Mike J. Van Wie, Palani Rajan, Matthew I. Campbell, Kristin L. Wood
Department of Mechanical Engineering
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78712
Robert B. Stone
Basic Engineering Department
University of Missouri-Rolla
Rolla, MO 65409-0210
Product architecture, like much of conceptual design, is a highly dynamic process whereby engineers must consider a deluge of information in terms of both function and form. One shortcoming of current engineering practice is the absence of representations or abstractions used to aid in developing alternative layout solutions or in refining and exploiting these candidate solutions. The purpose of this paper is to present a representation for product architecture that is more formal than current practices which lack sufficient depth in capturing those design factors relevant to product architecture design. An example is given to illustrate the technique, and particular benefits in terms of designing for modularity are shown.