Abstract
This paper presents a prototype intelligent system, the knowledge-based functional design automation system (KBFDA) for automating the functional design process of engineering products/systems. An integrated knowledge representation scheme combines rule-based and object-oriented representation methods to represent functions and function related design characteristics in an intelligent design environment. A knowledge-based functional reasoning strategy uses this representation to automatically generate physical behaviors from desired functions or behaviors. The required behaviors are then combined in different configurations to develop a set of potential concept variants that meet the functional requirements and functional constraints given in a design specification. Finally, the variants are ranked according to the degree to which they meet non-functional constraints. The variant with the lowest rank (score) is selected as the best solution. A case study design of a terminal insertion unit is presented to demonstrate the practicality of the proposed approach.
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Zhang, W.Y., Tor, S.B. & Britton, G.A. Automated functional design of engineering systems. Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing 13, 119–133 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014584213713
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014584213713