| Adaptable design (AD) is a new design approach for efficient and effective product design considering functionality, manufacturing efforts, customization and environment friendliness. Adaptable design aims at developing designs and products that are adaptable to various circumstances. In this context, this thesis mainly discusses how to achieve product adaptability and evaluate the design candidates. This research introduces a detailed methodology of design for improving product adaptability. The various phases in adaptable product design, including function modeling, adaptable platform/modular design, adaptable interface design, concept evaluation and detail design, are identified in this research. The details of design activities in each of the adaptable design phases have been developed. A new method to evaluate design candidates in adaptable design process has also been developed by using the grey relational analysis approach to integrate the different evaluation measures for prioritizing different design candidates with different fundamental and adaptable functions. Two case studies are conducted based on the introduced design methodology and design process on how to achieve the product adaptability. |
