Abstract
The parameter analysis method of conceptual design is studied in this paper with the help of C–K theory. Each of the fundamental design activities—idea generation, implementation of the idea as hardware and evaluation—is explained and defined as a specific sequence of C–K operators. A case study of designing airborne decelerators is used to demonstrate the modeling of the parameter analysis process in C–K terms. The theory is used to explain how recovery from an initial fixation took place, leading to a breakthrough in the design process. It is shown that the innovative power of parameter analysis is based on C-space “de-partitioning” and that the efficient strategy exhibited by parameter analysis can be interpreted as steepest-first, controlled by an evaluation function of the design path. This logic is explained as generalization of branch-and-bound algorithms by a learning-based, dynamically evolving evaluation function and exploration of a state space that keeps changing during the actual process of designing.
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Notes
Hardware descriptions or representations are used as generic terms for the designed artifact; however, nothing in the current work excludes software, services, user experience and similar products of the design process.
‘Heuristic’ here means an experience-based technique, rule of thumb, intuitive method, etc.
Connecting design to search, which is the process of exploring a state space, has been studied quite intensively and many techniques are available. An overview can be found in Dym and Brown (2012).
‘True’ here does not imply absoluteness; rather, it means that something is considered correct or valid in the designer’s mind.
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Acknowledgments
The first author is grateful to the chair of “Design Theory and Methods for Innovation” at Mines ParisTech for hosting him for furthering this research. This work was supported by the Israel Science Foundation under Grant No. 546/12.
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Kroll, E., Le Masson, P. & Weil, B. Steepest-first exploration with learning-based path evaluation: uncovering the design strategy of parameter analysis with C–K theory. Res Eng Design 25, 351–373 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00163-014-0182-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00163-014-0182-8