An improved axiomatic design approach in distributed resource environment, part 2: Algorithm for functional unit chain set generation

To technologically achieve the transformation from functional requirements (FRs) to design parameters (DPs) in the axiomatic design (AD) theory, this paper employed the basic hypothesis, definitions and model developed in PART 1 of our study to establish an algorithm for functional unit chain set (FUCS) generation. This algorithm is established on two mappings from the developed conceptual foundation to the graph theory, i.e. treating functional units (FUs) as nodes, and treating connections between FUs as edges. With this two mappings, a graph consisting of FUs can be created, which is called the functional unit graph (FUG). Based on the depth-first search (DFS) strategy in the graph theory, the algorithm generating FUCSs from the FUG was finally established. As an additional function, a preliminary evaluation for the generated FUCSs was also proposed. To prove the feasibility of this algorithm, a solar-powered wiper blades, and the load module of a frictiona-brasion testing machine were designed as illustrations. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.