Engineering Open Product Architectures: A Constructal Approach

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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.