Product modeling for conceptual design support
Traditional product modeling techniques and computer-aided design (CAD) systems are mainly focused on physical product modeling and geometric representation, which makes them insufficient to help in the conceptual design process. This paper describes a function-based product model for conceptual design support. It formally represents and organizes product information in both functional and physical domain in a multilevel and object-oriented manner. In each domain, the information is organized according to the product decomposition structure. Function-form relations are used to map the two domains. This makes it possible to retain design intentions, and allows designers from different backgrounds with various interests to access the design information and to communicate with one another easily. Multilevel product class structures are constructed to model products at different levels of abstraction, which facilitates design decision-making through the whole conceptual design process. A prototype system has also been developed to implement and demonstrate the proposed product model. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
modeling conceptual design prototype system