Design for functional requirements enabled by a mechanism and machine element taxonomy
Year: 2013
Editor: Udo Lindemann, Srinivasan V, Yong Se Kim, Sang Won Lee, John Clarkson, Gaetano Cascini
Author: Lee, Szu-Hung; Jiang, Pingfei; Childs, Peter RN
Series: ICED
Institution: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
Page(s): 387-396
ISBN: 978-1-904670-50-6
ISSN: 2220-4334
Abstract
A process providing an option for engineers and designers to separate the consideration of functional requirements and movement requirements to encourage diverse thinking has been developed and implemented in a graphical interface. In order to assist in consideration of attributes, a database, mechanism and machine element taxonomy (MMET), has been constructed. MMET is composed of the functional attributes, movement attributes, and advantages and disadvantages of machine elements and mechanisms. It provides engineers and designers a wide range of component selection to fulfil design requirements and reliable references to make decisions. Three different interfaces such as hierarchy, functional-oriented and movement-oriented are defined to allow users to explore different options and purposes. This taxonomy also provides comparative information between elements, mechanisms with the same main technical functions. With this information contained in MMET and with the additional aid of a functional analysis diagram (FAD) approach, engineers and designers are able to explore flaws in current designs and deliver alternative solutions by following a proposed creative optimizing process.
Keywords: Conceptual design, design process, optimisation, process modelling, functional analysis