An Integrated Design System for Optimization of Gas Turbine Components

The IBM Corporation's Federal Systems Division (FSD) has designed, developed and implemented a VLSI design methodology selected specifically for the DoD's design environment. The military industry VLSI requirements and IBM FSD's design system goals for developing chip design methodology are described. Substantial reduction in computer costs and design schedule using the methodology and the design system components is demonstrated. The rationale behind selecting the specific combination of tools, from the many design systems in IBM, for forming the FSD chip design system and the methodology is explained.

The Architecture/Engineering/Construction (AEC) industry is one of the multidisciplinary domains in which collaboration among related parties is of utmost importance1. Despite the intense flow of information between design and LCC (Life Cycle Cost) professionals, there is a lack of research to better understand and manipulate these processes. Architecture design and LCC management is a process of planning a tangible building and cost on a tangible land through intangible work. Due to this characteristic of design work, conventional design management was conducted around the drawings as the final outcome, but actual individual processes of design and LCC (Life Cycle Cost) planning for facility were excluded. As a result, design work and LCC planning completely depended on the individual abilities and experiences of each architect and LCC planner. Even organization of information required for design and LCC process are considered to belong to the domain of individual ability. Therefore, this study proposes an integrated system development methodology of design and LCC process for an information oriented design and LCC management system, which allows architects and LCC planners to easily access information to be provided in each design stage and its relevant LCC planning process, and for design and cost management companies to improve the performance through the systematic storage and usage of data after the completion of an educational project. This research analyzes actual design and LCC processes in currently active companies and proposes a standard design and LCC process, and then examines input and output information for each task in the process in order to propose an information oriented standard design and LCC process. Based on this, Data Flow Diagram (DFD) and Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) is designed for an information oriented design and LCC management system.

Multi-stage interactive genetic algorithm for collaborative product customization

Complex product development is an interdisciplinary cooperative process with the characteristics of enormous quantity of engineering data, process uncertainty, frequent engineering changes and disturbances. Version management is a key part of engineering data management for conserving the consistency of design data and tracking engineering change orders. Therefore comprehensive mechanism is required to handle large mount of intermediate results in complex product design processes in order to achieve efficient information and knowledge management. A component based version management model across different design projects is designed, which implements efficient design processes and project data management in an integrated management system for aerodynamic design of aero turbine engine (IMS-DATE). Key version control technologies of version merge and visualization are also discussed. The new version model and related version control technologies proposed in this paper can well satisfy the requirements of complex engineering design projects and enhance design efficiency consequently.

Chapter 7 - Optimal Power Flow Using Recent Optimization Techniques

Total Care Products are innovative packages consisting of hardware and services integrated to provide a complete functional provision. These types of products are becoming increasingly popular as companies strive to find new ways to ensure their business remains profitable and their products are attractive to customers. The Total Care Product creation process requires close collaboration between the customer and supplier as the two parties engage in an iterative, often time-consuming procedure involving needs, expectations and solutions exploration that ultimately leads to the creation of the functional product. This paper describes a novel design process for Total Care Product creation that seamlessly integrates hardware and service support by providing a robust design methodology and process support tool that firstly breaks down Total Care Product creation into distinct stages, and then the support structure is provided to facilitate the design and decision-making process at each stage in a rapid and simplified way. In order to be able to integrate hardware and service support design in such a manner, it is first necessary to assess how the hardware and service design processes are currently performed in their own right. The hardware design process is well documented and understood, in contrast to service design. This paper describes the service design process in detail, highlighting the similarities with hardware design and detailing how services are designed. Having described the service design process, and using knowledge of hardware design, the paper then proceeds to describe the development of a fast design process for the Total Care Product creation process that integrates both hardware and services. The numerous potential benefits of employing the fast design process are highlighted.

The Internet and World Wide Web (WWW) are now evolving as an important communication technology and a major information resource provider for industry. This paper discusses the development and implementation of a knowledge-based gear design and manufacturing system over the Internet to create new integrated design and manufacturing environments. By providing access to an interactive web-based support system, any designer with a WWW browser becomes a potential user of this on-line design system. Once connected, the designer follows the system instructions and submits the necessary input data on the appropriate web pages. The server receives a request from a client and invokes a CGI (Common Gateway Interface) program that processes the information provided through the user Interface. The CGI parses the data and has the ability to remotely run the knowledge-based gear design system that integrates knowledge about all aspects of gear design and manufacturing and provides powerful reasoning and decision-making capabilities for reducing the time between gear tooth creation, detailed design and manufacturing process specification via the Internet. When the execution is completed, full specifications definition, geometry, kinematic-loads and stresses are determined through Finite Element Analysis (FEA) within ANSYS, VRML models of the gear pair and gearbox assembly including gears, shafts, bearings and housing are exported according to the designer requests and sent back to designer on the web browser. To accomplish this, a combination of HTML, JavaScript, VRML, CGI Script and C++ is used. Finally, an example on spur gear design utilizing a parallel gearbox design model configuration is discussed.

The development of computer‐integrated design systems requires formal models of engineering design. Object‐oriented approaches promise to have a major impact in this area. Two types of engineering design models that could be implemented using an object‐oriented approach are product models, which describe the physical entities that are designed, and process models, which describe design processes. The main difference between these two models is whether the objects implement physical entities or design activities. A general discussion of models for engineering design is presented, followed by more detailed discussion of both product and process models. Object‐oriented concepts are summarized and object‐oriented implementation of product and process models is reviewed. Each implementation consists of objects that bind data and procedures into a single package. The paper then considers how the object‐oriented approach helps to unify product and process models.

Genetic algorithms (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) are the most famous optimization techniques among various modern heuristic optimization techniques. These two approaches identify the solution to a given objective function, but they employ different strategies and computational effort; therefore, a comparison of their performance is needed. This paper presents the application and performance comparison of the PSO and GA optimization techniques for a static synchronous series compensator-based controller design. The design objective is to enhance power system stability. The design problem of the FACTS-based controller is formulated as an optimization problem, and both PSO and GA optimization techniques are employed to search for the optimal controller parameters.

Design is a complex problem solving and knowledge refinement process. Learning is a part of this process that can improve computer based design support systems by using the knowledge representing the experience and expertise of designers. Learning from past design examples, and learning new knowledge during the process of design are closely related activities that must be supported by future computer supported design systems. The paper analyses real design activity and proposes a model of design activity. Then it presents the software architecture of a design agent with learning mechanism. Subsequently, it introduces the knowledge representation in a design system. Finally, the paper presents a sharing learning process in a cooperative design system.

A number of tuning rules have been reported in literature for unstable first order plus time delay processes. However, at least to the author knowledge most of the reported methods fail to give robust performance for process models with time delay equal to or greater than the process time constant. In this work, a robust tuning method based on the modified Smith predictor is proposed for unstable first order plus time delay process models. Set point tracking controller is designed using direct synthesis approach. The PD controller which is used for load disturbance rejection is designed so as to satisfy the Routh Hurwitz's stability criterion. Suitable value of the tuning parameter is recommended after studying its effect on the system performance and robustness. This is also an advantage of the present work over the other recently reported strategies where suitable ranges of the tuning parameters' values are provided.

We describe the tools and theory of a comprehensive system for database design, and show how they work together to support multiple conceptual and logical design processes. The Database Design and Evaluation Workbench (DDEW) system uses a rigorous, information-content-preserving approach to schema transformation, but combines it with heuristics, guess work, and user interactions. The main contribution lies in illustrating how theory was adapted to a practical system, and how the consistency and power of a design system can be increased by use of theory. First, we explain why a design system needs multiple data models, and how implementation over a unified underlying model reduces redundancy and inconsistency. Second, we present a core set of small but fundamental algorithms that reaarange a schema without changing its information content. From these reusable components, we easily built larger tools and transformations that were still formally justified. Third, we describe heuristic tools that attempt to improve a schema, often by adding missing information. In these tools, unreliable techniques such as normalization and relationship inference are bolstered by system-guided user interactions to remove errors. We present a rigorous criterion for identifying unnecessary relationships, and discuss an interactive view integrator. Last, we examine the relevance of database theory to building these practically motivated tools and contrast the paradigms of system builders with those of theoreticians.

Creativity is often associated with free expression, dynamic innovation, originality, and insightful, unconstrained genius. Nowhere is this more so than in the practice of design. The embodiment of this myth is the genius designer, from whom creative ideas spring forth naturally, effortlessly. A companion myth within the world of interface and interaction design is that design and user experience experimentation are not allies in creativity; rather, user experience research is in service of creativity, laying the foundations for design inspiration by identifying gaps and needs, or providing summative evaluations of designs.To the first myth, constraints are part of the creative process; creativity is enacted and accomplished in design practice through the judicious application and relaxation of understood and discovered constraints. Constraints help you ask better questions, not simply drive for solutions. Good examples are design systems and frameworks that codify carefully thought-out, and frequently observed constraints; they operate to inform, to codify best practices and principles for design, and to offer useful boundaries that provoke design exploration. To the second, experimentation is a creative act in itself; systematic experimentation can and should be intimately woven into iterative design processes. Experimentation allows options to be tested and explored. Experimentation enables thoughtful exploration of permutation.In this talk I will share stories of collaboration between my team, Material Experience Research, and the designers and developers of Material Design. I will talk about tools for creatives, and the ways in which such tools can enhance rather than constrain and restrict creative exploration. I will discuss research we have been conducting on how good design and user experience principles, codified within design frameworks and systems, spark creativity through provisional constraint.

Coupling Of Synthesis And Layout: Challenges And Solutions

Automatic optimization techniques have been used in recent years to facilitate more rapid analyses of different design options with multiple performance objectives. Typically, this process has been used during new product development. In this paper, a design system is presented, which enables the multipoint, multi-objective optimization of the centrifugal compressor stage aerodynamic components. Moreover, it is applied to a design modification of a multistage compressor, during the manufacturing cycle, for risk mitigation. The system is based on the application of the Isight code for coupling of one dimensional direct design and analysis with multi-objective genetic algorithms, design of experiment, and response surface method. The design system was applied to a redesign of the diffuser, crossover, and return channel of two stages in a multistage compressor. The geometry parameterization is performed by a one dimensional analysis method where the diffuser width, crossover inlet and exit width and associated inner and outer radii, are used to describe the meridional flow path while holding the return vane geometry unchanged. Centrifugal compressor performance parameters, such as polytropic head and efficiency at the client rated point, head rise to surge, and choke flow capacity are evaluated during the optimization process. The example confirmed the validity of the system to perform the optimization of turbomachine components in a time efficient manner to meet production schedule. The system also allowed for a sensitivity analysis of the impact of geometry parameters on the aerodynamic performance, contributing to the development of guidelines for manufacturers to design new products and mitigate the performance risk on test floor.