2001 Volume 13 Issue 4 Pages 377-386
The fundamental form of parts of many industrial products is boxy. For example, bodies and switch buttons of the household electric appliance are often boxy. The form of the product is constituted by those boxy parts. It is constituted by the cluster of boxy parts, even if it is apparently complicatedly seen. This research was carried out on the system for supporting the creation of the form of such product. As a beginning for constructing the system, the approach of the variable modeling used in the research on CAD was introduced. Then, fuzzy inference was applied to the system in order to consider ambiguity and nonlinearity on the design. In this study, portable telephone was taken up as a case of the boxy troduct. To begin with, the analysis on the design of portable telephone in the market was carried out using the principal component analysis. Using the result of the principal component analysis, design support system, which could acquire created form in CAD, was constructed. The simulation using the system was carried out, and it was examined from the viewpoint of the designer. As the result, it was indicated that the system might become an useful instrument for the designer. Finally, the personal viewpoint was described on how the systemcould be utilized, for designer and general consumer.
