EXTENDED SUPPORT OF CONCEPTUAL DESIGN USING OPERATING STATES AND DIMENSIONING CASES
DS 49: Proceedings of NordDesign 2004 Conference, Tampere, Finland, 18.-20.08.2004
Year: 2004
Editor: Lehtonen, Timo; Pulkkinen, Antti and Riitahuhta, Asko
Author: Wilhelms, Sören; Johansson, Per
Page(s): 21 - 30
Abstract
This article focuses on conceptual design. In this phase, systematic design provides models for function analysis and concept synthesis. Little support exists though for early consideration of different operating states and dimensioning cases while concepts arc developed. This is important in order to comprehend the relation between product requirements and design characteristics in different or changing environments or use cases. This article suggests modelling each operating state and each dimensioning case using a dedicated object and describing conceptual design using a constraint network in order to explicitly capture the inter-element relations. The purpose is to facilitate early quantitative reasoning (e.g. to check if a requirement is fulfilled in a specific dimensioning case with specific chosen means and values), to simplify the change of views (e.g. analysing another operating state) and to flexibly support change operations on the designed product (e.g. changing a solution principle or a value choice in a concept).
Keywords: Conceptual design, design support, design concept. operating states, dimensioning