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Modular design method based on simultaneous consideration of physical and functional relationships in the conceptual design stage

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Abstract

There are many benefits of a modular product including reduced cost, rapid product development and reduced production time. The modular design of products has been increasingly popularized in modern engineering design activity. A new design method is proposed to design a modular product based on relationships among functional requirements of the product to overcome the difficulty of modular design. Axiomatic design, the function-based design method and design structure matrix are efficiently combined in the proposed method. Functional requirements and design parameters are defined based on the independence Axiom of axiomatic design and the zigzagging process of axiomatic design is employed for the decomposition of functional requirements and design parameters. The function-based design method is utilized for the decomposition of functional requirements and the design structure matrix is used to modularize the design parameters of the bottom level of the zigzagging process. Three design examples are demonstrated to validate the proposed method. The results are discussed and the usefulness of the proposed method is presented.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Convergence Lab, LG Electronics, Seoul, 137-130, Korea

    Eul-Pyo Hong

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, Ansan City, Gyeonggi-do, 426-791, Korea

    Gyung-Jin Park

Authors
  1. Eul-Pyo Hong
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  2. Gyung-Jin Park
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Correspondence to Gyung-Jin Park.

Additional information

Recommended by Associate Editor Jongsoo Lee

Gyung-Jin Park received the B.S. degree from Hanyang University, Korea in 1980, M.S. degree from KAIST, Korea, in 1982, and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Iowa, USA, in 1986. In 1986–1988, he worked as an assistant professor at Purdue University at Indianapolis, USA. His research focuses on Structural Optimization, machine design, design theory and MDO. His work has yielded over 4 books and 360 technical papers. He is currently a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Hanyang University, Ansan City, Korea.

Eul-Pyo Hong is a chief research engineer at LG Electronics, Inc. He received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Hanyang University, Korea. His research interests include design theories and design optimization.

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Hong, EP., Park, GJ. Modular design method based on simultaneous consideration of physical and functional relationships in the conceptual design stage. J Mech Sci Technol 28, 223–235 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-013-0956-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-013-0956-3

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