Approaches to analyzing multi-functional problems

Abstract

The acknowledgement of designers' appreciation of conceptualization approaches rooted in functional decomposition and morphological synthesis in addition to the criticism regarding sub functional focus and limited innovation facilitation ability of these approaches, is the theoretical starting point of this article. Inspired by the multi-functionality of fascinating principles found in nature (e.g. 'the skin' of some organisms containing, protecting and camouflaging), this article explores how multi-functionality is handled in engineering design to: Study the way inspiration can be found, thus improving innovation capabilities (1) and improve the way products are analysed, thus removing sub functional focus (2). The topic is explored by interviewing and literature studying as research methods. Using a multi-functional case, a pairwise pattern of function types appeared suggesting searching for multi-functional solution principles should be further investigated. Furthermore, with minor changes to the FM-tree, designers are guided in assessing a product's degree of complexity, informing decisions on which functions to disscover a multi-functional biological analogy corresonding to.

Parameters for selecting biological features in multifunctional bio-inspired design: a convergent evolution approach

“…A comparative analysis on the state-of-the-art methods for multifunctional BID [14] reveals a significant gap. Most methods lack a comprehensive classification and mapping framework for biological features, with only the Function-Means [15] method classifying them as energy delivery, regulating, support, and auxiliary functions.…”

A Case Study of Multifunctional Non-Pneumatic Tire Design for the Validation of Meta-Level Design Parameter in Domain Integrated Design (Did) Method

“…The second category represents the methods that have multiple sources of biological inspiration. The Reduced-function-means (R-FM) (Bhasin et al, 2021) and function-means (Svendsen and Lenau, 2020) methods fall under the first category. On the other hand, Compound Analogical Design (Vattam et al, 2008), System-Of-Systems BID (Tan, Sun, et al, 2019), BioGEN (Badarnah and Kadri, 2015), BioTRIZ (Altshuller, 1996), Trimming method (Zhang et al, 2021), Multi-Body Effects (MBE) (Tan, Liu, et al, 2019), and Multi-Bionics (Ren and Liang, 2009;Tan, Liu, et al, 2019) fall under the second category.…”

Supporting Multifunctional Bio-Inspired Design Concept Generation through Case-Based Expandable Domain Integrated Design (xDID) Model

“…Only a few methods help in emulating multiple functions. Methods for multifunctional BID include BioGEN [15], product architecture-based function-sharing [16], BioTRIZ [17], functionmeans [18], multi-biological effects (MBE) [19], multi-bionics [8], the trimming method [20], system-of-systems BID [21], and compound analogical design [22]. However, the newly developed domain-integrated design (DID) method is distinct and offers much more detailed classification, mapping, and representation of the relevant biological systems for a multifunctional design problem.…”