A reuse-oriented redesign method of used machine tool based on matter-element theory

Aiming at the remanufacturing of used machine tool, a reuse-oriented redesign method was presented. The function tree of machine tool was established on the basis of machine tool's characteristics of the function and structure in the method. The matter-element model of sub-function was built with the matter-element theory, and then the redesign alternatives of sub-functions were made by finding and removing the differences between the corresponding matter-element of sub-functions. The redesign alternatives of machine tool were built by combining the redesign alternatives of every sub-function together organically. For obtaining the best alternative, a comprehensive evaluation method was proposed based on the correlation function, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the remanufacturing knowledge of used machine tool. The evaluation method includes four indexes, such as the cost (C), the time (T), the rate of reuse (R) and the overall performance (P). Finally, this reuse-oriented redesign method was applied in one floor-type milling & boring machine's remanufacturing in an enterprise, and its effectiveness was verified.