Research On Design Theory And Method Of Modular Product For Product Family

Product family design is the core of the mass customization and its goal is to design the products that meet the customers'various needs as quickly as possible and spend the lowest cost. In order to achieve the goal, several facets such as modules planning of complex product, development of flexible module family, evolution of modular product, rapid customization of modular product based on modular product family and construction of design meta ontology are researched in this paper under the finanical support of the National Science and Technology Foundation (Grant No. 2001BA201A56), Anhui Science and Technology Foundation (Grant No. 40120513), National Defense Science and Technology Industry Foundation (Grant No. 2005BA201A83-01) and Hefei Science and Technology Foundation (Grant No. 2007 (1007)).Module identification is a key factor for the construction of the modular product family. For complex products, chapter two proposes the pretreated three principles for modules division at first, effectively reducing the quantity of the component and improving the efficiency of the planning. Secondly, from a function view, the modules are identified by virtue of the RI algorithm. Subsequently, the"Problems Elimination"is put forward from the viewpoint of structure, and the crucial processes and technologies are studied. Finally, the results of the modules planning are evaluated and decided based on the D-S evidence theory, effectively taking into account the uncertainty and incomplete of the evaluation process.Flexible modular and flexible module family have a wider application then traditional modular. Chapter three describes the concept and design features of flexible module firstly. Furthermore based on the principles of table characteristics of things, the building steps and methods of table characteristics of things for flexible module are presented, which models its functions and structures. And then, the regression model of main design parameters is established for flexible module, achieving the vertical expansion of its parameters series. Also, the horizontal expansion is achieved for modular structure from a macro level based axiomatic design theory. Once again, the method LSRM designing the key flexible module to reduce the corporate development and transportation costs is put forward. Finally, the inter-module assembly semantic is built by formally package the assembly constraints between modules and the methods of automatic assembly is put forward, improving the efficiency of the development of new products drastically.The evolution of modular product keeps in close contact with family formation. Chapter four puts forward an evolution method AMPE of modular product for product family generation from the macro level. The method consists of two sub-processes. For the first, a portfolio decision-making method AG is put forward, which can lock the changes in customer demand quantitatively. For the second, five evolution activities of modular product architecture are put forward, then hierarchical model is built for modular product architecture based improved interpretative structural modeling, the ripple effect between components is measured based hierarchical model at last, guiding the reconstructions of the components.The rapid customization of modular product plays an important role in companies. Chapter five brings forward a progressive custom process PCP for modular products based product family. The process can be better business-oriented mass customization of products and improve customer participation. First of all, the qualitative configuration of modular product is implemented based axiomatic design theory. The quantitative rough choice of modular product family is researched by using of a two-step strategy, mobilizing the enthusiasm of the customers. Once again, the fine choice of modular product is researched through the introduction of adaptive design methology. And the adaptive reuse strategy, adaptative reconstruction strategy, adaptive authentication and optimization strategy are raised. In implementing adaptive reuse, the semantic adapter is put forward facing the semantic gap between customer demand language and designer language. Also, the combination weight is proposed facing similarity search. In implementing adaptive reconstruction, the structure reconstruction methods facing design history and process are brought up, the reconstruction process of flexible module is put forward based rule mapping and the mapping formula between modular main design parameters and components structural parameters are built. Finally, the knowledge-driven design of general parts is realized by checking the design knowledge into the feature-based modeling process. And, for the first time, the case-based reasoning technology is applied to the rapid design process, achieving the reuse of past design knowledge.Product design process is complex, and there is no strong pattern. First of all, chapter six constructs the design meta ontology for collaborative design based on the semantic web. And then, taking the hydraulic machine for example, the hydraulic machine's domain ontology is built based the design meta ontology. The hydraulic machine's common knowledge is converted into rule for expression and storage by use of SWRL. Also, the hydraulic machine's domain ontology is reasoned through JESS and queried based SWRLQueryBuiltIns, which solves the acquisition and heterogeneity of knowledge and improves the reuse rate of design knowledge. Chapter seven develops a modular product design and management system——MPDMIS,verifying the applicability of key technologies and methods related to product family development.