Principles for the definition of design structures

Figures & data

Figure 1. Methodology.

Figure 2. A template for the definition of design structures.

Table 1. Relationships between the principles and template.

Principle	Feature of template
1. A given physical artefact, of which technical artefacts are a kind, has two intrinsic properties: shape and material.	A representation of the artefact is shown on the right-hand side, independently of the design structures.
2. A given design may have multiple design structures.	Multiple structures shown by sheets on left-hand side.
3. A given design structure is composed of elements of a kind and relationships of a kind.	The key to the structure on the left-hand side permits (and specifies the types of) elements and relationships.
4. The relationships in a given design structure are one of two types: composition or connection.	This is a constraint on relationship types.
5. A given design structure has a purpose for which it was created, which determines the kinds of relationship and element that are needed.	This is free-form text and can be added as a note on each sheet if necessary.
6. In a given design structure, both elements and relationships are equal.	There is no requirement to start all structures with elements or relationships – unless the relationship types require this. For example, the key in the template, B requires A to exist; if this were not the case then the relationship would need to be defined without reference to A.

Figure 3. The application of the template: (a) What is a product structure? (b) How to map a BOM product structure; (c) Using a product structure to carry information and mapping an assembly mating structure.

Figure 4. Application of template for the definition of physical and functional structures to a simple product.

Figure 5. Application of template for the definition of hierarchical and connection structures associated with a simple design (Image sources: schematic from http://www.antonine-education.co.uk/; jack photograph from http://www.engineeringexpert.net/).

Figure 6. Design structure corresponding to the circuit diagram and BOM given in Figure 5.

Figure 7. Application of template for the definition of manufacturing and design features.

Figure 8. Application of template for the definition of affordance and product structures from Lewis et al. (2013).

Lewis, K., D. Moore-Russo, P. Cormier, A. Olewnik, G. Kremer, C. Tucker, T. Simpson, and O. Ashour. 2013. “The Assessment of Product Archaeology as a Platform for Contextualizing Engineering Design.” ASME 2013 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, IDETC/CIE 2013, Portland, OR, August 7.

 Google Scholar