115 research outputs found
Engin roulant à propulsion humaine elliptique
L'invention concerne un engin comportant un châssis (12) portant une roue motrice (18) et deux palettes (19, 21) liée à cette roue (18) par un système de transmission (24), ces deux palettes (19, 21) étant destinées à recevoir les pieds d'un utilisateur adoptant le mouvement de la marche, chaque palette (19, 21) ayant son extrémité avant reliée au châssis (12) par une liaison glissière (22, 26), et son extrémité arrière liée au système de transmission (24), caractérisé en ce que: - le système de transmission (24) comporte deux trains épicycloïdaux accouplés par un arbre transversal compor tant deux manetons; - chaque maneton porte un pignon engrené dans une couronne dentée fixe correspondante, les pignons ont un diamètre valant la moitié du diamètre des couronnes fixes et 24 sont pourvus chacun d'une manivelle de rayon supérieur au rayon du pignon; 18 - un dispositif d'inversion de rotation est interposé entre l'arbre transversal et la roue (18)
Proposition of a PLM tool to support textile design: A case study applied to the definition of the early stages of design requirements
The current climate of economic competition forces businesses to adapt more than ever to the expectations of their customers. Faced with new challenges, practices in textile design have evolved in order to be able to manage projects in new work environments. After presenting a state of the art overview of collaborative tools used in product design and making functional comparison between PLM solutions, our paper proposes a case study for the development and testing of a collaborative platform in the textile industry, focusing on the definition of early stages of design needs. The scientific contributions presented in this paper are a state of the art of current PLM solutions and their application in the field of textile design; and a case study where we will present, define, and test the mock-up of a collaborative tool to assist the early stages, based on identified intermediary representations
A Universalist strategy for the design of Assistive Technology
Assistive Technologies are specialized products aiming to partly compensate for the loss of autonomy experienced by disabled people. Because they address special needs in a highly-segmented market, they are often considered as niche products. To improve their design and make them tend to Universality, we propose the EMFASIS framework (Extended Modularity, Functional Accessibility, and Social Integration Strategy). We first elaborate on how this strategy conciliates niche and Universalist views, which may appear conflicting at first sight. We then present three examples illustrating its application for designing Assistive Technologies: the design of an overbed table, an upper-limb powered orthose and a powered wheelchair. We conclude on the expected outcomes of our strategy for the social integration and participation of disabled people
Proposition of a method to design tailor-made knowledge management systems for small and medium enterprises
The aim of this paper is to propose a knowledge management system design method for small and medium enterprises that addresses the problems encountered on the existing ones. A literature review highlighted 5 main concepts that have a crucial role in knowledge management system design. To take these recommendations into account, a knowledge management system design method was designed. It uses the small and medium enterprises characteristics, needs and problems to select adapted knowledge management tools and practices, and offers a comprehensive and tailor-made knowledge management system. This method was used to design a knowledge management system for a high-tech small and medium enterprises from the navigation sector. It allowed to choose from the adapted knowledge management tools and practices and to write a set of requirements for the knowledge management system while taking the user into account, thus easing the knowledge management system implementation and ensuring its sustainability
Définition d'un plan de contrôle pour les réseaux optiques sans filtre
Les réseaux optiques de prochaine génération sont destinés à faire face au succès croissant des applications Internet. Les architectures optiques doivent ainsi s’adapter au succès de l’Internet et de la donnée face à la voix, ce qui se traduit par des exigences en termes de reconfigurabilité et de simplicité d’opération, et ce pour accommoder des trafics de plus en plus imprédictibles et de types divers.
Les réseaux tout optiques basés sur des commutateurs actifs, comme les « cross-connect » (OXC) ou les commutateurs sélectifs en longueur d’onde (WSS) sont à même de fournir ces aspects dans l’établissement dynamique et automatique des connexions optiques. L’agilité et la reconfigurabilité, dépendantes d’un plan de contrôle robuste et autonome déployant les derniers concepts de découverte du voisinage, de la gestion des connexions, et de routage intelligent en cas de maintenance ou de bris, viennent toutefois de pair avec un coût de déploiement plus élevé.
Dans cette thèse, nous rappelons les principes des réseaux optiques sans filtre illustrés dans les travaux précédents. Un réseau optique sans filtre implémente les dernières avancées dans les lasers accordables, les récepteurs cohérents en fréquence, les formats de modulation avancés ou encore la compensation électronique de la dispersion, pour pouvoir remplacer les composants actifs de commutation par des diviseurs et des combineurs de puissance optiques passifs adaptés. De cette façon, l’agilité est déplacée aux noeuds émetteurs et aux destinataires associés.
Nous présentons aussi les particularités intrinsèques à ces réseaux, comme les canaux non filtrés, les ports émetteurs en amont et en aval, ou encore les concepts de boucle laser et de réutilisation de longueurs d’onde, et nous montrons comment il est possible de développer d’autres façons d’opérer ces réseaux comme les bus de diffusion multipoint à multipoint, à la condition cependant de définir un plan de contrôle spécialisé sans lequel ces concepts pourraient nuire aux performances et aux connexions existantes.
Finalement, un simulateur permet de reproduire ces concepts et de sélectionner les meilleures solutions issues des travaux antérieurs par le biais de métriques, telles le nombre de canaux par lien, incluant les canaux non filtrés, et d’une mesure de la quantité de requêtes bloquées. Nous montrons enfin, avec une étude finale des coûts et de la consommation électrique, comment il est possible de retenir des solutions prometteuses vis-à-vis des réseaux photoniques actifs
Additive Creativity: An Innovative Way to Enhance Manufacturing Engineering Education
The present paper considers two pedagogical approaches that are mixing creativity tools and Additive Manufacturing (AM) knowledge and evaluates them through the originality and feasibility of the ideas generated as well as the satisfaction of the students. This experimentation was conducted in an engineering school with two groups of postgraduate students during a one-day Project-Based Learning module (PBL). This study points out that closely mixing creativity tools andAM knowledge all along the module gives better results in term of originality, feasibility, and student satisfaction than a more traditional approach disconnecting them. We believe this work can improve existing teaching activities enabling students to gain hands-on experience with additive creativity to better face tomorrow’s challenges
Early stages of apparel design: how to define collaborative needs for PLM and fashion?
Companies are faced with increasing challenges in their own environment. In several areas of the industry, but also among the suppliers, more and more competitors emerge. Companies react to this pressure by trying to implement new technologies for their products and offering more innovative products to successfully face direct competition. Overall, globalisation put pressure on companies in terms of innovation, costs and time to market. This climate of economic competition forces businesses to adapt to the expectations of their customers. To achieve this change, it becomes necessary amongst other things to reduce design time. Thus, practices in apparel design have evolved in order to be able to manage projects in new work environments. After presenting a literature review of collaborative functionalities used in product design, our paper presentsan illustration of a case study for Product Lifecycle Management research in the apparel industry, focusing on the definition of needs in terms of collaborative functions to support the design of apparel products, in an industrial context
Encouraging innovation activity: in the specific context of small- and medium-sized retailers
This paper aims at formalizing an innovation process well suited for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) specialized in retail. The design research consisted in analyzing conceptual models of innovation process from the literature and adapting it to the specific context. Indeed, the research issue deals with encouraging innovation activity in the context of small- and medium-sized retailers that have not yet integrated an intern design department. In the actual financial context, it is essential for SMEs to innovate in order to gain competitive advantage; but how to start a sized innovation activity? The undertaken research results in a plan that sets up a sized innovation activity gradually with a methodology conducting to repeated and regular new product development. Supported with international literature research, the paper contributes to the proposal of an innovation process meeting the two following requirements: - a retailer lacking knowledge in innovation activity and - an SME with limited financial means. From the industrial case studies that have been undertaken, an adapted process has been developed to ensure the success of innovation activity integration in this specific context
Social identity cues to improve creativity and identification in face-to-face and virtual groups
This research draws on the social identity approach to investigate group performance in face-to-face and virtual brainstorming settings. In particular, we display Social Identity Cues (SIC) on participants or on avatars to foster group membership. We compare four conditions in a factorial design: Brainstorming in Face-to-face or Virtual setting, With or Without SIC. Seventy-two students belonging to a population with a strong social identity participated in the experiment, using their traditional clothing as SIC. The results show that the presence of SIC led to increased creative performance both in face-to-face and virtual settings. SIC also increased group identification, but only in the virtual environment. These results highlight the potential of avatars to support teamwork in a meaningful way
Supports technologiques collaboratifs à la méthode des Personas
In this paper, we present two experiments to test the impact of collaborative technology to support the Persona method. In the first experiment, 24 designers used the Persona method to anticipate user needs for the design of an ambient device. These participants were affiliated with one or other of the following experimental conditions: with or without interactive Tabletop. In a second experiment, we asked at 12 designers of Alstom Transport company to generate user requirements related to the introduction of the Smart glass in public transportation. The working sessions were conducted in a multi-user virtual environments (MUVE): Second Life. It appears from these experiments that the technological supports positively affect collaboration and creativity with the Persona method, and optimized the Requirements analysis phase and particularly the collection of user needs. Finally, we discuss of the advantages and disadvantages of the use of these technologies in design projects
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