Adaptable Product Design Through Integrated Modelling, Evaluation, and Optimization

Abstract

Contrary to traditional product design with predefined functions, an adaptable product is designed such that its structure can be modified during operation to meet new functional requirements. The design of adaptable products can extend their lifespans, thereby saving costs for customers and reducing the environmental impact by avoiding the manufacturing of unnecessary products. The objective of this research is to develop new methods for adaptable product design through integrated modelling, evaluation, and optimization. First, a method is developed to incorporate the considerations of the adaptation process in addition to the product configuration for optimal adaptable product design. A procedure for the adaptation of an existing product is also introduced. Since large numbers of adapted design configurations and adaptation processes are usually considered in the optimization process, a new method is developed to improve the efficiency of optimization through the evaluation of information quality in branches of the AND-OR tree based on information entropy and pruning of the branches that are unlikely to lead to the optimal solution. Second, a method is introduced for the design of new adaptable products that can be easily changed during operation stages to satisfy the new requirements. In this method, the generic product design is modelled by an AND-OR tree, considering alternative solutions of the original product design configurations, the adapted product design configurations, the product adaptation processes, and configuration/process parameters. Different feasible solutions are created through tree-based search. The optimal solution defined by its original product design configuration, adapted product design configuration, adaptation process, and configuration/process parameters is identified through multi-level optimization. Third, a method is formulated to evaluate the general product adaptability, considering cases where the product adaptation requirements are not available at the design stage. In this evaluation method, various influencing factors in the product design modelling scheme, including adaptable and unadaptable components/sub-assemblies, components/sub-assemblies within modules, and uncertainties associated with components/sub-assemblies in product adaptation, are considered for calculating the general product adaptability. This new evaluation measure is employed in the development of an optimal adaptable product design method, considering cases with or without specific product adaptation requirements at the design stages.