Abstract
As products have been becoming increasingly complex, importance of system design is advocated. Several research papers have proposed applying Design Structure Matrix(DSM) for advanced management of product development, and they have proved it is useful to have a dependency network of parameters. However, it is also proven that the accuracy of the product information greatly affects the result. To acquire accurate and in-depth product information, many modelling languages, such as SysML, have been developed, but few papers have proposed establishing a new simplified methodology to find a dependency network for a product system. This paper proposes a new methodology for constructing a parameter dependency network of a product system. This method is based on the assumption that product information can be classified into four elements, namely system functions, functional roles, structural members, and parameters, and that possible dependencies between parameters can be deduced using the relationships between these elements (e.g., as a form of function-structure diagram). This method is performed in three stages: 1) Suggestion of dependencies between parameters, 2) Extraction of constraints among parameters and generation of a parameter-constraint network, and 3) Searching a feasible and better design process plan. As verification of the proposed method, modeling of an automobile brake system was conducted. Through the verification, the proposed method is assured to be effective, as it eased designer to define product model.
