Artificial Intelligence for Computer-Aided Design

本研究项目的总体目标是将人工 智能（AI）方法论到计算机辅助设计（CAD）。 在 在计算机辅助工程设计领域，人工智能技术占据了 实现两大技术目标：1。的 生产CAD软件，允许半熟练的非专家 以产生良好的候选设计，从而大大加快 传播和吸收新技术。 2.的可能性 通过CAD软件“发现”新的设计和设计方法， 由人类专家构思。 在过去的十年里，PI和他的同事已经开发了两个CAD CONSYD和POLYRED两种包装目前在工业上使用， 大学作为教学工具。 CONSYD允许有经验的用户 交互式地从数据中建立过程模型， 通过过程模拟控制问题，并使用各种各样的 复杂的设计程序，综合几个候选人 可在工厂测试中评估的控制系统设计。 CONSYD（和其他用于控制的CAD软件包）的当前限制 系统设计）是设计程序要求用户具有 对每一个背后的控制理论都有相对复杂的知识， 设计方法 类似地，POLYRED可用于设计聚合 反应器，需要在设计，聚合和反应的专业知识， 用户方面的工程。 为了克服这些限制， 在这些CAD软件包中，PI建议制定AI策略， 允许工业中的普通控制工程师使用CONSYD， 典型的参与聚合的工业科学家和工程师 反应堆建模和设计使用POLYRED。 第一步将是建立一个专家系统的控制系统 位于CONSYD之上并调用适当的FORTRAN的设计 CONSYD和POLYRED软件包中的程序， 计算。 该项目的第二部分将涉及研究 “发现”和“学习”功能，可以添加到AI 设计包。 对于控制系统的设计问题有两个 将研究的“学习”类型：1。新的发现， 以前未知的，可能出现的控制系统设计类型 从应用专家系统与固定的规则。 2.的 根据积累的经验制定新的设计规则， AI包。 类似的学习功能将被纳入 聚合反应器系统。 结果将不仅是这两个具体的新软件 领域，但也将增加知识基础上使用人工智能 技术和专家系统的重要性，真实的问题。

The overall goal of this research project is to apply artificial intelligence (AI) methodology to computer aided design (CAD). In the area of computer-aided engineering design, AI techniques hold the promise of achieving two significant technical goals: 1. The production of CAD software which allows semi-skilled non-specialists to produce good candidate designs so as to dramatically hasten the dissemination and assimilation of new technology. 2. The possibility of "discovery" by CAD software of new designs and design methods not conceived by human experts. Over the past decade, the PI and his coworkers have developed two CAD packages CONSYD and POLYRED presently in use by industry as well as by universities as teaching tools. CONSYD allows the experienced user to interactively build a process model from data, determine the principal control problems through process simulation, and use a wide variety of sophisticated design procedures to synthesize several candidate designs of control systems which can be evaluated in plant testing. The current limitation of CONSYD (and other CAD packages for control system design) is that the design procedures require the user to have a relatively sophisticated knowledge of the control theory behind each design method. Similarly POLYRED can be used to design polymerization reactors and requires expertise in design, polymerization and reaction engineering on the part of the user. To overcome some of these limitations on the population that can use these CAD packages, the PI proposes to devise AI strategies which will allow the average control engineer in industry to use CONSYD and the typical industrial scientist and engineer involved in polymerization reactor modelling and design to use POLYRED. The first step will be to create an expert system for control system design which will sit above CONSYD and call the appropriate FORTRAN programs in the CONSYD and POLYRED packages for detailed technical calculations. The second part of the project will involve the study of "discovery" and "learning" features which could be added to the AI design package. For the control systems design problem there are two types of "learning" which will be studied: 1. The discovery of new, previously unknown, types of control system designs which may arise from the application of expert systems with fixed rules. 2. The formulation of new design rules based on the accumulated experience of the AI package. Similar learning features will be incorporated into the polymerization reactor system. The results will not only be new software for these two specific areas, but will also increase the knowledge base on the use of AI techniques and expert systems to nontrivial, real problems.