This paper focuses on the creative side of collaboration and proposes a support method that enhances designers' creativity during collaborative design projects. In order to support creative group activity during such endeavors, the support method makes visible the interactive communication processes from two viewpoints, one global, and the other local. In the global view of communication flow, the transition of topics and the relationships between topics are displayed, whereas the local view displays the details of each communication process. Both of these viewpoints have two inherent merits, the first of which is to help designers clearly understand the flow of interactive communication processes. The second merit derives from sharing the process of exploring new ideas. Furthermore, in order to enable the smooth operation of the support method, a computerized system based on the proposed method was constructed. When an operator inputs details of the communication processes into the system, they are automatically recorded and displayed for the design team members in a useful form according to the proposed method.

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Recent product development project is executed with using many software. But some aspects of utilization for stored information are not so cared. An important one is utilization of process information which is group of information related to create product documents. Some fraction of information about knowhow to create product document can be easily extracted from process information. This paper describes information structure to utilize process information and some application for process information.

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Engineering support system for mechanical design based on the technology of Web Services is proposed and implemented as an integrated design system by CAD/CAM/CAE in distributed environment. Knowledge base system for mechanical design and numerical analysis can help to organize digital processes for design by analysis. Unified information of figure or analysis and processing data by XML expression can be used in each design process under physical restrictions. Web Services can provide high end computing system for the engineering environment for more mechanical engineer and show the possibility of integrated model and experimental system as a basic system of production knowledge.

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This paper proposes a method for evaluation of assembly fault occurrence in piping works of heavy equipments. The method has been developed based on the evaluation model of Assembly Reliability Evaluation Method (AREM) that can evaluate assembly fault occurrence of parts by using information of product assembly structure and shop condition. This new method can estimate assembly fault rates in piping works from four factors, which are movavle area of tools, position of attached parts, visibility of attached targets and deforming force. The method has been proven to be effective by verification results on the basis of actual fault data.

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Assembly Reliability Evaluation Method (AREM) has been applied to small-sized products and medium-sized products for reduction of assembly cost and assembly faults. AREM can estimate an assembly time and an assembly fault rate from attaching operations, parts characteristics and shop condition. In order to apply AREM to large scale equipments, new time-evaluation-methods for assembly operations using cranes and welding operations have been developed. This paper proposes the evaluation models and formulas for these two kinds of operations. These new methods evaluate the assembly time based on only four or five user-input.

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This paper proposes a new methodology that supports to create product structure to prevent assembly-faults. It consists of three components; supporting to create solutions to prevent potential assembly-faults, supporting to create solutions to prevent the specific assembly-fault, supporting to decide the best solution. First component of this methodology identifies parts and assembly actions with their properties that will be difficult to assemble, and provides the guidelines and examples for creating solutions. Second component of this methodology identifies parts, functions with their properties related to the fault, and provides the guidelines and examples for creating the solutions. Third component of this methodology generates the alternative solutions with their risks from both fault statement and solution constraints by using faults-database about fault causes, solutions and risks. Moreover, it guides to select the best solution.

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This paper describes test cases and scenario for high level design on system development. In the process of general system developments, the requirements for software are often changed, and the defects after system tests are often detected, and the tests for software are often disregarded and inadequate, and the system raises some significant troubles. Generally, models of each phase in the process of system developments are different. And if the requirements or the design information are changed in the process of system developments, the cost increases dramatically why influences from these changes to other design information must be found and revised with much pain. In this paper, we propose an extended Use Case Maps model which is based on use case scenario. And by using the model, we can extract test cases which need to be verified on high level design. And by verifying extracted test cases, we try to reduce detail design and tests on low level design.

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The purpose of this research is to propose a co-creative decision making method for creating effective solutions by considering explicitly agents' bounded rationality. In this paper, starting with the concept of co-creative decision making, the classification of multi-agent systems into four types according to (1) presence of the system's purpose and (2) agents' rationality is described. The target of this research is the system which has the purpose as a whole but which includes some bounded rational agents. Then, through the description of bounded rationality, the decision making function for target system is established. Moreover, the simulation which ascertains the effectiveness of the proposed method is shown.

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There are many social simulation models focused on specific domain. To get the whole vision of the complex intertwined system we should deal with it as a one system that all of the elements might interact with one another. At this point, it is important which scale is concerned. And, several issues will occur owing to a difference of the scale to be governed in the events. These issues have been solved in such way that scale-dependent effects are separated in each event, and a model on each scale is assumed. Therefore, we need model validation method linking between each scale. This paper describes a micro-level validation method of Multi-Agent Simulation (MAS). We focus on a traffic simulation. Clustering spatio-temporal datasets is proposed as the validation method. It is shown that a spatio-temporal data obtained from the movement of each vehicle can be clustered in a space constructed from the summation of absolute values of the accelerations and the average of OV function proposed by Bando et al.

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The digital value engineering has been developed as part of research of artifacts. The "digital value" is defined as digital artifacts or services that can produce high economic values. The research topics include the design of flexible digital artifacts, services, and user models. On the basis of these technologies, we have intended to realize the methodology of customization and personalization for digital artifacts. However, we need new criteria and methods for evaluating values, since our sense of value has been diversified, and digital information is not always trustworthy. In this paper, the previous works in the digital value engineering are reviewed at first. And then, we point out as a subject that methodology for valuing digital information is deficient. As a new methodology of the digital value engineering, we will describe a framework based on a notion of "incomplete network environment". This framework supports quantitative valuing of digital information and knowledge creation accompanied by the information.

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Artifacts or materials for artifacts are assumed to be particles that are applied the external fields as a function of time. The magnetic field, electric field and gravitational field are applied to the particles. When the slow external fields are applied to the particles, they move periodically. As the intensity of fields increases, the resultant of forces is sum of forces generated from those fields. At much faster fields, the larger effect is shown mainly by the larger field and particles stay at the optimum point in the gravitational field. When increasing the much larger fields, the particles position has random position. Those experimental phenomena are shown in artifacts considering particles.

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This paper presents a recyling model where products are manufactured, collected, and recycled by the monopolist. With this model we theoretically analyze the durability and recycling rate which the monopolist decides according to his/her manufacturing cost and recycling cost. Additionally we adopt experiments with human subjects and computer simulations to make the theoretical results more applicable to the real world. Through experiments with human subjects, we find necessity for a social regulation which promotes recycling. Through computer simulation we examine how the social system is influenced by dismantling cost of a used product and a role of agents who collect and recycle a used product.

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Semiconductor manufacturing systems are typical example of complex manufacturing systems because of the number of the facility and the complex process flow of the products. Effective lot release scheduling is needed to realize efficient facility utilization and flexibility for multi-product production in such complex manufacturing systems. This paper proposes an adaptive lot release method applying the lot release scheduler using reinforcement learning. The scheduler acquires suitable rules that decide lot release timing based on the state of the WIP (Work-In-Process) distribution in the production floor. Computer simulations are also executed to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method.

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This paper describes a new approach for facility layout planning using self-organization. The self-organization method is proposed to generate facility layout plans autonomously according to the material flow which emerges from the local interactions among production elements. A case study is presented for a multi-product semiconductor manufacturing in which it is difficult to find a proper layout plan because of large scale of the system and complex process flow. The effectiveness of the proposed method is discussed in the computer simulations by comparing with the current facility layout which is made by human experts in terms of the accumulated traveling mileage of products and Work In Process (WIP) number and Turn Around Time (TAT) of products.

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This paper suggests a new engineering design methodology by utilizing the optimality of branching network in nature, such as botanical tree and root systems, animal vascular systems, and so on. By applying the generation method of the branching network in nature, a branch-like cooling pipe system is constructed inside a plate with a certain heat flux distributed on its upper surface. Finite element analysis of temperature distribution is implemented, and the cooling performances of such cooling systems are discussed. The effectiveness of the generation method is also confirmed by comparing the result with that from conventional design method.

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In design processes, designers have to propose many design alternatives to satisfy requirements for products and evaluate considering many features or properties of design. Then a final design should be decided from many discussion and evaluation. In these processes, conflicts among designs can be often seen and sometimes designes take time to solve conflicts through discussion and so on. The Multi-objective optimization techniques are useful to consider trade-off between conflict properties. However, in these techniques, unification of objective functions is necessary and in almose case, unification function with weights that should be decided before optimization is used. In this study, we have extend previous proposed evaluation method of designs using cutting plane for weights in Data Envelopment Analysis and evaluated its effectiveness through some numerical examples.

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Component arrangement in space satellite design is an important design factor for it has influence on many disciplines and cannot be modified in the latter detailed design phase. Nevertheless, actual satellite component arrangement design is left to the designer's experience and sense, hence not only it is difficult to find the optimal solution, but also it is hard to judge the quality of the obtained solution. This paper proposes a systematic design optimization method of the component arrangement of a small space satellite called "Micro-LabSat," which involves many constraints as in reality. The proposed method is a bi-level optimization procedure which consists of genetic algorithms to obtain the general location of each component and SQP to determine the detailed coordinates.

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The wing shape of flyback booster for a Two-Stage-To-Orbit reusable launch vehicle has been optimized considering four objectives. The objectives are to minimize the shift of aerodynamic center between supersonic and transonic conditions, transonic pitching moment and transonic drag coefficient, as well as to maximize subsonic lift coefficient. The three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes computation using the modified Spalart-Allmaras one-equation model is used in aerodynamic evaluation accounting for possible flow separations. Adaptive range multi-objective genetic algorithm is used for the present study because tradeoff can be obtained using a smaller number of individuals than conventional multi-objective genetic algorithms. Consequently, four-objective optimization has produced 102 non-dominated solutions, which represent tradeoff information among four objective functions. Moreover, Self-Organizing Maps have been used to analyze the present non-dominated solutions and to visualize tradeoffs and influence of design variables to the four objectives. Self-Organizing Maps contoured by the four objective functions and design variables are found to visualize tradeoffs and effects of each design variable.

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This paper proposes a simplified deformation analysis methodology for the three-dimensional body in the first order analysis(FOA). A simplified finite element is developed for the tension and compression, and bending deformation as well as shear deformation of the body by extending concept of beam element. The simplified finite element analysis via developed element can estimate approximate deformations of complicate 3D-body, and the results of the analysis are useful for consider the load transmitting path of the structure and for designing the better structure by changing the stiffness of structural components.

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This paper proposes a modeling method of stress concentrated members for the first order analysis(FOA). When a complicate solid structure is simplified as an assemblage of simple beam elements applied to element forces such as axial force, shear force, bending moment and twisting moment, the total stiffness equation for FOA of the solid structure is constructed and solved for the given boundary and loading conditions by the usual FEM manner. Then, the total deformation of simplified model is estimated and the element forces are calculated in the element level. The stress concentration of simplified each member with holes, notches and variable cross section is also predicted by the suggested approximate formulation. A U-notched 3D-model is picked up and how precisely the suggested formulas can predict the stress concentration will be shown. These formulas can be used to show the influence of the design parameter changes to the designer and how the load transmission path will change by the design changes.

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This study dealt with uncertainties of external loads on the structural system by using probabilistic principal component analysis that was included in multivariable analysis. In this method, we can compute several eigen values and eigen vectors that were derived from phenomenon of between vertical displacements and horizontal one of each node of structural system on orthogonal coordinate system. From computing results throughout random simulations, we can clarify that first principal component of vertical direction implies tendencies of movement of external load with same direction. Moreover, we can confirm that first principal component of fluctuation based on vertical direction is also coincident with second principal component of one based on horizontal direction. And the opposite case between second principal component of vertical direction and first principal component of horizontal one can be composed. We can expect that these tendencies may be useful for both probabilistic and deterministic optimum design from now.

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This paper considered an optimality of branching network of tree root by using generation method of branch system that was obtained by previous research. Especially, we focused attention on a dynamics that is one of important growth factor of branch system and showed the construction method. And one example of the model of branching network of tree root that was obtained by using of the method of this research was shown, and it was compared with the model obtained with generation method of branch system. Consequently, generation method of branching network of tree root with dynamic stimulation from the outside as a growth factor could be constructed.

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A literature research was performed to identify existing design methodologies and methods from the viewpoint to efficiently design mass customized products. Selling mass customized products implies a cost efficient design and production of the customer individual product by both flexible CAD systems and production systems that are able to generate and process individual product data.

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A structure optimal design using mathematical techniques, such as a Genetic Algorithm, needs evaluating some conditions of numerous design candidates. It is not efficient to use FEM for analyzing the strength of structures in spite of requiring accuracy in the evaluation. In this paper, The Neural Network System is built for evaluating structure with FEM solutions as teacher data. In order to improve approximation accuracy, leading functions are introduced to the input variables of a Neural Network System. Multiple linear regression method is also used for selecting design variables to be used. These techniques improve the accuracy of Neural Network System and reduce manpower used for structure optimal design. A container ship is optimized and its result is shown here.

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This paper describes shape design optimization of lid (end) with small diameter for aluminum cans. Weight reduction is considered subject to buckling strength under internal pressure and geometrical constraints for fabrication. Seven geometrical design parameters of end shape are selected as design variables, and the orthogonal array table L_<27> of design of experiment is adopted to construct the response surfaces of buckling strength Q and clearance H after deformation under pressure. The end shapes assigned by the design of experiment are descritized into three-node axisymmetric shell elements, and the elasto-plastic deformation analyses are performed by the FEM software 'MARC'. The design parameters are optimized by Design Optimization Tools(DOT). The result does not satisfy design restriction well, however it is a big first step for the future development of small end.

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The ongoing advancement of computer technology is reducing the time required to make the complex calculations that structural analysis or structural optimization require. However, structural optimization, by its nature, is an iterative process, and lengthy computation time is hard to avoid. Computational demands also make it difficult to apply structural optimization to the design of large-scale mechanical products. Furthermore, in practical design projects, several design teams usually design a variety of parts or modules independently and simultaneously. This further compounds the difficulty of executing structural optimization, because an initial structural optimization model must contain all parts and modules of the mechanical product. To resolve such problems, this paper proposes a hierarchical structural optimization method for mechanical structures. By manipulating the boundary conditions, this method enables structural optimization using only one part or module. This reduces the computation time and facilitates the structural optimization of practical design projects.

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In this paper, parameters of diesel engine that has the minimum amount of SFC, NOx, and Soot are determined by multi objective genetic algorithm. Several types of effective multi objective genetic algorithms have been proposed; those are NSGA-II, SPEA2, and SPEA2+. Here, SPEA2+ is applied for designing diesel engines and the results are compared with those of other methods. The results of numerical experiments show that SPEA2+ has high searching ability for designing diesel engines, since SPEA2+ can derive the solutions that have high diversity not only in the objective space but also in the design variable space.

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A genetic algorithm is presented and applied to automation of embodiment designs for mechanical structures. The embodiment designs include, to some extent, from the earlier, conceptual stages to the later, detail stages in this study. Models for these designs are represented as simultaneous multi-objective optimization problems of parametric designs for parts and layout generation for structures. The study, thus, involves genotypes that are adequate to represent phenotypes of the models for the genetic algorithm to solve the given problems. We demonstrate the implementation of the genetic algorithm with the result applied to the gear equipment design.

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This paper deals with a design of beverage can ends (lids) with better finger access. The process of a finger lifting the tab of SOT (Stay-On-Tab) ends is simulated using finite element method, and the sensation of a pain at the fingertip is quantitatively evaluated by the maximum value of the contact normal stress. The smaller the contact stress is, the less pain the finger is experienced and the better the finger access of the tab is. Three tab models with different shape at the finger access part were analyzed and the finger access characteristics were compared. The conclusion is that the tab with the shape that can hve a larger contact area with the fingertip during the process of being lifted up has better finger access.

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CAE technology is indispensable to present design & development in every industry. But because it is the main purpose that the CAE tools are used for grasp the phenomenon, it owes a good deal to expert engineers that in order to do the better design. In this context, optimization tools have started to get a lot of publicity as the ways to improve the situations. The optimization tools are used for not only finding the optimal solutions but also improve the system of design & development of its own. This report shows geometry optimization case studies in fluid and structure fields using 'modeFRONTIER'.

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Concept of modularity is useful to development of the product design for variety. Therefore, shortening the thermal design cost, we developed and applied an approach of modeling for reuse of design knowledge for switchgear based on modularity. First approach is Global-Local (Zooming) modeling approach. It is the approach that inner temperatures and air flows of switchgear are estimated approximately by Global model, details of them are obtained from Local models. Global and Local models are linked by the thermal interfaces for boundary condition used the thermal analysis results of Global model. Using this modeling approach, it is possible to study design parameters on module-based. Second approach is to establish the thermal design system by using design knowledge to reduce the cost of thermal design. And we verified that the thermal system using this approaches is available, thermal design cost is reduced by 80% at the case of 3module parameters.

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A virtual design system has been developed to improve the efficiency of the plant and control system designs of thermal power plants. This system applies industrial virtual reality technology that is composed of a plant simulator, a control logic CAD tool, and a CPU board controller. It is a useful design support system with regard to the approach of a concurrent design between mechanical and control engineering.

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In recent years, sharing of hardware architecture in same type products has progressed and its reusability has improved. We develop an effective design method combining a reference platform method with a front-loading method coping with the packaging problems, such as thermal and Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI) ones. In our framework, we have built a packaging design review system to suppress problems in early design stage before being happened in the manufacturing stage. We also developed a reusable reference platform considering the packaging problems and an efficient developing method. We demonstrate the usefulness of our methodology by applying it to a development of Internet Protocol (IP) mobile phone.

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This paper proposes an integrated multi-step optimal design method composed of topology optimization and shape optimization, for designing practical compliant mechanisms. The proposed method consists of two steps. First a topology optimization is conducted to provide ah optimal topology and rough shape outlines of the structure. In the second step, shape optimization is performed using the result of the first step as an initial solution and a detailed optimal shape is then obtained by the optimization procedure, during which a wide range of engineering requirements such as stress concentration and non-linear deformation can be considered. The integration of topology and shape optimizations as proposed in this paper uses the specific advantages of both optimization methods, providing useful and practical designs of compliant mechanisms.

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This paper developed the data processing method that extracts only high reliable data from the data containing many uncertain elements. This method consists of three phases: (1) assign the fuzzy number to data, i.e. consider the ambiguity of uncertain elements. (2) data extract using the fuzzy set sum and (3) using the fuzzy weighted average. As this example, we performed. the characteristic point extraction from digital images, and compared with other methods. And we confirmed the validity ofthe developed data processing method.

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This paper proposes one of the methods for executing product variety design. First of all, the characteristic relation between design variables and objectives of an existing product is generated with response surface method. Next, the response surface of the target product is generated by small numbers of data and already-known response surfaces. Finally, the optimum point is generated by this new response surface. The similarity of product family can be expressed by shape of these response surfaces. This method was applied to the structural parts problem of product variety design, and was effective to the problem that's response surface is comparatively smooth.

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In alloy development, the experimental data is so huge and wide-ranging as to do for new development directly. In this research, I propose a design supporting system for the development of new aluminum alloy which extracts new necessary knowledge from the huge experimental data. To be more precise, this system divides alloys into clusters with a rule of manufacturing conditions at customers' request and forecasts unknown alloys' conditions of production with the use of change matrix. This change matrix indicates transmutations of conditions of production between alloy clusters. With this, we can forecast not only required alloy's conditions of production as the neighborhood of base alloy but also their changes from almost all alloys.

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Design support system utilizing design knowledge combined with design process has been developed. The present system has three key features: (1) the system navigates designers by showing design process expressed by WBS, (2) the system provides design knowledge combined with design process at the process, (3) Java technology is used to achieve collaborated design. The present system contributes to the shortening of design period and the improvement of design reliability in design cycle time.

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An approximate formula for estimating the buckling strength of a triangular reinforce plate used for a cab of hydraulic excavator was derived by introducing a concept of an "effective width". The formula can predict the ultimate bending moment as a function of the slenderness ratio. Using this formula, the design procedure of the pillar assembly in the cab can be significantly simplified.

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This paper describes the application of the cellular automata simulation based on stochastic velocity model to the traffic flow simulation on the two-lane road including the construction zone. Finally, we will show that the traffic amount comes close to that in the one-lane road if the construction zone is long enough.

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Recently, the ubiquitous network attracts a great deal of attention. The ubiquitous network is an environment from which all information instruments and computers are connected with the network anytime and anywhere. IPv6 (next generation Internet protocol) is core technique for achieving the ubiquitous network. The IPv6 network also brings an integrated environment to ubiquitous instruments, that is, all media information, not only control signal but also multimedia information can be sent thought the network. IPv6 network is expected to be a powerful tool for a remote control system. However, it is not evident how to implement actually the integrated environment to a remote control system. And also it is not clear how the characteristic of the Internet which is based on packet transfer system, affects the control. To examine these issues, we developed a system with which one can operate a remote barreling process machine using IPv6. This paper describes details of the function and an implementation of the system. We also describe the consideration of the evaluation experiment of this system.

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The purpose of our research is to formulate 'the 3D CT-based Automated preoperative planning system for total hip arthroplasty(THA)'. Recently advanced intraoperative navigation systems have become popular and that enable us to perform the operations with 2mm and 2degrees accuracy. Therefore objective and accurate preoperative planning of implant size selection and positioning is desirable for THA. In this paper, an automated algorithm for implants size selection and placement in preoperative THA planning is described. An experienced surgeon evaluated that the final solutions obtained using the automated method were acceptable, which showed a potential usefulness of the automated method. Future work will include the validation of the method using more cases and its clinical application.

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Design education has been conducted using 3D-CAD and practice of design and manufacture for small-sized electric vehicle and motorcycle. As the first step, a manual winch was selected for a design lesson. After the lesson in the third year, actual design activities of electric vehicle and motorcycle are required, and students can select their project as they wish . As for the electric vehicle, the project aiming the ones for elderly people had been performed in the last 2 years. In the last year, the project of electric motorcycle was also considered. From such exercises of electric vehicle and motorcycle, the design and manufacture experiences are desired to be the basis of production engineering.

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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. This report illustrates the activity from the design requirement determination to the function deployment. The succeeding report explains the effectiveness of later stage, design verification using 3D CAD. Finally, effectiveness of design education of the collaborated team of students and engineers is described.

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