1,721,351 research outputs found
Design for sustainability of product-service systems
No full textRecently, numerous manufacturing companies are moving from product to services to create new business opportunities and to increase the product value. At the same time, sustainability is a crucial aspect for industry. In this context, the research challenge is defining a structured methodology to support the design for sustainability of product-service systems (PSS). While product sustainability has been investigated during the last decades and can be assessed by several tools, sustainability of PSS is almost unexplored. This paper defines an integrated lifecycle and proposes a methodology to identify a set of sustainability indicators to compare different use scenarios and find out the best ones. It adopts a holistic approach to assess sustainability on the basis of the three main impacts: environmental, economical and social. The methodology is illustrated by means of an industrial case study proposing a new model called ‘Hot water as a service’ evolving traditional water heaters
Automated inspection of mechanical components by optical systems
No full textIn the mechanical field agile production requires rapid and flexible shop-floor control techniques in order to verify the manufacturing operations effectiveness. To accomplish this goal, 3D scanning systems are evermore used for quality control purposes. Generally, 3D CAD (Computer Aided Design) product models can be used as reference in order to manage the verification process. The geometrical information represented in the 3D CAD model can be used in order to virtually plan, simulate and pilot the inspection process.
The present work targets the development of view planning algorithms in order to support the automatic inspection of 3D shapes, including dimensional and geometrical tolerances. Algorithms have been implemented in a prototypal software system that has been experimented as off-line application to provide inputs to a multi-axis Degree of Freedom (DoF) robot arm mounting an optical 3D scanner.
Two test cases from automotive and die casting fields are presented. They show the computation of acquisition poses in a suitable sequence and correspondence to the experimental data
Object-oriented framework for managing modular product configuration
No full textCompanies applying mass customization paradigm regard the design process as a configuration task where the solution is achieved through the extraction of a new instance from a modular product structure. In this context product configuration management tools are evermore important. Circumscribing the application to the design phase their main objective is to automate the activities such as: components arrangement and dimensioning, 3D geometry modelling, 2D drawings execution, multi-view BOM compiling, costs estimation.
Our research aims to develop an approach to simplify the implementation of product configuration systems.
This paper, after a review of current available configuration systems in terms of design knowledge representation methods and product structure formalisation techniques, presents an object-oriented approach that is adopted as base for rationalising the design knowledge capture and structuring the product platform. The result is a framework able to manage the product configuration task.
The approach will be exemplified through a real application example and benefits as well as limitations of the proposed approach will be discussed, in particular in terms of usability
A QFD-based method to support SMEs in benchmarking co-design tools
No full textEfficient collaborative product design is crucial for extended enterprises willing to develop complex products pursuing a short time to market. However, successful collaborative product design depends on the ability to effectively manage and share engineering knowledge and data throughout the entire product development process. Co-design software platforms aim to facilitate cooperation in distributed teams. In the context of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) the advanced co-design software implementation to support the supply chain is not a trivial task. SMEs have peculiar characteristics such as flexibility, ICT skills and financial resources, which are difficult to be integrated within a structured design network. This paper presents a method to define and evaluate a co-design platform dedicated to SMEs in the mechanical product field. System architecture is defined by applying suitable metrics based on collaborative process characteristics in order to assess functionality performance of the available tools. Benchmarking is based on different levels of collaboration recognized in the typical product development process in SMEs. Correlation between process metrics, software functionalities and specific collaboration requirements is managed by adopting Quality Function Deployment (QFD) techniques. A practical case study allows the robustness of the proposed method to be verified and the main advantages and future developments to be discussed
Electro-tactile device for material texture simulation
Full text linkThis paper deals with the simulation of material texture by means of electro-tactile stimuli, which directly derive from real material properties. The research presents a novel tactile display by its hardware and software system architecture and the elaboration procedure to generate the stimulating signals, and validates the adopted simulation strategy by experimental testing. The tactile system elabo- rates data from scans of real material samples and gener- ates electrical stimuli to reproduce roughness and texture coarseness sensations. It also adds a coherent sound feed- back to improve the realism of the simulation. The re- search defines also an experimental protocol based on the theory of Psychophysics to carry out system calibration and tests with users. The scope is to validate the proposed tactile system as a new tool for material simulation, which can be adopted for material virtual prototyping in several fields (product design, textile and clothing, gaming and entertainment, virtual museum, rehabilitation, etc.). Experimentations have been carried out to measure the users’ response to our different material classes (wood, paper, rubber and textile fabric). Experimental results con- cern how good the adopted simulation approach is and the analysis of the human tactile perception simulated by the system. Main findings relate to the system performance and the users’ response in terms of signal recognition and material class discrimination
Designing a user-centred ICT platform for active aging
Full text linkNowadays Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) technologies can be successfully applied to create assistive systems able to support frail and elderly people and promote active aging. Indeed, objects are ready and matured enough to be applied at low cost and can exchange information each other by proper communication protocols available on the market. However, there are still some open issues limiting the diffusion of such technologies and their effective introduction in people everyday life. Limitations mainly refer to three aspects: low system usability, poor acceptance by users, and lack of personalization and flexibility. The first two issues directly derive from the technology-oriented approach adopted in designing such systems, which does not consider the users’ needs. The third issue is mainly due to the adoption of standard protocols that allow communication only among a set of compliant devices. The present research proposes a new model to design an AAL system to support active aging by adopting a user-centred approach to define an interoperable architecture integrating different types of Smart Object. The result is a high usable and flexible platform that allows creating user-friendly products as well as services and realizing also high-level functions by integrating data from completely different contexts. The research case study specifically addresses elderly people needs living alone or affected by chronic disease, which require a continuous control and feedback
Virtual Environment Definition for product model usability evaluation
No full textAdvanced Virtual Reality (VR) based technologies can support product usability testing at the early design stages by allowing the interaction with highly realistic virtual prototypes. These tools provide an easy evaluation of physical ergonomic parameters (posture and occlusion), while the emotional and affective dimensions are still difficult to be assessed. In this context, the present paper, firstly, investi-gates which product attributes stimulate affective user response by analyzing and comparing how sample users experience product attributes in real and virtual envi-ronments. A structured protocol has been properly defined in order to achieve the result. The comparison allowed determining the needed features for improving the virtual scenario by proper Human Computer Interaction (HCI) technologies. Ac-cording to the analysis a new usability testing system has been structured
PLM benefits for networked SMEs
No full textPLM is universally recognized as a valid strategy to reduce time to market, increase process efficiency and cut lifecycle cost. Despite the importance for companies to objectively assess these emphasized competitive advantages, the benefits which can be achieved through PLM still remain intangible. Their measurement is particularly difficult for networked enterprises where each company is characterized by different forms of organization, personnel skills, levels of computerization, etc. This paper presents the results of a long-term study carried out on several Italian manufacturing companies, mainly small and medium sized, concerning the quantification of PLM benefits for collaboration. A structured approach is developed to assess the quality of a collaborative PLM implementation and its impact on real processes. The approach is based on a set of indicators of usage, performance and satisfaction. Finally the cost-reduction achieved by means of the new system has been estimated on the basis of the companies’ hourly cost. The results are remarkable and make evidence of great time and cost saving. This study shows a reliable experience on how PLM can successfully support companies to improve collaboration and hence to face the current economic crisis
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