Engineering Open Product Architectures: A Constructal Approach

这项拨款为建立在热力学领域发展的构造理论基础上实现开放产品架构的基本原则提供资金。构造原理以及工程设计的概念和技术将用于开发和实例化基础数学，为设计开放式产品架构的方法提供数学严谨性。原理和方法将通过分析验证，并将通过两个工业测试案例进行说明，即大规模定制生产系统和吸收式制冷机系列的饮料销售设计。这项工作，如果成功的话，将为正式的、数学上严谨的产品架构设计方法的开发提供概念证明，这种设计方法是开放的，也就是说，在适应产品进化的过程中具有持续改进和适应的灵活性。制造企业成功地使用这一方法将使它们能够对市场的变化和/或对定制产品的需求作出迅速和经济有效的反应。

This grant provides funding for establishing the fundamental principles for realizing open product architectures by building upon constructal theory developed in the field of thermodynamics. Constructal principles along with concepts and techniques from engineering design will be utilized to develop and instantiate the foundational mathematics to provide mathematical rigor for the methodology to engineer open product architectures. The principles and the methodology will be verified by analytically and will be illustrated through two industrial test cases, namely, the design of beverage merchandisers for a mass customized production system and a family of absorption chillers.This work, if successful, will provide the proof-of-concept for the development of a formal, mathematically rigorous methodology for designing product architectures that are open, that is, flexible in accommodating product evolution with a process of continuous improvement and adaption. The successful use of this methodology by manufacturing enterprises will allow them to respond rapidly and cost-effectively to changes in the market and/or demands for customized products.