Tracking the consequences of design decisions in mechatronic Systems Engineering

Abstract

The design of mechatronic systems involves several technical and scientific disciplines. It is often difficult to anticipate, at the outset, the consequences of design decisions on the ultimate effectiveness of such complex systems, in which case the evaluation process is required to support the designers each time engineering choices must be made or justified. Since designers may belong to different technical and scientific cultures however, their understanding of both the design stakes and the evaluation process is too often biased. Moreover, design choices take place in an uncertain context and according to multiple criteria, some of which may be contradictory. In order to track the consequences of design decisions, we are proposing a conceptual data model to perform evaluations within the MBSE framework of Systems Engineering. We then proceed by relying on the relationships demonstrated by such a model to identify the potential impacts of design choices on future product performance. Since data available during the conceptual phase of the design are typically uncertain or imprecise, an original research protocol is extended to a qualitative impact analysis for the purpose of highlighting the most promising alternative system design solutions (ASDS). An example in the mechatronics field serves to illustrate our proposals.

Orienting product performance improvement: application to mechatronics

“…Mechatronics design is an interdisciplinary activity which aims at developing, at lowest costs, high quality products by integrating always more functionality while respecting severe geometrical constraints. Architectural decisions made at the earliest of the design stages influence most of the mechatronic product development costs [2]. However, rating the merit factors of preliminary design choices needs to take into consideration many constraints and interactions but is hindered by imprecision and uncertainty.…”

“…This problem is posed to manufacturers who must, in a highly competitive and unstable environment, constantly improve their products to remain competitive and satisfy their customers while minimizing incurred costs and risk taking. Such an issue is particularly critical in Mechatronics due to the multidisciplinary dimensions of mechatronic products, the coupling phenomena between components and the coarse predictive modelling possibilities available during the preliminary design stage [1] [2].…”

Collaborative Design and Supervision Processes Meta-Model for Rationale Capitalization

“…In [5], authors focus their research on process modelling and knowledge traceability to manage conflicts. In [6], authors establish a conceptual data model to evaluate and track design decisions in a mechatronic environment. In [7], authors identify knowledge constructs for design rationale in order to manage changes.…”

“…(5) Identify and describe the products used in the design. Finally, (6) Give a first CAD model of the product and progressively refine it.…”

Model‐based architecture and programmatic optimization for satellite system‐of‐systems architectures

“…In fact, constructs that enforce traceability through the use of rule‐based value determination have been demonstrated to be effective in a wide range of decision‐aid tools . Couturier et al . suggest using a SysML conceptual data model to ensure consistency and traceability for evaluation data in a multidisciplinary engineering design evaluation.…”