This work is oriented towards the variation management within the embodiment design phase of a product. It focuses on management and integration of design parameter variation and manufacturing variations in design phase. In this work, a generalized framework for definition, modeling, expression and interaction, of the design variables and the variations, for the mechanical product design, using the philosophy of set based design developed and logic has been developed. The developed framework integrates the notion of concurrent engineering design while considering the design parameters in terms of sets, instead of point based design, as well as the notion of the noise (variation/uncertainty), arising from different sources, enabling an expression of flexible and robust design. The research also sets down the complete approach from abstract expression of the framework description to the operational application to examples in the mechanical engineering design of products in the embodiment design phase. This is achieved through definition of a common framework for expression of concurrent product design problem with management of variation, its transformation for the set based robust design and tolerance analysis applications , within an integrated design context through appropriate tools, methods and techniques.
Keywords:
Robust design; Tolerance analysis; First Order Logic; Variation Management; Set Based Design