For an efficient product family development an abstraction of concrete product variants is necessary in order to recognize and systematically describe characteristic properties of a variant. System architecture models represent a possibility for the systematic description of the product variety. The structure of architecture models for existing product families resembles a reverse engineering process, in which products have to be analyzed on their structures. This paper describes a reverse engineering approach for building up system architecture models as basis for developing product families.

This paper presents an algorithm that contributes to an automatic decomposition of a mechanical part based on geometric features and methods of unsupervised machine learning. For the development of the algorithm, existing techniques of 3D shape segmentation, especially surface-based part segmentation procedures are reviewed and important areas of activities are revealed. The developed multi-step approach results in an abstract product model. This representation leads to a new way of designing and redesigning parts for the novel hybrid manufacturing concept Incremental Manufacturing (IM).

Whilst Concurrent Conceptual Design (CCD) has been performed for many years at facilities such as: the Concurrent Design Facility at ESA and the Project Design Center at JPL-NASA, the sequencing know-how resides in their communities of practice. This paper strives to explain how a sequencing algorithm based on Design Structure Matrices can be used as an instrument to facilitate the interaction between disciplines during CCD studies for Model-Based systems exemplified with two case studies.

As model-based systems engineering (MBSE) is evolving, the need for evaluating MBSE approaches grows. Literature shows that there is an untested assertion in the MBSE community that complexity drives the adoption of MBSE. To assess this assertion and support the evaluation of MBSE, a principal component analysis was carried out on eight product and development characteristics using data collected in an MBSE course, resulting in organizational complexity, product complexity and inertia. To conclude, the method developed in this paper enables organisations to evaluate their MBSE adoption potential.

In order to meet an increasing internal variety, a solution can be the modularization of products. To motivate modularization projects throughout all phases of life, different effects of modular product families were collected in previous works on a literature basis. In this paper, a validation concept is presented, which will investigate these effects by using statements directly from industry representatives. In particular, the industry background is included in the evaluation to generate a more differentiated overall picture of impacts of modular product families.

With an increasing demand for product individualisation leading to increased product architecture complexity and -costs, modular kits are one common measure to cope with this issue. The management of such a modular kit as well as the methodical determination of a specific product variant is key to the manufacturer's success. As multiple influence factors need to be taken into account when configuring product variants, we propose a multi-dimensional geometric optimisation algorithm, allowing for prioritising varying customer demands and thereby determining the ideally balanced product variant.

Novel products are commonly realized by integrating heterogeneous technologies. Product architecting focus on defining the scheme by which the product functions are allocated to physical components. A DSM-based clustering method that integrates technical complexity and strategic concerns has previously been proposed. It has been shown that interaction weights in the DSM may affect the clustering result. A complexity-based interaction strength model to be used in DSM clustering is proposed here. The case study gives promising results from both interaction performance and safety points of view.

The development of a new motor can be a high effort. In this paper, Model-based Systems Engineering (MBSE) is applied to model the second generation of an electronic compact actuator (ECA). This paper focuses on the traceability between model elements from previous product generations. By integrating the approach of the PGE - Product Generation Engineering in MBSE, developers can store more relevant information in the model; they can accomplish automatic calculations of derived factors and build models more efficiently in further product developments.

Facing a rising competitive pressure, manufactures create advantages when they are able to offer customer-specific products to the conditions of a mass production article. Traditional configurators support the creation of personalized products from the elements of a modular product system, but are based on a pre-defined set of rules. The model based approach changes the environment of configuration from static configuration rules to the dependencies defined within the product's system model. So, by regarding target quantities of the user, the configurator identifies the optimal variant.

Prototyping has been shown important to facilitate learning, inform decisions and to communicate ideas in engineering design. However, it is not evident which methods, tools and materials to use, as prototyping is practised differently across development contexts, and stages. In the early stages of design, different choices in prototyping methods, tools and materials all affect prototyping outcome. This paper is focused on prototyping methods in the context of early stages of design and attempts to highlight identified strengths and limitations of using non-rigid materials for prototyping.

Developing autonomous functions for complex systems leads to high demands on the consideration of dependencies to external actors in the usage phase. In Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), this can be achieved by modelling operational aspects. Operational aspects are model elements and their relationships to each other. In this contribution, modelling of operational aspects with a MBSE-approach will be demonstrated exemplary on a case study related to the development of a yacht with an autonomous docking assistant. Currently modelling operational aspects is not common in the civil sector.

Transportation industries are the centrepoint for some remarkable transformations driven by technology development and innovation. However, we have seen limited advances on methods to address reliability and resilience challenges emerging with increasingly complex systems and environments. This paper presents the outcomes of an European Reliability Research Roadmapping workshop, collating the views of automotive, aerospace and defence industries to identify current reliability challenges and research gaps and to define directions for future research and skills development.

How do employees perceive the impact of incorporating sustainability considerations into their product development practice? In this case study, we observe how these perceptions can be shifted by teaching workshops on how to apply sustainable design methods in practice. We compare the trends for different methods on various dimensions such as creativity, design process time, product marketability etc. Results show an overall shift towards positive perception for all the methods on a majority of factors, indicating a way to ease the adoption of sustainable design into industry practice.

When designing high performance sports equipment for Paralympic athletes, there are many unknowns for the design engineer to consider. The design challenge is an optimisation task per individual athlete. However, modelling this optimisation is difficult due to the many variables. This article presents the design of an experiment for identifying and evaluating various seating positions in Paralympic rowing by using a rowing ergometer with a modified seat. Results indicate that changing seating position has a substantial impact on per-athlete rowing performance.

Design methods are seldom used in engineering design practice. The presented study aims at finding the alternative strategies for situations with a need for methodological support. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten experienced design engineers to identify causes of and strategies for those situations. Three strategy clusters could be identified: generating information, experience and method application. As the individual's and the team's experience compete with the application of methods, they are seen as reasons for a lack of method application.

The belt units of an omnidirectional treadmill need to be connected for a continuous rotational transmission with variating axes angle. Torus gearing is not appropriate due to kinematic reasons, therefore a crown gearing with cone-shaped teeth is proposed. Parameter analysis on a virtual kinematics model show that depending on the cone angle, overlaps occur at different axis angles. Consequently, the shape of the teeth is modified with tip and foot relief and optimized so that no overlapping of the teeth occurs while a large path of contact is provided.

The design of an active seat suspension for a mid-class passenger vehicle based on the given set of requirements is considered a combination of four subsystems; the carrier, the actuator, the spring, and the damper. The design of the former two is considered through the 10 and 16 concepts for each, respectively. Two overall designs are proposed for further development. One based on a dual Scott-Russell mechanism and one based on Sarrus mechanism. The first one is evaluated to have high stiffness, the second to be more cost-effective. The detailed design of the first concept is presented.

The latest advances in the design of vehicles with the adaptive level of automation pose new challenges in the vehicle-driver interaction. Safety requirements underline the need to explore optimal cockpit architectures with regard to driver cognitive and perceptual workload, eyes-off-the-road time and situation awareness. We propose to integrate existing task analysis approaches into system architecture evaluation for the early-stage design optimization. We built the discrete-event simulation tool and applied it within the multi-sensory (sight, sound, touch) cockpit design industrial project.

The increasing market competitiveness and CAE availability require the products to be optimised. This practice is exceedingly present when producing semi-standard parts like structural elements. Several cost calculation methods are developed, bringing up the question - which one to use? In this article, we compared three methods; a welded I-section beam was used as an example. The optimisation was carried out using two objectives (mass and cost) and was submitted to Eurocode boundary conditions. The results have shown that the cost calculation method has a negligible influence on the results.

Behavioural design is a critical means to address challenges surrounding human behaviour. However, practitioners and researcher face difficulties in synthesising relevant perspectives from across fields as behavioural challenges are complex and multi-dimensional. Taking a theory-building approach, this study explore how expert behavioural designers navigate in this complex design space by examining the creative outcome of their current ideation practice. The findings reveal that the designers favour ‘holding’ out of the four identified ideation patterns: holding, shifting, pairing, and mixing.