Selection of Conceptual Design Using Analytical Hierarchy Process for Automotive Bumper Beam Under Concurrent Engineering Environment

The main objective of this research is to consider and determine the most optimum decision on design concept, material and manufacturing process for the automotive composite bumper beam at the conceptual design stage. The objective was achieved by proposing two selection frameworks and the use of analytical hierarchy process under concurrent engineering environment. The research began by generating and developing eight new conceptual designs of automotive composite bumper beam and investigating various parameters or criteria and alternatives that normally used to manufacture automotive composite bumper beam by implementing total design approach. To determine the most optimum decisions on design concept, material and manufacturing process for the automotive composite bumper beam, analytical hierarchy process utilizing Expert Choice software was used. The research revealed that the glass fibre epoxy with a value of 0.257 (25.7%), design concept-6 with a value of 0.191 (19.1%) and injection moulding with a value of 0.228 (22.8%) are the most appropriate decisions on material, design concept and manufacturing process respectively. It was also revealed that importance of addressing various design tools and considering the most optimum decisions on design concept, material and manufacturing process at the conceptual design stage in the design flow under concurrent engineering environment. Overall, it can be concluded that the proposed selection frameworks, analytical hierarchy process and concurrent engineering approach allow designers or decision makers to consider and determine the most optimum decision on design concept, material and manufacturing process at the conceptual design stage

Design and Simulation on Investment Casting Mold for Metal Matrix Composite Material

This paper presents the design and simulation on investment casting mold for metal matrix composite material. The study was investigating the design parameters for the casting mold and simulated the temperature and pressure on the mold. Compressor impeller selected as the product of the study. Among the various types of casting techniques, investment casting process is the most suitable process to produce the compressor impeller. The alternative design of casting mold of investment casting was generated using CAD software. Concept scoring was prepared to select the suitable design for the investment casting process. Material selection of compressor is Aluminum Silicon Carbide. Stainless steel AISI H13 is selected as the material for the mold. The parameter for the mold design is included branch, gating, sprue and runner. The analysis was presented to the mold by using ANSYS simulation tool to determine the temperature and pressure of the mold. In addition, three case studies were presented and compared the static pressure in different velocity and temperature of the mold design. The result showed the runner and the branch size were important to produce the molten metal flow into the mold pattern. As a result, the design of investment casting mold was proposed

Design of Jigs and Fixtures for Hydraulic Press Machine

This paper presents the design of jigs and fixtures for hydraulic press machine in manufacturing industries. The current problem in industry is facing the utilization of hydraulic press machine when the demand has increased which occurs on the gripping or holding the workpiece securely. The main objective of this study is to propose a new design of jigs and fixtures for hydraulic press to carry out the gripping problem from existing design. Several design concepts were generated and simulated to analyze using ANSYS software. The design parameters such as maximum deformation, maximum shear stress, number of contact faces, and maximum holding force were presented. Based on the simulation result, the improvement of new jigs and fixtures design for hydraulic press machine was achieved

Dealing With Project Characteristics Through Concurrent Product Development By Malaysian Car Producer

This research work explores and identifies the new product development (NPD) project complexity and its sources of a small-sized (low volume) car manufacturer in Malaysia. It explains the approach used by this producer to overcome the project characteristics as well. In order to understand the research topic, related literatures were reviewed and information was gathered to develop questionnaire. Later, the questionnaire was pre-tested prior to the interview sessions with relevant respondents from various functions. The feedback was used to identify and specify the source of project complexity, the types of product development projects, and the approaches adopted by the producers to vanquish project complexity. The results show that the producer defines the type of development projects and the level of project complexity according to the change contents of the vehicle and the powertrain. The car producer mitigates and eliminates project complexity and uncertainty through the adoption of concurrent engineering practices, robust planning, and co-development. However, the product radical innovation is not the factor that really affects the project complexity in the new product development effort for this Malaysian small-sized car producer

Nonlinear thermal expansion model for SiC/Al

The thermal expansion behaviour of silicon carbide (SCS-2) fibre reinforced 6061 aluminium matrix composite subjected to the influenced thermal mechanical cycling (TMC) process were investigated. The thermal stress has important effect on the longitudinal thermal expansion coefficient of the composites. The present paper used experimental data of the thermal expansion behaviour of a SiC/Al composite for temperatures up to 370°C, in which their data was used for carrying out modelling of theoretical predictions

The important role of concurrent engineering in product development process

Nowadays, Concurrent Engineering (CE) is becoming more important as companies compete in the worldwide market. Reduced time in product development process, higher product quality, lower cost in manufacturing process and fulfilment of customers' requirements are the key factors to determine the success of a company. To produce excellent products, the concept of Concurrent Engineering must be implemented. Concurrent Engineering is a systematic approach which can be achieved when all design activities are integrated and executed in a parallel manner. The CE approach has radically changed the method used in product development process in many companies. Thus, this paper reviews the basic principles and tools of Concurrent Engineering and discusses how to employ them. Similarly, to ensure a product development process in the CE environment to run smoothly and efficiently, some modifications of the existing product development processes are proposed; these should start from market investigation to detail design

Development Of Hygienic Urinal Device Using Integrated Approach

This research presented the process of improving the existing hygienic urinal device using the integrated approach. Thus, various design activities have been involved in designing and fabricating the proposed product. The research aims to design and fabricate a new hygienic urinal device for solving the person who has difficulty accessing the toilet. The design process is based on the integrated method or Pugh's approach which includes various design activities such as market investigation, concept generation, concept selection, concept development and rapid prototyping concept. Investigating the existing similar product was carried out to ideate and generate the idea to improve the previous product. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) were implemented to decide the best design concept during the selection process at the conceptual design stage. the best selected proposed design was fabricated using a 3D printer. The results showed that the improvement of the proposed new design which is 41% in terms of the number of parts, 2.05% in terms of fabrication time, 40% in terms of the number of operations, 11.8% in terms of weight reduction and 11.91% in terms of material cost reduction. This is showed that the proposed new design of the hygienic urinal device is much better compared to the existing desig

Stiffness prediction of hybrid kenaf/glass fiber reinforced polypropylene composites using rule of mixtures (ROM) and rule of hybrid mixtures (RoHM)

In this report, rules of mixture (ROM) and rule of hybrid mixtures (RoHM) were utilized to predict the mechanical properties of kenaf/glass fiber reinforced polypropylene short random oriented hybrid composites material. Three hybrid composition were studied with total fiber contents 30 vol%, 40 vol% and 50 vol% and the relative glass fiber contents are varied from 0 to 100 vol%. Analytical results using the both micromechanical models show that the hybridization between kenaf with glass fiber in short fiber form using polypropylene matrix give positive hybrid effect to the overall hybrid stiffness at minimum relative glass fiber volume fraction of 87.5% compared to the kenaf/polypropylene composites single system for all total fiber volume content cases. Similarly, it was also observed that the stiffness of the hybrid short and randomly oriented composites increases as the overall fiber volume contents increases. The overall results have provided useful insight of the hybridization effects to the stiffness of the final hybrid composites especially for the application in product development process using similar hybrid short randomly oriented kenaf/glass fiber reinforced polypropylene composite materials

Hybrid natural and glass fibers reinforced polymer composites material selection using Analytical Hierarchy Process for automotive brake lever design.

Due to recent trend and increasing awareness towards sustainable product design, natural based fiber materials are gaining a revival popularity to replace synthetic based fiber in the formulation of composites especially for automotive structural and semi structural applications. In this paper, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method was utilized in the selection of the most suitable natural fiber to be hybridized with glass fiber reinforced polymer composites for the design of a passenger vehicle center lever parking brake component. Thirteen (13) candidate natural based fiber materials for the hybridization process were selected and analyzed to determine their overall scores in three (3) main performance indices according to the component product design specifications. Using the AHP method, the kenaf bast fiber yields the highest scores and was selected as the best candidate material to formulate the hybrid polymer composites for the automotive component construction. Sensitivity analysis was also performed and results show that kenaf bast fiber emerged as the best candidate material in two out of three simulated scenarios, which further validates the results gained through the AHP method

Materials selection of hybrid bio-composites thermoset matrix for automotive bumper beam applicationusing TOPSIS method

Materials selection is among the fundamental process involved in automotive product development. Yet, the decision making task is very challenging considering the involvement of multiple conflicting criteria which need to be analyzed simultaneously and selected from list of candidate materials with varying attributes between them, thus multi criteria decision making (MCDM) method is often employed in solving the issue. In this paper, the TOPSIS multi criteria decision making method was applied in the materials selection process of determining the best thermoset matrix for hybrid bio-composites towards the application in automotive bumper beam. Three (3) candidate thermoset materials namely polyester, vinyl ester and epoxy matrics were analysed based on eight (8) performance criteria extracted from the pre-defined product design specification of the bumper beam component. Results from the selection exercise showed that polyester resin is the best thermoset matrix for the hybrid bio-composites construction based on the highest relative closeness to the idea solution score compared to other candidate materials. The use of TOPSIS method was also found able to provide systematic and justified decision making process in gaining the best solution when multi criteria requirement are present and need to be satisfied concurrently