A Rule Based Assembly Sequence Generation Method for Product Design

Abstract

In concurrent engineering, the integration of the designers' knowledge and experience, and computer technology into the design process is very important to improve design quality and production efficiency. A feasible design alternative that follows the design rules for assembly will make product manufacturing and assembly more successful. However, designers seldom consider assembly problems in their product development processes. This drawback often occurs due to conflicts in communication between the design and production departments and will cause severe assembly and manufacturing problems. To assist designers with the assembly issue in the design process this research presents a contact relation matrix (CRM) approach to generate assembly sequences for product design. The procedure developed for the CRM approach is based on the four rules identified from the part contact relations and a matrix representation to match the recommended design alternative with the four rules. A procedure is then employed to identify the assembly priority for the recommended design alternative. The part assembly sequence is generated with a sorting procedure. A hand-held hairdryer and an Italian style coffee maker are used as cases to help explain the feasibility of the CRM approach. The results from this study should help designers to examine the possible part combinations and make the necessary modifications for the recommended design alternative. The CRM approach can also be linked with an existing matrix approach in generating and evaluating design alternatives. By integrating the CRM and matrix approaches, the design quality and efficiency will be greatly improved.

A modularized contact-rule reasoning approach to the assembly sequence generation for product design

“… M PL is defined as a matrix that specifies an assembly alternative with a series of selected design output recommendations Pi. There are four rules that can be used to generate the contact relations between components and to identify assembly sequences for each alternative value (Lin et al, 2007).…”

“…Chan et al (2006) then introduced a framework of a web-based three-dimensional (3D) assembly system to help customers make their design decision. Lin et al (2007) developed the contact relation matrix (CRM) approach, which is based on four rules identified from part contact relations and uses a matrix representation to recommend a design alternative. However, the number of components is too large to be applied easily.…”

Investigation of the applicability of Design for X tools during design concept evolution: a literature review

“…The implementation of this method starts in the preliminary design phase. Lin et al (2007) presented a Contact Relation Matrix (CRM) approach to generate an assembly sequence for product design. This approach first identifies the independence of all design parameters and suggests that assembly sequence of independent components should be first.…”

An assembly oriented design framework for product structure engineering and assembly sequence planning

“…On the other hand, Zhang et al described a mathematical model based on connection matrix to define feasible assembly sequences for automotive parts in the body in white context [14]. Recently, Lin et al proposed a contact relation matrix to generate assembly sequences and to aid engineers for design alternative identification [15]. In a closer connection with CAD system, the authors have also emphasized the importance of understanding relational information and geometry characteristics to optimize the assembly sequence planning.…”