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Constraint-handling techniques for generative product design systems in the mass customization context

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2013

Axel Nordin ,
Damien Motte ,
Andreas Hopf ,
Robert Bjärnemo  and
Claus-Christian Eckhardt
Axel Nordin*
Affiliation:
Department of Design Sciences, Faculty of Engineering LTH, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Damien Motte
Affiliation:
Department of Design Sciences, Faculty of Engineering LTH, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Andreas Hopf
Affiliation:
Department of Design Sciences, Faculty of Engineering LTH, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Robert Bjärnemo
Affiliation:
Department of Design Sciences, Faculty of Engineering LTH, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Claus-Christian Eckhardt
Affiliation:
Department of Design Sciences, Faculty of Engineering LTH, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
*
Reprint requests to: Axel Nordin, Division of Machine Design, Department of Design Sciences, Faculty of Engineering LTH, Lund University, P.O. Box 118, 221 00 Lund, Sweden. E-mail: axel.nordin@mkon.lth.se
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Abstract

Generative product design systems used in the context of mass customization are required to generate diverse solutions quickly and reliably without necessitating modification or tuning during use. When such systems are employed to allow for the mass customization of product form, they must be able to handle mass production and engineering constraints that can be time-consuming to evaluate and difficult to fulfill. These issues are related to how the constraints are handled in the generative design system. This article evaluates two promising sequential constraint-handling techniques and the often used weighted sum technique with regard to convergence time, convergence rate, and diversity of the design solutions. The application used for this purpose was a design system aimed at generating a table with an advanced form: a Voronoi diagram based structure. The design problem was constrained in terms of production as well as stability, requiring a time-consuming finite element evaluation. Regarding convergence time and rate, one of the sequential constraint-handling techniques performed significantly better than the weighted sum technique. Nevertheless, the weighted sum technique presented respectable results and therefore remains a relevant technique. Regarding diversity, none of the techniques could generate diverse solutions in a single search run. In contrast, the solutions from different searches were always diverse. Solution diversity is thus gained at the cost of more runs, but no evaluation of the diversity of the solutions is needed. This result is important, because a diversity evaluation function would otherwise have to be developed for every new type of design. Efficient handling of complex constraints is an important step toward mass customization of nontrivial product forms.

Keywords

Complex MorphologiesConstraint-Handling TechniquesEvolutionary ComputingGenerative DesignGenetic Algorithms
Type
Regular Articles
Information
AI EDAM , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , November 2013 , pp. 387 - 399
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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