in the tool design process they search for previously designed tools for information and knowledge reuse, (2) under what conditions and for what reasons does this reuse take place, and (3) what types of information and knowledge are sought for at each point. The results show that reuse of information and knowledge from previously designed tools happens in many parts of the tool design process. The reasons and conditions for reuse vary depending on where in the process the designer is. High component complexity is one example of a common factor triggering reuse. Also, information about the performance of the tool is important to tool designers, as they only want to reuse information and knowledge from tools with good performance and low maintenance.

A Model-Based Approach to Identify Barriers in Design Knowledge Reuse

Today, information and knowledge as competitive factors influence the success of companies as much as traditional production factors like human resources or physical capital. However, the reuse of design knowledge still represents a major challenge for engineering organizations. That is, because barriers exist hindering a successful knowledge reuse. On the basis of a literature review, the research depicted in this paper analyses the relation between single information conveying design knowledge and barriers hindering a successful knowledge reuse. Developing a model-based approach, we propose a micro logic containing three steps and underlying methods enabling practitioners to identify situation-specific barriers within their organization. We illustrate the industrial application of the approach in a case study at a mining machinery OEM.

Constrained FBS knowledge cell model, representation, and applications for conceptual design

Conceptual design plays a pivotal role in generating creative design solutions and, in most cases, reuse of existing design knowledge is necessary. However, lack of a consistent design knowledge representation model and neglect of an integrated approach to support various formats of design knowledge reuse constrain conceptual design from transforming design requirements into practical promising design solutions. In order to solve these problems, this paper presents a constrained function-behavior-structure knowledge cell (CFBS) model to provide conceptual design process with a consistent knowledge representation model. CFBS-based integrated approach for design knowledge reuse is proposed, which includes three-level CFBS retrieval process to obtain most relevant CFBS expressed in various types, three-stage design synthesis process to produce suggested design solutions, and evaluation process to select the most feasible design solutions. The effectiveness of the proposed design process was illustrated with conceptual design of the micro-feed drive module of insulin pump based on the CFBS library.

An affordance-integrated approach for design knowledge reuse

Design knowledge reuse is regarded as an effective strategy for design organizations to develop products with shorter time and less effort. However, existing design reuse approaches primarily focus on reusing the geometrical information of similar parts, with a wealth of contextual knowledge behind detailed design results lost. This paper presents an affordance-integrated approach for the reuse of detailed design knowledge, which can be employed to help designers determine the values of geometrical design parameters. First, this paper introduces an affordance-integrated model, called the structure-behavior-affordance, to represent the detailed design information. Then an affordance-based approach is proposed to help designers reuse the detailed design knowledge, which is also integrated with commercial CAD tools. Finally, the proposed approach is implemented as a detailed design knowledge reuse system and a turbocharger shell fixture is adopted as an example to illustrate the proposed design knowledge reuse approach.

Overall Structure Control for Product Design Using Geometric Skeleton Based on Functional Decomposition

Product conceptual design derives from the functional requirement initially, and the overall structure control for product design is one of the most difficult problems being addressed in CAD modeling. The objective of this investigation is to present a framework on rapid modeling using rules and mechanism library for mapping between functions and mechanism structures. In this paper, it is shown that the overall structure can be achieved largely by using multi-level parametric skeleton model. In order to drive the conceptual design into a more detailed design, the intelligent master model is presented to realize the parametric feature modeling and design knowledge reuse. The main contribution of this paper is that an integrated framework has been developed to design assembling tools of satellite by using a necessary auxiliary wizard. The case studies presented demonstrate the potential significance of this work for a wide range of engineering design problems.

A User-Oriented Design Knowledge Reuse Model

To promote the level of reusing the accumulated design knowledge in the company, we intend to develop a knowledge reuse model in this paper. First, the design knowledge is discussed, and a unified design knowledge model is proposed. Following that, we identify three design knowledge reuse patterns which contribute to the understanding of how designers reuse knowledge during the design process. Based on that, we propose a design knowledge reuse model. This model can provide design knowledge according to the design knowledge reuse patterns. The model also provides the ability to update itself according to the captured actions of the knowledge users. At last, the method is validated with a research cooperator on the hydropneumatic spring component.

A B/S-Based Multi-Server Framework for Knowledge Component Implementation

Knowledge reuse is of great significance for enterprises which rely mainly on new product development or design. For reusing knowledge, knowledge component is a feasible and efficient method. However, the implementation of knowledge component is still a new field to be researched. In this paper, a B/S-based multi-server framework to support knowledge component implementation was proposed. In the framework, a B/S-based knowledge component operating structure was introduced to make it easier for the product designers or developers to use the knowledge component. In order to reduce the computing time and alleviate the workload of the server-side, a multi-server mode was designed to separate the knowledge component operating process into three tiers (data tier, logic tier and computing tier). To improve the utilization of the limited computational resource, a real-time scheduling scheme was proposed to allocate the application software service to dynamic requests. Testing results proves that this framework is feasible and can help the designers reuse the existing knowledge rapidly. This framework will be significantly helpful to those enterprises interested in unlocking the potential of design knowledge reuse.

Design Knowledge Reuse Strategies for Complex Equipment Design

Series products and variant products are the basic strategy for enterprise product development. Product designers reuse the knowledge, experience in the various stages of product development. The design reuse strategies for mechanical products are studied. The concepts of product design reuse level and product design reuse dimensions are presented. The enabling techniques for design reuse are concluded, including CBR, KM/KBE, design reuse modeling. A case-based design tool and a design knowledge management tool are developed based on studying product design reuse strategies.

Research on Design Knowledge Reuse Technology of Configuration Design of Cabinet Electromechanical Products

Custom-oriented product design is the trend of cabinet electromechanical product. At present, the enterprise mainly used configuration design in product design. There are many insufficiencies in the process of cabinet electromechanical product customization design. Such as prompt delivery, success rate once and for all, cost and level of standardization. For enhance the level of customization design by utilizing knowledge reuse, the structure characteristics and the design method of cabinet electromechanical product was analyzed. Some critical problems was discussed based on configuration design patterns, including product structural, configuration design Knowledge ontology and reasoning method of knowledge reuse etc. Finally, a switchgear design case was illustrated.