PVEX: An expert system for producibility/value engineering

PVEX is described as an expert system that solves the problem of selection of the material and process in missile manufacturing. The producibility and the value problem has been deeply studied in the past years, and was written in dBase III and PROLOG before. A new approach is presented in that the solution is achieved by introducing hypothetical reasoning, heuristic criteria integrated with a simple hypertext system and shell programming. PVEX combines KMS with Unix scripts which graphically depicts decision trees. The decision trees convey high level qualitative problem solving knowledge to users, and a stand-alone help facility and technical documentation is available through KMS. The system developed is considerably less development costly than any other comparable expert system

Case-based reasoning in design: An apologia

Three positions are presented and defended: the process of generating solutions in problem solving is viewable as a design task; case-based reasoning is a strong method of problem solving; and a synergism exists between case-based reasoning and design problem solving

Smart Solutions: Smart Grid Demokit

Treball desenvolupat dins el marc del programa 'European Project Semester'.The purpose of this report is to justify the design choices of the smart grid demo kit. Something had to be designed to make a smart grid clear for people who have little knowledge about smart grids. The product had to be appealing and clear for people to understand. And eventually should be usable, for example, on an information market. The first part of the research consisted of looking how to shape the whole system. How the 'tiles' had to look to be interactive for users and what they should feature. One part of this was doing research to get to know more about the already existing knowledge amount users. Another research investigated what appeals the most to the users. After this, a concept was created in compliance with the group and the client. The concept consists of hexagonal tiles, each with a different function: houses, solar panels, wind turbines, factories and energy storages. These tiles are all different parts of a smart grid. When combining these tiles, it can be made clear to users how smart grids work. The tiles are fabricated using a combination of 3D printing and laser cutting. The tiles have laser cut symbols on top of them to show what part of the smart grid they are. Digital LED strips are on top of the tiles to show the direction of the energy flow, and the colors indicate if the tile is producing or consuming power from the grid. The tiles are connected to each other by the so called “grid blocks”. These blocks make up the central power grid and are also lighting up by LED strips. Each tile is equipped with a microcontroller which controls the LED strips and makes it possible for the different tiles to “talk” with each other. Using this, the central tile knows which tiles are connected to the system. The central tile controls all tiles and runs the simulation of the smart grid. For further development of the project, it can be investigated how to control and adjust the system from an external system, for example by a tablet. The final product consists of five tiles connected by seven grid blocks which show how a smart grid works

Design for Producibility in Fabricated Aerospace Components - A framework for predicting and controlling geometrical variation and weld quality defects during multidisciplinary design

In the aerospace industry, weight reduction has been one of the key factors in making aircraft more fuel efficient in order to satisfy environmental demands and increase competitiveness. One strategy adopted by aircraft component suppliers to reduce weight has been fabrication, in which small cast or forged parts are welded together into a final shape. Fabrication increases design freedom due to the possibility of configuring several materials and geometries, which broadens out the design space and allows multioptimization in product weight, performance quality and cost. However, with fabrication, the number of assembly steps and the complexity of the manufacturing process have increased. The use of welding has brought to the forefront important producibility problems related to geometrical variation and weld quality.The goal of this research is to analyze the current situation in industry and academia and propose methods and tools within Engineering Design and Quality Engineering to solve producibility problems involving welded high performance integrated components. The research group “Geometry Assurance and Robust Design” at Chalmers University of Technology, in which this thesis has been produced, has the objective to simulate and foresee geometrical quality problems during the early phases of the product realization process to allow the development of robust concepts and the optimization of tolerances, thus solving producibility problems. Virtual manufacturing is a key within the multidisciplinary design process of aerospace components, in which automated processes analyze broad sets of design variants to trade-off requirements among various disciplines. However, as studied in this thesis, existing methods and tools to analyze producibility do not cover all aspects that define the quality of welded structures. Furthermore, to this day, not all phenomena related to welding can be virtually modelled. Understanding causes and effects still relies on expert judgements and physical experimentation to a great deal. However, when it comes to assessing the capability of many geometrical variants, such an effort might be costly. This deficiency indicates the need for virtual assessment methods and systematic experimentation to analyze the producibility of the design variants and produce process capability data that can be reused in future projects.To fulfill that need, this thesis provides support to designers in assessing producibility by virtually and rapidly predicting the welding quality of a large number of product design variants during the multidisciplinary design space process of fabricated aerospace components.The first step has been to map the fabrication process during which producibility problems might potentially occur. The producibility conceptual model has been proposed to represent the fabrication process in order to understand how variation is originated and propagated. With this representation at hand, a number of methods have been developed and employed to provide support to: 1) Identify and 2) Measure what affects producibility; 3) Analyze the effect of the interaction between factors that affect producibility and 4)Predict producibility. These activities and methods constitute the core of the proposed Design for Producibility framework. This framework combines specialized information about welding problems (know-hows), and inspection, testing and simulation data to systematically predict and evaluate the welding producibility of a set of product design variants. Through this thesis, producibility evaluations are no longer limited to a single geometry and the study of the process parameter window. Instead, a set of geometrical variants within the design space can be analyzed. The results can be used to perform optimization and evaluate trade-offs among different disciplines during design space exploration and analysis, thus supporting the multidisciplinary design process of fabricated (welded) aerospace components

Fostering open science practice through recognising and rewarding research data management and curation skills

In a bid to improve research integrity, drive innovation, increase knowledge and to maximize public investment, researchers are increasingly under pressure to work in a more open and transparent way. This movement has been referred to as open science. Open science offers a range of potential and measurable benefits – for researchers and the institutions that employ them as well as for society more generally. However, to realise these benefits, we must work towards changing current research practices and behaviours. Researchers will need to acquire new research data management and curation skills that enable them to undertake a broader range of tasks along the entire research lifecycle – from undertaking new means of collaboration, to implementing data management and sharing strategies, to understanding how to amplify and monitor research outputs and to assess their value and impact. In parallel, information professionals who work to support researchers and the open science process will also need to expand their research data management and curation skillsets. It will be equally important that current recognition and reward systems are amended to reflect the application of such skillsets within a range of disciplines. This paper will explore the potential role that librarians can play in supporting and progressing open science and discuss some of the new skills that librarians may require if they are to fulfil this role effectively. Citing examples from the current UK research landscape, this paper will map these skills to the Wellcome Trust and Digital Science’s CRediT Taxonomy which was developed in 2013 to enable the broad range of contributions involved in producing research outputs to be more consistently described and rewarded

Preliminary design of graphite composite wing panels for commercial transport aircraft

Subjectively assessed practical and producible graphite/epoxy designs were subjected to a multilevel screening procedure which considered structural functions, efficiency, manufacturing and producibility, costs, maintainability, and inspectability. As each progressive screening level was reviewed, more definitive information on the structural efficiency (weight), manufacturing, and inspection procedures was established to support the design selection. The configuration features that enhance producibility of the final selected design can be used as a generic base for application to other wing panel designs. The selected panel design showed a weight saving of 25 percent over a conventional aluminum design meeting the same design requirements. The estimated cost reduction in manufacturing was 20 percent, based on 200 aircraft and projected 1985 automated composites manufacturing capability. The panel design background information developed will be used in the follow-on tasks to ensure that future panel development represents practical and producible design approaches to graphite/epoxy wing surface panels

A unified approach for composite cost reporting and prediction in the ACT program

The Structures Technology Program Office (STPO) at NASA Langley Research Center has held two workshops with representatives from the commercial airframe companies to establish a plan for development of a standard cost reporting format and a cost prediction tool for conceptual and preliminary designers. This paper reviews the findings of the workshop representatives with a plan for implementation of their recommendations. The recommendations of the cost tracking and reporting committee will be implemented by reinstituting the collection of composite part fabrication data in a format similar to the DoD/NASA Structural Composites Fabrication Guide. The process of data collection will be automated by taking advantage of current technology with user friendly computer interfaces and electronic data transmission. Development of a conceptual and preliminary designers' cost prediction model will be initiated. The model will provide a technically sound method for evaluating the relative cost of different composite structural designs, fabrication processes, and assembly methods that can be compared to equivalent metallic parts or assemblies. The feasibility of developing cost prediction software in a modular form for interfacing with state of the art preliminary design tools and computer aided design (CAD) programs is assessed

The role of optimization in the next generation of computer-based design tools

There is a close relationship between design optimization and the emerging new generation of computer-based tools for engineering design. With some notable exceptions, the development of these new tools has not taken full advantage of recent advances in numerical design optimization theory and practice. Recent work in the field of design process architecture has included an assessment of the impact of next-generation computer-based design tools on the design process. These results are summarized, and insights into the role of optimization in a design process based on these next-generation tools are presented. An example problem has been worked out to illustrate the application of this technique. The example problem - layout of an aircraft main landing gear - is one that is simple enough to be solved by many other techniques. Although the mathematical relationships describing the objective function and constraints for the landing gear layout problem can be written explicitly and are quite straightforward, an approximation technique has been used in the solution of this problem that can just as easily be applied to integrate supportability or producibility assessments using theory of measurement techniques into the design decision-making process

A dynamic systems engineering methodology research study. Phase 2: Evaluating methodologies, tools, and techniques for applicability to NASA's systems projects

A study of NASA's Systems Management Policy (SMP) concluded that the primary methodology being used by the Mission Operations and Data Systems Directorate and its subordinate, the Networks Division, is very effective. Still some unmet needs were identified. This study involved evaluating methodologies, tools, and techniques with the potential for resolving the previously identified deficiencies. Six preselected methodologies being used by other organizations with similar development problems were studied. The study revealed a wide range of significant differences in structure. Each system had some strengths but none will satisfy all of the needs of the Networks Division. Areas for improvement of the methodology being used by the Networks Division are listed with recommendations for specific action

Advanced information processing system: The Army fault tolerant architecture conceptual study. Volume 1: Army fault tolerant architecture overview

Digital computing systems needed for Army programs such as the Computer-Aided Low Altitude Helicopter Flight Program and the Armored Systems Modernization (ASM) vehicles may be characterized by high computational throughput and input/output bandwidth, hard real-time response, high reliability and availability, and maintainability, testability, and producibility requirements. In addition, such a system should be affordable to produce, procure, maintain, and upgrade. To address these needs, the Army Fault Tolerant Architecture (AFTA) is being designed and constructed under a three-year program comprised of a conceptual study, detailed design and fabrication, and demonstration and validation phases. Described here are the results of the conceptual study phase of the AFTA development. Given here is an introduction to the AFTA program, its objectives, and key elements of its technical approach. A format is designed for representing mission requirements in a manner suitable for first order AFTA sizing and analysis, followed by a discussion of the current state of mission requirements acquisition for the targeted Army missions. An overview is given of AFTA's architectural theory of operation