The authors have organized a three-day design seminar using 3D CAD for students and engineers every summer since 2001. In the seminar, a collaborated team of students and engineers addresses a given design project. The design activity starts from determination of the design objective and their own concept. Next, the design requirements are determined as quantitative physical values. Based on the required functions, the system configuration is determined through a conceptual sketch. Then, the design idea is decomposed hierarchically by using module reference tree. Finally, the design idea is Verified through 3D CAD modeling, where the module reference tree corresponds to the model tree lists of 3D CAD. The preceding report illustrated the activity of earlier stage from the design requirement determination to the function deployment. This reprot explains the effectiveness, design verification using 3D CAD. Finally, effectiveness of design education of the collaborated team of students and engineers is described.

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We have proposed the scenario model as a receiver's behavior model in the service modeling. In this paper, we introduce a concept of "Persona" that is commonly used in the interface design of software, as a method to develop a more concrete and realistic scenario model. A receiver has various senses of values. By setting such senses of values with "Persona" in the design stage of service, more realistic scenario modeling becomes possible. Then, we discuss a concrete description process about the scenario model based on "Persona". Finally, the specifications of scenario modeler to be implemented on service CAD are discussed.

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The authors have proposed service modeling and evaluation methods based on Service Engineering, and have developed Service Explorer, a prototype of the Service CAD. In this report, the results of the modeling and the evaluation of an actual hotel service in Abruzzo, Italy are reported, and some improvement proposals obtained through the analysis of the results are introduced. Finally, the improvement proposals and the methods which were used in the case study of the service design are discussed.

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The authors have already proposed a service design method, where a computer aided design tool named Service Explorer is employed. This paper verifies the modeling ability of Service Explorer. To do so, services of providing home appliances and cleaning them are taken as an example. It was proved that designers can describe provided values, adopted measures, and relations among agents in a service on Service Explorer.

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In order to obtain a creative design solution, which is not obtained only with existing design knowledge, it is required to unify different knowledge groups, which exist independently, and to perform gradual extension of knowledge. Authors have proposed some knowledge representations and algorithms of knowledge integration for realizing knowledge extension with the aim of development of "Universal Abduction Studio", which supports creative design synthetically. In this paper, the fundamental framework for dealing with information as knowledge is proposed. And the representation and the knowledge integration based on it are proposed.

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This paper describes a set-based design approach for achieving design robustness and flexibility based on designer's preference in the multiobjective design problem with uncertain parameters. Our approach allows designers to specify the varying degree of desirability (or satisfaction) of both a ranged set of design solutions and a ranged set of performance requirements, thus incorporating designer's preference structure and handling various sources of uncertainties. For achieving design flexibility, our approach also develops a ranged set of feasible solutions that satisfy changing sets of performance requirements. Then, a new design metric is developed to measure the level of preference and design robustness. In addition, a new uncertainty measure is developed to measure qualitative relationships (i.e., sensitivity) between design and performance variables, thus enabling design modification under uncertainty. Meanwhile, the computer-based simulation tools (e.g., FEM) are currently used overwhelmingly to generate, evaluate and validate the designed products. Therefore, this paper also presents the vision of our approach to the simulation-based design environment by adopting metamodeling techniques.

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This paper presents the,outcome of research concerning the development of a structural topology optimization methodology which can be used at the conceptual design phase of mechanical products. This optimization method is constructed based on beam elements with ellipsoidal cross-section and its cross-sectional area and rotational angle denoting the principal direction of second moment of inertia. First, the optimization problem is formulated for the eivenvalue maximization problem, and its algorithm is constructed based on the ground structure approach and the convex approximation method. The update procedure of the rotational angle denoting the principal direction of second moment of inertia in ellipsoidal cross-section is derived form KKT-conditions. In addition, several examples are provided to show the utility of the methodology presented here.

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It is well known that the load-deflection curves of the beams composed of thin shells are different from that of the simple beam models when they are deformed by the external force as the thin shells occur the elastic buckling. Thus, the effective width theory about the beam is proposed to estimate the effective width of segments of the beam cross-section. In this report, the applicability of the theory is verified by the comparison with the experimental results. And, the availability and problems is investigated with several configurations of the cross-section of beams.

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A new Computer Aided Engineering Concept in the early design phase (First Order Analysis) has been proposed. A tool based on the concept is customized to each product including specific knowledge. Design engineers can easily estimate qualitative performance using the tool. The model mainly consists of beam elements. However joint stiffness is necessary since it cannot be modeled using beam elements. In this paper, we present the simplified model of a joint structure based on the reduction technique and try to calculate an optimal joint stiffness using Radial Basic Function Network and Adaptive Range Genetic Algorithms.

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In management of plants, it is difficult to utilize plant design and management data, because of the scale. Utilization of plant design and management information realizes smooth and optimum exchanges of information from generation to generation and between designers, manufacturers, operators and maintenance workers. To realize the utilization of plant design and management information, we delve into NCALS project and pick up problems of sharing of information. Based on the acknowledgment, we make hearing investigation and categorize actual needs.

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In recent years, 3D-CAD systems have been rapidly improving. However, the principal improvements are focused on shape modeling and operability, so that it is still remained to be solved, how to handle the design information and intention generated within the design process. Our objective is to smoothly and broadly support the design process more by proposing an architecture to handle the design information and intention from the upstream design stage to the downstream process. Especially, it is important to analyze the design information which should be handled in the upstream design stage and to transmit this information accurately up to the detailed design stage where the geometries are decided. In this paper, the important information in the upstream design stage and the framework to handle these kinds of information is discussed.

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Because of increasing pressure to sustain competitive advantages, it is crucial topic for manufacturers to reduce product development cost and lead-time while maintaining a high level of quality. These requirements drive the companies to focus on organizing a well-coordinated development plan for allocating processes and resources. This paper reports our concept toward a system for planning processes for preliminaly design and detail design, and evaluating them. Three indices for design process evaluation are introduced; lead-time, cost and quality. The indices are defined for each activity, which composes a design process, as a function of the iteration number of the activity. Because there are some stochastic factors for the iteration of the activity, the evaluation indices should be estimated with variance. The system supports (i) knowledge-based selection of design activities which are required for achieving design process and (ii) estimating cost, lead-time and quality of design process based-on scheduling simulation.

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Today's manufacturers are required to not only provide each product with high integrity of quality, cost and delivery but also provide a variety of products continuously over product families in order to accommodate them to variation of customers' requirements. To achieve rational and effective design of such a high integrated product family, the derivative products over the family should be developed under the product architecture, which governs the possibility of expanding products under a certain structure. This paper reports our formalization of product architecture design as a basis of our knowledge-based system to rationaly and effectively support product family design under appropriately defining product architectures. In our formulation, the product space is structured to represent a product and a product architecture under complex relations among aspects of the product. Then the design process of product architecture and family is categorized into top-down process and bottom-up process, which consist of the four common operations and their expanded eight operations respectively. These operations can be a basis for developing knowledge-based design systems.

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In order to develop and design a large-scale industrial product like an artificial satellite, it is necessary to consider many angles of design and perform many analyses on various areas, such as thermal analysis, structural analysis and so on. Thus, design information will increase more and more as the design progresses into detail phase, and it is difficult to progress the design coherently. This paper describes design methodologies to progress the design smartly. These methodologies consist of stepwise generation of design information and multidirectional evaluation. Furthermore, design-support system based on these ideas was established and verified.

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The inheritance problem of technical knowledge is becoming more serious today. This paper proposes a Quality Management System which enables the designer to detect and prevent quality problem of manufacturing system. Authors propose following two technologies which are required to realize the Quality Management System. First, found or detected trouble must be stocked and effectively used in the future product development stages. So we have to develop a Causal Knowledge Database which enables a designer to acquire quality information. Second, we have to prevent quality problems by using stocked causal knowledge. So the authors propose an analysis system of failure propagation in manufacturing system. By analyzing the failure propagation, we can get a list of failures which will arise, a list of causes of each failure and quality performance of manufacturing system. A prediction example the failure propagation in manufacturing system of Fixed Contact of Auto Breaker is shown in this paper. Three critical issues of system implementation are addressed: (1) Information model which represents Production process and Product (2) Causal Knowledge model which can connect to the product information and process information (3) Analysis system of failure propagation using Petri Net.

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In the environment such as outer space where we cannot maintain the artifacts, it is the robustness that is important for artifacts. Thus the system which has the information processing circuit realizing self-maintenance function is desirable, and failure-detector is in need. In this study, we try to implement this failure-detecting function for position detecting sensors with Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and Application Specific Integrated Circuit.

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The pervasiveness of micro processor units(MPUs) in mostly controlled system coupled with recent rapid advances in MPU technology have created both benefits and problems. One of the problems is that it takes more man-hours to develop a program of a automatically controlled system. Our research group has developed and offered the metod to support to design such a control program, thus requireing fewer man-hours, using evolutionary computation such as genetic algorithm(GA) and genetic programming(GP). However, using this method, special measures need to be taken to counteract the tendency of programs to rapidly grow in size over time. The problem, usually referred to as bloat, causes the problem that a system does not guarantee real-time. In this paper, the problem above mentioned is solved and apply our method to a car air conditioning system as an example case. As a result, a validity of our method is clarified.

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The environment where Japanese industry has been paid with respect is changing tremendously due to the globalization of economics, where Asian countries are undergoing economical and technical development as well as advancing in information technology. With acceleration of manufacturing bases relocating abroad, industrial hollowing out is happening; hence effort to transfer the technology and the design knowledge of machine design in a company is becoming an important subject. For example, in the design of custom casting product, a designer who is lack of casting knowledge may not be able to produce a good design. In order to obtain a good design and manufacturing, it is necessary to equip the designer and manufacturer with a support system related to casting design or so called, knowledge transfer and creation system. Our research group has been proposed a new computer-aided system for casting design, which is composed of the explicit and tacit knowledge transfer system using synchronized multimedia and the knowledge internalization system using portable virtual environment. In this paper, methods to display 3D models, and their effects of immersiveness and reality in the system are examined.

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Hydrogen is expected as new fuel instead of fossil fuel. Many scientists are studying characteristic features of hydrogen. But it is difficult to experiment the hydrogen dispersion in case of hydrogen leaks, because hydrogen has the properties that energy for ignition is lower and probability of occurrence of detonation is higher than those of hydrocarbon fuel. Therefore clarifying the hydrogen dispersion with numerical analysis becomes important. This paper describes a finite element method for solving Navier-Stokes equations and the advection-diffusion equation. Numerical results are also shown for a simple model.

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When a manipulator is controlled manually, a situation where a human operator controls the manipulator near it easily occurs. Therefore, a technique for establishing safeness for such a situation is necessary. Nowadays a function that stops a manipulator in a danger situation is adapted to it by adding an enabling switch to their teaching pendants. In this paper, we investigated the human behaviors under danger situations, and studied about the method to apply its result to safer enabling system.

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In this paper, ontology technology has been used in the development and design of learning contents environment. When learning contents environment is designed, ontology technology plays an important role in the structuring of mechanical design knowledge. By doing this, the tacit information will be made clear and understandable that solves the problem of knowledge sharing and reusing. Particularly, knowledge of mechanical field is arranged from the view point of education and training where by index based on ontology is attached to knowledge contents, thus, enabling the management of knowledge and for the purpose of personnel training or education.

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Project-Based-Learning (PBL) is increasingly becoming a popular engineering education at universities. In this article, we report on the attempt of global PBL education in the coursework for Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Technology and Stanford University. These classes are taught based on the principle of PBL, which encourages students to find a solution by themselves with the aim of developing the abilities to cope with the complex and quickly changing society. It is described what were experienced and it is discussed what seem to be important from these pieces of experience.

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If a program of complicated technology calculation which requires labor and time can be used from all over the world on a WWW browser, huge time and labor which develop the program separately can be saved. In this research, the system which can use for university education the difficult technology calculation program solved by a specialist or a project before as an advanced e-Learning on a WWW browser was proposed using WEB service technology On a WWW browser, if everyone can use always from anywhere, it is very effective as not only undergraduate student education but graduate student education, or education in a company.

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This paper presents a new web-based approach to CAD exercise class of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Tokushima. After a brief overview of CAD exercise class, this paper presents a newly developed web-based system to support the education, integrating with the educational system provided by Center for Advanced Information Technology of the University. Reviewing the results of questionnaires answered by the students who took the class, advantages/disadvantages will be clarified. This paper also discusses what should be considered for the future classes to achieve further outcomes.

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MoT or Management of Technology is getting wide attention these days in Japan. It is pointed out that it would be more advisable to utilize design education to bring up human resources for the management of technology rather than to start another course just for MoT. In fact, many researchers point out that management and design have a great deal in common. Besides, education is carried out on a single career path principle and human resources capable of both management and technology are really lacking in Japan. If we can establish integrated design education which will involve different principles such as law, economics, etc across the whole campus, then it would serve most workably for Japanese students to learn how to manage technology strategically under widely and frequently changing social situations.

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We are getting into the age of wisdom, where our knowledge frontier is expanding quickly. We have been solving our design problems by formalizing our pieces of knowledge and experience accumulated up to that time and by applying them. But this is effective only where our boundaries are fixed and do not move. Our knowledge frontier is quickly expanding, so that another approach is strongly needed to cope with the situation. Project Based Learning, which apparently stems from the US history of frontier age and the pragmatism which stems from the expansion of the frontiers would serve for this purpose. Unlike the traditional design approach, sensing would play an important role in the design activities, which is also a prerequisite for the management. Thus ethnomethodology is expected to offer us much in developing our new design methodology.

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The primary objective of our traditional design has been to develop better quality products. But if management and design have lots in common, then there should be another design approach which develops a higher value with restricted, resources, which provides the greatest satisfaction to our customers, no matter what level the quality of a product may be. How we can make the most of our presently available resources, no matter what level they may be, will be our next challenging issues in our design, because in the 21^<st> century, our knowledge frontiers are quickly and wide expanding, so that it will be substantially impossible to keep on the same track as we have been doing up to now in our traditional design approach.

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With increasing diversification and with expanding knowledge frontiers, design has to change from the traditional approach of applying the structured knowledge to the trial and error based approach which needs more interaction with the environments. Thus design will be carried out in a more context conscious manner and Project Based Learning will provide learners with such capabilities. Further, such a design approach would contribute a great deal toward establishing Life Cycle Engineering and toward realization of products with growing functions.

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