Design tool

About: Design tool is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3864 publications have been published within this topic receiving 46401 citations.

A heuristic approach to module synthesis in the design of reconfigurable manufacturing systems

Abstract: While it is well recognized in the literature that modularity is a very important enabler for reconfigurability in manufacturing systems, there is very limited practical guidance on how the various required functions of a production system should be grouped into modules. In this work, a new heuristic approach is developed and presented, to aid the system developer in the identification and synthesis of potential modules during the early design stage of a reconfigurable manufacturing system. The work involves the identification of key module drivers for such systems, and of key criteria that can be used to facilitate the optimization of the granularity and effectiveness of the system. The results are presented in the form of a semi-algorithmic design tool that can be easily understood and used by the developer. The tool is applied to three very different industrial case studies, and is shown to be applicable to various manufacturing scenarios and sub-sectors. The use of the new tool is compared to the use of a design structure matrix approach to function clustering for module synthesis, and is shown to be easier and more objective in its application.

New design tools for lightweight aerospace structures

Abstract: This paper presents two new design tools for lightweight aerospace structures. The first tool is the Tailored Fibre Placement (TFP) design tool TACO. It is used to optimize the fibre orientations of structures made of Carbon Fibre Reinforcement Plastics (CFRP). The optimization concept is explained and results are given for a horizontal tail plane connection beam of an aircraft. The second tool, iBuck, is a fast, semi-analytical local buckling and post-buckling tool for stiffened panels that are loaded in-plane. The panels are assumed to be representative for an aircraft fuselage and are stiffened in axial and circumferential direction. Results are presented for axially loaded panels and compared to FE-results.

Multi Agent System Architecture Oriented Prometheus Methodology Design to Facilitate Security of Cloud Data Storage

Abstract: Security plays an important role in the development of Multi Agent Systems (MAS). However, a careful analysis of software development processes shows that the definition of security requirements is, usually, considered after the design of the system. This is, mainly, due to the fact that agent oriented software engineering methodologies have not integrated security concerns throughout their developing stages. Designing a team of agents that can work together toward a common goal is one of the challenges in the research area of agent-oriented software engineering. Prometheus is an agent-oriented software engineering methodology. The Prometheus Design Tool (PDT) is a graphical editor which supports the design tasks specified within the Prometheus methodology for designing agent systems. The tool propagates information where possible and ensures consistency between various parts of the design. The main purpose of this paper is to design MAS architecture that can be used to facilitate confidentiality, correctness assurance, availability and integrity of Cloud Data Storage (CDS) or cloud data center. The proposed MAS architecture includes five types of agents: Cloud Service Provider Agent (CSPA), Cloud Data Confidentiality Agent (CDConA), Cloud Data Correctness Agent (CDCorA), Cloud Data Availability Agent (CDAA) and Cloud Data Integrity Agent (CDIA).

A new design tool for DFA/DFD based on rating factors

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a tool design for assembly and disassembly using rating factors. Design engineers need an automated tool to effectively analyze the ease of assembly and disassembly of the products or subassemblies. A good assembly design helps in easier disassembly and thus makes it easier to service, repair and maintain. Reuse and recycling aspects are given importance in the present days due to environmental regulations. Designers now use the life cycle design of the products. This creates an environment for the successful application of design for manufacturing, assembly and disassembly tools. This paper addresses some of those issues. Design/methodology/approach – The analysis of a product design for ease of assembly/disassembly depends largely on whether the product is to be assembled/disassembled manually, with automation or a combination of these. For example, the criteria for ease of automatic feeding and orienting are much more stringent than those for manual handling of parts. The new design for assembly/disassembly (DFA/DFD) evaluation tool explained here enables the designer to review the existing design. This paper examines the existing techniques in the area of DFA/DFD and suggests a new methodology based on rating factors. Excel is used to create the interface for the user. Other popular methods were examined such as Boothroyd-Dewhurst, Lucas. Access, reuse, removal, tool, task and time method and assembly score method (Poli) were used as a base for this study. Findings – The end result of this research is a new approach linked to assembly/disassembly rating score. Originality/value – The new DFA/DFD evaluation tool enables the designer to review the existing DFA and DFD difficulties.