A modular design approach for modeling and optimization of adaptable products considering the whole product utilization spans

Design of adaptable products aims at satisfying different and changing customer requirements through changes of products such as reconfiguration and upgrading during their utilization stages. In this research, a new modular design approach is introduced for modeling and optimization of adaptable products considering the whole product utilization spans. In this work, product descriptions in different operation phases are modeled by different configurations, and each of these configurations is described by parameters. The product components with similar life-cycle properties such as operation phases and life-spans are grouped into modules based on a fuzzy pattern clustering method. A hybrid AND-OR tree is used to model all feasible design solutions considering different configurations and their parameters. The adaptable product is evaluated by different evaluation measures with different units, which are further converted into comparable evaluation indices. The overall evaluation index for an adaptable product is defined by individual evaluation indices and their importance weighting factors considering the whole product utilization span. A multilevel optimization method is employed to identify the best design solution, its configurations in different operation phases and parameter values of the relevant configurations.