Integrated TRIZ-AHP support system for conceptual design

Amid the fierce rising competition in the market, accelerating the problem solving and decision making process have become major issues in product design especially in conceptual design stage. For years, Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) has been extensively applied in problem solving. In this paper, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was proposed to strengthen three major steps in TRIZ methodology namely as problem definition, root cause identification and solution generation. The integration was then structured in the form of computer-based system. The integration, application and software in AHP and TRIZ method have been discussed in this paper. This proposed support system not only provided evidence that TRIZ methodologies improved by the support of AHP and also aided the designers in early design phase such as concept, process and material selection

Design with Concurrent Approach: Development and Flow Analysis of Injection Mould Tool for Computer Monitor Lamp Holder

The plastic product manufacturing industry has been growing rapidly in recent years. One of the most popular processes for making plastic parts is injection moluding. The design of injection mould is critically important to product quality and efficient product processing. Mould-making companies, who wish to maintain the competitive edge, desire to shorten both design and manufacturing leading times by applying a systematic mould design process. The mould industry is an important support industry during the product development process, serving as an important link between the product designer and manufacturer. Product development has changed from the traditional serial process of design, followed by manufacture, to a more organized concurrent process where design and manufacture are considered at a very early stage of design. The research presents the basic structure of two plate injection mould design, injection moulding machine selection, process analysis of the injection mould design using mould flow analysis to optimize the mould cost in the design stage. This injection mould design system covers both the mould design process and mould knowledge management. In this work, CAE tools have been used in the design stage to reduce the losses to obtain the shortened lead time, high quality and achieving low cost of the mould. The design of an injection process involves the simultaneous consideration of plastic part design, mould design and injection moulding machine selection, production  scheduling and cost as early as possible in the design stage. The result indicated that conventional method will consume more time and also increases the cost of machining and delay in dispatching the product. If change in design happens before pre-production and after production by trial and error method then there will be a drastic increase in design change cost which effects on cycle time, waste of raw material, increase in process time and wastage of labour cost. These entire draw backs are eliminated by using computer aided design and computer aided engineering  technology for mould design and manufactured in very short period of time with minimum cost. The future scope of work is to include cooling, warpage and fatigue analysis to optimize tool design and tool life

Model-Based Optimal Design of Phase Change Ionic Liquids for Efficient Thermal Energy Storage

The selection of phase change material (PCM) plays an important role in developing high-efficient thermal energy storage (TES) processes. Ionic liquids (ILs) or organic salts are thermally stable, non-volatile, and non-flammable. Importantly, researchers have proved that some ILs possess higher latent heat of fusion than conventional PCMs. Despite these attractive characteristics, yet surprisingly, little research has been performed to the systematic selection or structural design of ILs for TES. Besides, most of the existing work is only focused on the latent heat when selecting PCMs. However, one should note that other properties such as heat capacity and thermal conductivity could affect the TES performance as well. In this work, we propose a computer-aided molecular design (CAMD) based method to systematically design IL PCMs for a practical TES process. The effects of different IL properties are simultaneously captured in the IL property models and TES process models. Optimal ILs holding a best compromise of all the properties are identified through the solution of a formulated CAMD problem where the TES performance of the process is maximized. [MPyEtOH][TfO] is found to be the best material and excitingly, the identified top nine ILs all show a higher TES performance than the traditional PCM paraffin wax at 10 h thermal charging time

Integrated Design and Manufacturing Analysis for Automated Fiber Placement Structures

Automated fiber placement provides many advancements beyond traditional hand layups in terms of efficiency and reliability. However, there are also a variety of unique challenges that arise with automated fiber placement technology. In particular, steering of tows over doubly-curved tool surfaces can result in material overlaps and gaps due to path convergence/divergence, fiber angle deviation, as well defects in the tows themselves such as puckers and wrinkles. Minimization of these defects is traditionally considered a task for the manufacturing discipline. Manufacturing specifications are often created for these defects based on laminate testing and can be inflexible to avoid more tests. Recent efforts have been made under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Advanced Composites Project (ACP) to develop software tools and processes that provide automated coupling between design and manufacturing disciplines. The objective of this coupling is to provide information to the design discipline on the manufacturability of a laminate while the laminate is being designed. A variety of software tools, both existing commercial tools and research tools under development, will be used to achieve this objective: HyperSizer for laminate optimization, the Computer Aided Process Planning module for selection of manufacturing process parameters, Vericut Composite Programming for tow path simulation, and COMPRO for deposition and cure defects. The newly developed Central Optimizer tool will be used to tie the modules together and drive the design for manufacturing process

Improving Press Bending Production Quality through Finite Element Simulation: Integration CAD and CAE Approach

Efficient operations and output of outstanding quality distinguish superior manufacturing sectors. The manufacturing process production of bending sheet metal is a form of fabrication in the industry of manufacture in which the plate is bent using punches and dies to the angle of the work design. Product quality is influenced by plate material selection, which includes thickness, type, dimensions, and material. Because no prior research has concentrated on this methodology, this research aims to determine V-bending capacity limits utilizing the press bending method. The inquiry employed finite element analysis (FEA), along with Solidworks was the tool of choice to develop drawings of design and simulations. The ASTM E290 standard guides this study. The software in this package may combine CAD (Computer-Aided Design) and CAE (Computer-Aided Engineering) without requiring extra design applications. This study tested SPCC and SPHC plate materials with five thickness variations. The findings embrace the number of failure risks associated with press bending exhibited on the von Mises stress diagram, which is directly proportional to showing the thickness limit of each material type throughout the bending process. The study's findings lay the groundwork for improving manufacturing quality by lowering the number of faulty goods produced by trial and error. Because the maximum allowable die width is 12 mm, the thickness limit of the press bending process is 2 mm. However, due to the greater intensity of the SPCC material, it has a reduced defect rate compared to SPHC material

Optimization of Mechanical Parameters on Outsole Shoes Orthotic Comfort Using Finite Element Analysis

The shoes selection as the right footwear is very related to the feet comfort, especially in the selection of shoe materials. The shoe consists of three parts: insole, outsole, and upper shoe. The right outsole material will affect the comfort of feet during activity. This paper demonstrates a mechanical testing method on optimization of outsole material based on computer aided engineering (CAE). The outsole design on milutes diabetic patients in previous studies used as the basic design for mechanical testing at CAE. Three types of mechanical testing on Abaqus software 2016: bending, torsion, and plantar plessure used in this paper to determine the optimal outsole material as outsole material shoe orthotik. The test results showed that the material EVA rubber type declared with optimum characteristics of the von mises stress 0.0013 MPa, maximum principal stress 0.0036 MPa and features shock absorption of 5.01562 mJ. This data can served as a basic reference for the process of manufacturing the outsole of shoe on CNC machines

Effects of Environmental Impact Based on Alternative Materials and Process Selection in Automotive Components Design

Recent literature in automotive research indicates that studies of the environmental impact mostly concern with metal-based components. Environmental effects are mainly analysed using “environmental performance indicators” and “life cycle assessment” techniques. Therefore a knowledge gap in the field of studying automotive plastic components should be conducted based on analysing material and manufacturing processes selection at the design stage. The research is focused on a plastic component previously unexplored and analyses it using tools that have not been employed for this application. A computer-aided tool was used to model the part and its associated sustainability function was used to analyse its environmental impact. The component was analysed using different materials and manufacturing processes, then redesigned to be more ergonomic. The improved component design was manufactured using rapid prototyping and a consumer preference survey was conducted to determine which component was preferred. The research found that by changing the material to high density polyethylene there would be approximately a 30% reduction in carbon footprint, 24% reduction in air acidification, 26% reduction in water eutrophication and 15% reduction in total energy consumption. Injection moulding is found to be the most sustainable manufacturing process

Material evaluation and selection processes to enable design for manufacture

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (p. 71).In order to optimize product designs it is necessary to quickly evaluate many candidate materials in terms of performance and processing costs. Evaluation using physical prototypes yields concrete results but is time intensive and costly when dealing with multiple optimization objectives. As an alternative, computer aided simulation is a reliable means of material evaluation and selection, is increasingly available to smaller companies due to the shrinking cost of computation, and is essential for handling the dual optimization objectives of manufacturability and performance in a timely and cost effective manner. To support this thesis, the author first examines iRobot Corporation's current process of experimental trial and error for evaluating and selecting a polymer material for use in the wheels of its robotic military vehicles. The author then demonstrates that the experimental derived performance results can be reasonably predicted using the viscoelastic properties of polymers, as captured in such models as the standard linear solid model, and that this predictability can be used to quickly simulate wheel performance with computer aided engineering (CAE) tools.(cont.) Finally, the author performs a cost analysis of the current material evaluation/selection process versus the CAE approach to show the best path forward for incorporating CAE tools into the design process of smaller corporations like iRobot.by Craig B. Abler.S.M.M.B.A