ISSN:
1435-6066
Keywords:
Conceptual design representation
;
Function-form relationship
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Production Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, Traffic Engineering, Precision Mechanics
,
Technology
Notes:
Abstract Design representation of parts during conceptual design stage has been a challenging task because of the incompleteness of the information available. Traditional geometric design requires too much information on the geometric attributes, and does not consider the functionality of the part any more than that provided by individual features. Functional design in the form of 〈verb, noun〉 representation does not have adequate correlation with the geometric design. In this article, we propose a new form of the design representation of parts during conceptual design. The representation is calledsketching abstraction. In this representation, the discretionary geometry of the part that has functional relevance is captured using functional features, while the non-discretionary geometry is represented using a linkage mechanism. The functional features are related to the part function using data structures calledfunction-form matrices. The sketching abstraction is annotated with a set of primitives, and a grammar has been developed that parses the sketch to extract a set of canonical relationships between the functional features. These relationships can be used to extract part designs that are functionally similar but geometrically dissimilar. The sketching abstraction has a relationship with the solid model of the part as well. Thus we attempt to bridge the gap between function and form representations and provide the designer with a tool that can be used for generating design alternatives. We illustrate the theory developed in the domain of stamped metal parts.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01580462
Permalink
