Abstract: Technical-scientific communication is essential, particularly for engineers, because they work in interrelationships with others. Such communication is characterized by three fundamental aspects: graphical, written, and oral transmission. In addition, each communication includes a system of signs and rules, some defined by standards, others adopted in a specific context, allowing information transmission. Finally, essential requirements of any communication are completeness, immediacy, and non-ambiguity. In general, most information exchanges integrate these forms and requirements. Still, they must also consider many aspects that lead to thinking of technical communication as “holistic communication”. Considering the importance of technical-scientific communication in the professional career of engineers, the teaching programs in Engineering schools have begun to include specific activities and experiences to improve the students’ communications skills. Authors think it is necessary to consider these experiences holistically to allow the students to select the kinds of media concerning the information content and reflecting the audience’s needs. This approach could be similar to the design for X approach and may be considered a “communication for X” approach.

Keywords: Engineering Education | Technical communication | Technical product documentation

Abstract: The traditional tools used in steam-chest moulding technologies for the shaping of expanded polymers can be replaced today by lighter moulds, accurately designed and produced exploiting the additive manufacturing technology. New paradigms have to be considered for mould design, assuming that additive manufacturing enables the definition of different architectures that are able to improve the performance of the moulding process. This work describes the strategies adopted for the design and manufacturing by Laser powder bed fusion of the moulds, taking into specific consideration their functional surfaces, which rule the heat transfer to the moulded material, hence the quality of the products and the overall performance of the steam-chest process. The description of a case study and the comparison between the performance of the traditional solution and the new moulds are also presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new approach. This study demonstrates that the re-design and optimization of the mould shape can lead to a significant reduction of the energy demand of the process, thanks to a homogeneous delivery of the heating steam throughout the part volume, which also results in a remarkable cutting of the cycle time.

Keywords: Additive manufacturing | Expanded polymers | Mould design | Steam-chest moulding

Abstract: Goal: To provide a Multiple Emergency Ventilator (MEV) as backup in case of shortage of ICU ventilators and for use in camp hospitals. Methods: MEV provides the same oxygen mixture and peak inspiratory pressure (PIP) to 10 patients. These specifications were fixed: i) gas supply and plugs to double-limb intubation sets compatible to existing systems; ii) fluid-dynamics with no pressure drop and almost complete patients' uncoupling; iii) individual monitoring of inspiratory and expiratory pressures and flows and control of their timing; iv) easy stocking, transport, installation with self-supporting pipes. Results: A Bell-Jar System (BJS) design permitted to safely fix PIP based on Archimedes' law. The main distribution line was based on 2' stainless steel pipes assuring the required mechanical properties and over-dimensioned for fluidics. The Windkessel of the BJS and pipeline dead-volumes is 75.65 L and in the worst case of the instantaneous demand of 5 L by 10 patients (0.5 L each) shows an adiabatic PIP drop limited to -6.18%, confirming the needed uncoupling. Consequently, patients' asynchrony is permitted as needed by pressure-controlled volume-guaranteed and assisted-ventilation. Conclusions: Although MEV is proposed as a backup system, its features may cover the whole set of ventilation modes required by ICU ventilation.

Keywords: assisted ventilation | COVID-19 pandemic | ICU mechanical ventilation | pressure-controlled and volume-guaranteed ventilation

Abstract: This paper presents a modularity analysis for the design of complex products, based on domain theory, applied to the case study of the design of an electro-solar vessel to be implemented in South American rivers. The proposed approach allows obtaining graphical information from the functional analysis tools, about the interaction between functional modules or organs of the system in terms of material, energy, or information flows; useful to analyze the functional architecture, the types of modularity and the interactions in the system. This information is complemented with the approach to the physical architecture of the system identifying interferences and restrictions. This information is intended to be useful in the development of methods or methodologies for the definition of the assembly sequence.

Abstract: The design process of industrial products considers different aspects of the product lifecycle to make decisions about the functionality, manufacturability, usability, among other aspects related to the user interaction. Assembly sequence definition is an important phase of the product development process that is normally defined during the detailed design stage, and it is mainly based on skill and experience of manufacturing designers. The prospect to automatically identify possible assembly sequences at early stages of the design process, starting from contact or liaison information between components extracted from 3D CAD models would lead up to reduce time and costs, and would give interactive information for support designers during decision making activities. In this way, authors propose a computer application, so called Automatic Sequence Planner for Industrial Products (ASPIP), to automatically identify assembly sequences of an industrial product. The core of the application is based on an existent approach for Assembly Sequence Analysis, which is followed and presented step by step to enable the designer to create the assembly sequence. The tool enables the analysis of the liaison graph of the components of the product, which is automatically obtained from a kinematically stable CAD model, and automatically obtains a list of assembly sequences with at least one feasible sequence. The assembly sequence analysis of an industrial product is presented as a validation of the functionality of the application ASPIP.

Keywords: Assembly Modeling Liaisons | Assembly Sequence Analysis | Assembly Sequence Planning | Computer Aided Systems | Feasible Assembly Sequence

Abstract: Metal additive manufacturing is proposed as route for the manufacturing of moulds for expanded polymer parts. The traditional tools used in steam-chest moulding technologies can be replaced by lighter moulds accurately designed and produced by the laser-powder bed fusion technology, with significantly reduced thermal capacity and optimized ability to homogeneously deliver the steam throughout the part volume. The general design approach is described and the performance of the innovative tested solution is presented by the discussion of a case study. The experimental tests carried out on the moulds and moulding equipment prototypes showed remarkable reduction in cycle times and energy consumption when compared to a traditional steam-chest moulding used to print the same product.

Keywords: Additive manufacturing | Expanded polymers | Laser powder bed fusion | Mould design | Steam-chest moulding

Abstract: The use of Augmented Reality (AR) to support assembly tasks has been an area of interest from its origins in the 90s. Since then, the benefits that this technology could bring to assembly-related tasks have been shown. And, although several advances have been done in different areas such as software, hardware, and human interaction, there are still some problems that have not allowed AR to expand and reach its full potential. Thereby, authors propose a real-time vibrotactile guidance method based on the Gestalt continuity principle and developed a Haptic Augmented Reality application with a low-cost configuration to evaluate the support of the proposed method in assembly tasks. Thus, it potentially overcomes the existing visual issues of AR allowing the user to focus on the task and avoid over-reliance into the technology. The proposed system recognizes the different parts and sub-assemblies, generates the instructions to perform the assembly based on the target position and rotation of each part and verifies the assembly. Additionally, a test was conducted to guide the user in positioning a part, obtaining a high accuracy of rotation and location placement. Also, different functions of the application were tested and the results are suitable for supporting the user guidance.

Keywords: Assembly guidance | Augmented Reality | Haptic | Object recognition | User interaction

Abstract: The level of interest and perceived value of engineering students in a multinational collaborative design project experience is reported in this paper. The report establishes a comparison based on geographical location and class standing of the participants. For this purpose, a survey was used to collect demographic data and students’ feedback on questions based on the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) survey, which permits to evaluate five constructs, being interest and perceived value the ones considered in this work as indicators of motivation. The data was collected from students participating in the collaborative design project. These students were at seven institutions in six countries (USA, Honduras, Ecuador, Brazil, Chile, and Italy). The analysis of the data collected shows that students have a high level of interest and value the experience, with some numerical differences based on geographic location and class standing, but only significant difference based on class standing. These results are of importance when considering multinational collaborations in a generation of students moving towards a smart society, indicating a level of motivation that is mainly affected by academic maturity.

Keywords: Interest | International collaboration | Multinational projects | Value

Abstract: In today's world, it has become very common to find engineers working on multinational projects. As a result, educational institutions need to prepare students to succeed in this global working environment by providing educational experiences, where the required professional skills can be acquired. The authors have used multinational design projects as a project-based learning activity to prepare students with global competencies. However, as any other learning activity, the pedagogical effectiveness of those projects depends largely on the intrinsic motivation and interest of students. Therefore, the main goal of this paper was to determine the level of motivation of engineering students participating in a multinational collaborative design project, and make a comparison of such indicator based on gender, geographical location, and class standing. For this purpose, a survey based on the intrinsic motivation inventory was administered to students before starting their participation in the multinational project. The data collected provide information in five constructs: interest, perceived competence, pressure, perceived choice, and value. These constructs provide an indication about students' motivation when undertaking a multinational collaborative project. The engineering design collaboration included students from six different countries, and their responses to the questionnaire were analyzed. A total of 164 responses were considered valid, their responses were statistically analyzed for internal consistency, and proper constructs are selected. Results indicate that there was a high level of motivation to participate in the project, with few significant differences based on geographical location and class standing, not gender. This paper yields good information about students' interests, beliefs, and feelings when participating in an international collaborative project.

Keywords: gender comparison | interest and value | international collaboration | multinational project | Student motivation

Abstract: Nowadays global collaborative environments in the corporate world require engineers with professional global competences. In response to such need, different active-learning initiatives have been introduced in academia to prepare engineering students with the necessary knowledge, skills and attitude to be competitive in the global market. Consequently, multinational design projects have been used by the authors as means of introducing professional global skills to engineering students while exposing them to a project-based learning experience. This educational activity faces many challenges including cultural and academic background differences, language and time zone barriers, and issues with communication tools among others. Therefore, this activity is expected to motivate students so they can start developing the professional skills that will help them to overcome difficulties and to carry out the project successfully. This work studies the motivation of students before and after participating in a multinational design project and makes a comparison of this parameter's results based on the effect of gender. To accomplish this objective, the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) was adapted to the multinational experience and administered to the participating students. For this study, three motivation constructs are taken into consideration: (a) interest/enjoyment, (b) perception of choice, and (c) perceived competence. Results are discussed based on the research questions posted for this work, and some reflections based on the results are presented.

Keywords: Gender differences | International collaboration | Multinational project | Student motivation

Abstract: The great majority of the design methods seems to neglect the importance of the final stages of the design process, where first product architecture and then product details are defined. Nevertheless, almost all the design methods experts agree that details can ruin a good concept, but cannot rescue a poor concept, implicitly recognizing the advantage that will result from anticipating the main embodiment and detail design issues in the early phases of the design process. In order to solve this contradiction, authors have theoretically conceived and practically deployed the architecture of a data management system capable to store, manage and retrieve the practical solutions that are likely to be the more promising for a given specific design or re-design problem. This data management system is deeply rooted in the theories behind the systematic design methods, and, furthermore encompass the data structure defined in the systematic design approach, as well as the software tools nowadays well integrated in the design process, such as PDM and/or PLM systems.

Keywords: Detail Design | Embodiment | Smart Solution Catalog | Systematic Design

Abstract: The need for more flexible tools and reduction of time and cost has led to the implementation of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) techniques in the product design and development process. Those techniques have already been used in the conceptual, manufacturing and assembly stages of product design instead of or in extension of the physical prototypes. Such virtual applications have demonstrated superior performance in assembly process design and evaluation of activities that present information about different assembly states in real time, thanks to their flexibility in manipulating and creating new working scenarios. Here, the development of an AR application, called PoliART, aimed at the visual evaluation of assembly sequences at early stages of design is presented. At an industrial level this allows collaborative work between designers and manufacturing engineers from the very beginning in order to consider assembly devices, times and resources, with a short implementation time and reduced costs.

Keywords: ASA | Assembly process | Assembly sequence analysis | Augmented reality | Authoring tool | Computer aided engineering | Evaluation tool

Abstract: Multinational teams working in engineering solutions are becoming a common practice in many industries around the world because companies are interested in capitalizing on human resources dispersed globally. This practice has increased significantly due to advancements in information and communication technologies (ICT). The effectiveness of those geographically dispersed teams has been a topic of interest for the authors of this paper particularly the interaction among the team members since the literature recognizes that teams achieve better results when the interaction is strong and the social level of interaction is significant; additionally, that the working environment is more conducive to a positive experience when social interaction is built. This paper presents a description of the findings based on the data collected in a study done on the interaction of teams in a multinational collaborative design project carried out by students from six different countries dispersed in the US, Latin America and Europe. The main objective of this study is to use an assessment tool to evaluate the interaction among the students focusing in its nature, preferred communication tools and perceived value, with a special interest in the observed differences based on cultural backgrounds due to geographical location.

Keywords: collaborative projects | multinational teams | teams' interaction

Abstract: The design of a new product begins with functional analysis, and then continues with conceptual solution. Only in final and somehow separate stages, the designer has to embody and then to design in detail any part of the product. Even if the great majority of the recent developments in design methods and tools are devoted to the first two and more abstract steps of the product development process, as shown above, the last two steps are the among the more common activities of a design office, and are also the more time and resource consuming steps. These considerations apply not only to the design of a new product, but also to the very common re-design activity, where the past experience plays an important role in "suggesting" how to avoid "trouble". In order to overcome these limitations, the structure of an archive is presented, discussed and applied to a practical case study. This catalogue is the result of a tailoring process of an amalgamation of the Systematic Design catalogues with the aim of easing and anticipating the issues typically relegated to embodiment and detail design, in order to recognize as soon as possible practically unfeasible concepts.

Keywords: Design engineering | Design methodology | Design methods | Design practice | Embodiment design

Abstract: Exposing students to international experiences is becoming a common practice to prepare students with global capabilities. One pedagogical activity used to promote global competencies is the participation of students in multinational design projects. This is a problem-based learning approach in an international setting, where students get immersed in the solution of anengineering design task while they work in teams and collaborate with international partners. The main goal of these projects is to foster international collaboration and to offer an opportunity to the students to develop professional skills through international teamwork effort in the solution of a design problem. However, a real challenge of this practice has been to create an effective interaction among the students participating in this type of projects and to maintain the flow of information, and student engagement in the project and in their learning. The main objective of this work is to investigate the sociotechnical interaction of engineering students working in a multinational collaborative project and the role of information technology tools and the nature of the interaction in this experience. For this purpose an assessment tool was developed and used to determine the interaction among the students (frequency, quantity and quality), the value of social interaction in the flow of the interaction, and the impact of the interaction in the development of the project. The main findings of this instrument are presented in this work.

Keywords: Collaborative projects | Global teams | Interaction assessment | International collaboration

Abstract: Today, a clear and efficient communication requires a large use of graphical and pictorial signs, which are used in place of a text. In fact, the use of the text in the communication leads to comprehension problems to the reader in several daily situations. An example could be the case of the road signs. The road signs represent an application of technical communication with the aim of transmitting some contents by means of a system of signs, graphical symbols, and alphanumerical characters. The problem considered in this study is linked to the textual messages, generally placed below the road signs, which are written in a specific language. Adding texts to the road signs can lead to the reduction of their comprehension, especially for foreign drivers and/or pedestrians, and could require a time for reading them, which is incompatible with the traffic requirements. In the current situation, where we are having an increase of business and leisure trips, and with a more and more multiethnic society, the urgency of this issue has become more important. All these cases often present language issues. This article, therefore, aims at proposing a general method useful to “translate” the texts written below the road signs into graphical forms. The starting point of this idea is that the graphical language can be a universal communication form, able to overcome the language and the cultural differences.

Keywords: driving behavior | road users | safety | traffic

Abstract: The drawings archive of a company is an important font of information that could be used during the design process. In fact, it is a collection of known and proven solutions to design problems and, also, the drawings include a variety of information useful to design such as physical principles to achieve a function or solutions of particular machine design problems. The use of these data is however conditioned by easiness of access to the information. Normally, the drawings archive is not structured in a useful manner for the design and the retrieve of the information contained requires effort and time that are not often available to the designer. The use of database systems and informatics tools, as Product Data Management (PDM) or Product Life-cycle Management (PLM) systems, can allow company to add more attributes to the drawing during its storage, allowing a different access to the information. This work proposes an example about the organization of the information based on the functional structure of a product. The organization proposed was also used to catalogue the data stored in relation to the standards required to the product. This to demonstrate how much information is hided into the historical archives of a company and how much it could be useful during the design process. © (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.

Keywords: Drawings archive | Methods and tools for design | Systematic design

Abstract: The new business model and global operations of many enterprises have brought new challenges for engineers working in multinational companies. These new trends and the need of educating world-class engineers with global competencies have opened opportunities for new educational models to expose students to international experiences to start developing those capabilities. One pedagogical activity used to promote global competencies is the participation of students in multinational design projects, which is a problem-based learning approach in an international setting, where students get immersed in the solution of an engineering design task while they work in teams and collaborate with international partners. Consequently, a collaborative network of institutions from the Americas and Italy has developed and executed collaborative multinational design projects as part of academic experiences for their students. The main goal of these projects is to foster international collaboration and to offer an opportunity to the students to develop professional skills through international teamwork effort in the solution of a design problem. However, a real challenge of this practice has been to create an effective interaction among the students participating in this type of projects and to maintain the flow of information, and student engagement in the project and in their learning. Therefore, this paper reports the work related to an assessment approach used to monitor students' interaction in multinational collaborative projects. The main objectives of the proposed assessment tool are: (a) to evaluate the interaction among the students (frequency, quantity and quality); (b) to determine the value of social interaction in the flow of the interaction; (c) to determine the impact of interaction in the development of the project. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2014.

Abstract: The new business model and global operations of many enterprises have brought new challenges for engineers working in multinational companies. These new trends and the need of educating world-class engineers with global competencies have opened opportunities for new educational models to expose students to international experiences to start developing those capabilities. One pedagogical activity used to promote global competencies is the participation of students in multinational design projects, which is a problem-based learning approach in an international setting, where students get immersed in the solution of an engineering design task while they work in teams and collaborate with international partners. Consequently, a collaborative network of institutions from the Americas and Italy has developed and executed collaborative multinational design projects as part of academic experiences for their students. The main goal of these projects is to foster international collaboration and to offer an opportunity to the students to develop professional skills through international teamwork effort in the solution of a design problem. However, a real challenge of this practice has been to create an effective interaction among the students participating in this type of projects and to maintain the flow of information, and student engagement in the project and in their learning. Therefore, this paper reports the work related to an assessment approach used to monitor students' interaction in multinational collaborative projects. The main objectives of the proposed assessment tool are: (a) to evaluate the interaction among the students (frequency, quantity and quality); (b) to determine the value of social interaction in the flow of the interaction; (c) to determine the impact of interaction in the development of the project.

Keywords: Education computing | Engineering education | International cooperation

Abstract: Today the assembly sequence for the products is often carried out manually and its definition, typically, is very expensive, not guaranteeing optimal solutions. Coming up with an efficient assembly sequence is the essential step to improve process productivity and reduces the time and costs related to assembly machines and equipment. The issue related to the assembly sequence of a product depends on the total number of the its components. In particular, the number of the possible sequences can be obtained through the calculus of the factorial of the number of the product components. This work presents an automatic approach intended to define assembly sequences, based on the information regard the contacts and the interferences existing among the components, which is obtained by the assembly CAD model of the product. The level of the information required by this approach allows its implementation at early stages of design, as soon as the layout of the conceptual solution of the product is defined, independently by the method used to model the CAD assembly. The procedure proposed is focused to obtain a reduced number of assembly sequences, guaranteeing that there is at least one feasible assembly sequence among them. The procedure is oriented to iteratively identify independent and important subassemblies into the CAD assembly, then merge them to specific assembling nodes and generate sequences until the whole product is analyzed. After a brief review of current methodologies developed for assembly planning, in this paper, the automated procedure for assembly sequence generation is explained and applied on an example, obtaining feasible solutions. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.

Keywords: Assembly sequence analysis | Automatic assembly sequences definition | Computer aided assembly planning | Design for assembly

Abstract: Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to define an approach to extract the liaison graph from a 3D CAD model and analyze a method to find at least a feasible assembly sequence for the product. The method could be useful to search the optimal sequence of assembling for a product, by comparing different sequences extracted in automatic mode from a 3D CAD model. Design/methodology/ approach - The method proposed analyzes the liaison graph extracted, in order to obtain the possible assembly sequences for the product under study. The extraction of the sequences is based on some attributes and parameters of the graph. Findings - By means of the method proposed it is possible to obtain in automatic mode the liaison graph of an assembly 3D CAD model. Moreover, the study of the graph obtained allows the definition of all the assembly sequences for the product. Finally, it is possible to analyse the sequences found to select the optimal sequence. Research limitations/implications - The major limitation of the approach is, actually, the great number of impossible sequences that are extracted. For this, a little intervention by the user is required. Practical implications - The application of the method allows the manufacturer to analyze and study the optimal assembly sequence without the direct use of a CAD system. The approach could be used at the early stage of the design process and by means of the database of the PDM/PLM systems. Originality/value - The approach proposed in the paper is an original method to extract a liaison graph from a 3D CAD model. The approach to extract the assembly sequences was compared with other methods and good results have been obtained. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Keywords: Assembly | Assembly modelling | Assembly sequences planning | Modelling | Process planning

Abstract: Design can be defined as the human activity aimed to conceive and develop the "best" constructive solution, capable to perform a given function. In this paper we will present the conception of a data base capable to archive constructive solutions related to a given function. The aim of this DB is to be the starting point of the design process and a useful tool for the designer. The structure of this database has been conceived starting from the schema of the design process, in order to store a functional model derived from several functional representations available in the technical literature.

Keywords: Design method | Functional modeling | Knowledge storage

Abstract: Knowledge transfer from biologists to engineers is one of the main obstacles to the diffusion of biomimetic. An approach to overcome this obstacle is presented and discussed. This approach is based on a construct to describe high-level engineering functions stored in a relational database together with a species grouping based on a functional classification, the corresponding biological solutions and the 'official' taxonomy. Several relationships among the keys allow extracting and organising the stored knowledge both from the engineering and from the biological point of view. An engineer can extract from this database all the biological solutions of a function formulated in the 'engineer's language', and then determine the more suitable solution for his/her specific problem. © 2011 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Keywords: biomimetic | function representation | knowledge transfer | technical function grammar

Abstract: The big effort spent by researchers towards green vehicles, capable to reduce pollutant emissions and fuel consumption, is directed to the analysis of hybrid electrical vehicles. The design of hybrid vehicles drive train requires a complete system analysis including the control of the energy given from the on board source, the optimization of the electric and electronic devices installed on the vehicle and the design of all the mechanical connections between the different power sources to reach required performances. The aim of this paper is to point out some results obtained from the energetic model and from the experimental tests performed on the plug-in hybrid electrical vehicle (PHEV), realized, in prototypal version, at the Dipartimento di Meccanica of the Politecnico di Milano [1]. In particular the paper focuses the attentions on the benefits achieved with a Start&Stop energy management strategy. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Keywords: Energetic model | Energy control strategy | Plug-in hybrid hev | Pollutant emission

Abstract: In recent years, especially in the city environment, the mobility demand has favoured the increment of the transport on two wheels. This increase is due to the small size of the motorcycle vehicles that allows both to fit easily in tight spaces and to guarantee a certain level of flexibility to the users in the congested traffic. In this trend higher attention must be paid on the training of future riders. So, the research work undertaken is devoted to give a possible solution for the problem by means of the study and the realization of a motorcycle simulator. The first step of the research, reported in this paper, has been focused on the study of the visualization system of the simulator. To improve the riding experience simulated the visualization system has been characterized by the tracking of an head mounted display (HMD) that permits to calculate the rotation of the user's head and so of the point of view in the virtual environment, This has been initially used to conduct different tests in order to evaluate the user's perception level of road signs. The test has been performed in two different environment (urban and rural) with different weather condition (sun, rain and fog) to modify the depth perception. The relative simple conditions of riding permit to ignore the ride ability of the user thus evaluating only the visual perception. Measuring the time perception and the number of perceived signs it was possible to demonstrate the efficiency of the tested visualization system despite of a traditional one like a monitor. © Organizing Committee of TMCE 2010 Symposium.

Keywords: Perception of road signs | Riding simulator | Tracked head mounted display | Virtual reality

Abstract: Knowledge transfer from biologists to engineers is one of the main obstacles to the diffusion of Biomimetic. An approach to overcome this obstacle is presented and discussed. This approach is based on a construct to describe high-level engineering functions stored in a relational data-base together with a species grouping based on a functional classification, the corresponding biological solutions and the "official" taxonomy. Several relationships among the keys allow extracting and organizing the stored knowledge both from the engineering and from the biological point of view. Trough this data-base, an engineer can extract all the biological solutions of a function formulated in the "engineer's language", and then determine the more suitable solution for his/her specific problem. © Organizing Committee of TMCE 2010 Symposium.

Keywords: Bi-directional knowledge transfer | Biological knowledge in engineering science | Biomimetic | Engineering knowledge in biology | Functional description | Principles and solutions description | Relational data-base

Abstract: Design processes are leading to the reduction of product development time and costs. This trend applies to the evaluation of function, architecture and high level information as far as possible at early stages of product design in order to allow the designer to compare radically different solutions rather than proceeding with fine tuning of a single option. Specifically, design of assembly processes requires information regarding neighborhood, interfaces and interactions between product components from product architecture definition stage, difficult to reach at early stages of design. Besides, assembly process concerns human interaction which is considered in a subjective way when it is analyzed as a design parameter, enterprise-specific conditions, and many suppositions derived from queries of skilled staff. So, an automated tool working with general abstract information available at early stages of design could be able to present more realistic behavior against methodologies with specific hypotheses and rules. In this work an automated method to find feasible assembly sequences without human intervention, in contrast with several solutions presented by different authors, is proposed. The developed method starts with the acquisition and evaluation of topological information of interaction between components of a discrete mechanical product at the early stages of concept and embodiment design [16], followed by the identification and hierarchical classification of independent minimum level subassemblies until the completion of the assembly procedure of the system obtaining at least one feasible assembly sequence. In this way an automated tool which yields a finite discrete number of feasible assembly sequences from all possible assembly solutions, is presented. © Organizing Committee of TMCE 2010 Symposium.

Keywords: Assembly sequence analysis | Automatic assembly sequence definition | Computer aided assembly planning | Design for assembly

Abstract: Nature is a starting point to analyse and to conceive solutions for complex systems, and a reservoir of inspiration to provide innovative answers to the product development as well as to the interaction between man and nature: this is the first key idea that the authors would like to transmit to the new generations of engineers and designers. Furthermore, it is also important to embed the development of technology within a sustainable development frame-work: from this point of view the authors are encouraging students to develop a particular case-study.

Keywords: Bionics | Design education | Theory of technical systems | TRIZ

Abstract: Achieving a strict correlation between academic and industrial world is an important development direction in the engineering education field. The authors' first step along this path was the activation of several courses on methodical design, and the second step was the activation of a tight cooperation with industries, so that students could develop their thesis facing up to real problems. The fundamental advantages of this approach are: a) accustom the students to follow a design method; b) increase students' ability to find out and to consider "all" the possible solutions for a given problem, with the scope to choose the "best" one; c) increase students' ability to evaluate solutions' behaviour; d) possibility for the students to follow the production of the designed or modified machine. From the educational point of view, the two important aspects of this particular work are: a) The cooperation with the industrial world: the design was developed in cooperation with a company specialized in die-cutter machine production. The company realised and now produces a new machine based on this work. b) The application and integration of several design methods.

Keywords: Design education | Design methods | Die-cutting machine

Abstract: Today it is necessary to furnish the right information about the product. These supports include manuals for the use and the maintenance of the product that must be translated in the language of the customer. This translation is expensive and often contains errors that are source of misunderstandings. So, the design of the product must be now strongly oriented to satisfy the integration between product functionality, service support and communication. Take account of this consideration during the process of definition and designing of new products is very important. This paper is devoted to explain some considerations about the use and the selection of pictorial signs to reduce the text quantity in the instruction manuals for the products.

Keywords: Industrial communication | Industrial product | Instruction for product use

Abstract: This work deals with the definition of a virtual approach to the ergonomic analysis of the installation of a bulky technical product. Both the weight and the size could create difficulties to the users managing it during the transport, unpacking, and installation phases. This study is developed over two steps: the first step regards the execution of laboratory tests to carry out a physical description of the movement required to manage the product. Based on the results of the first step, in the second phase a virtual simulation of the movement required for the product installation is realized. Once terminated both the physical and the virtual tests, the results from the two models are compared to verify the correspondence of the virtual model with the real one through the comparison of a typical ergonomic parameter for lifting task that is the measure of the forces on the L4 and L5 inter-vertebral disk of the subject executing the test. The objectives of the work are the validation of the results of the physical test and the virtual analysis, to demonstrate the feasibility of pre-prototype tests by using a simulacrum (made of polystyrene) of an industrial product instead of a real prototype, and, finally, the use of human manikin software for the study of ergonomics of the mounting and maintenance operations. Copyright © 2005 SAE International.

Abstract: This work deals with the analysis of the API (American Petroleum Institute) normative that regards controlled volume pumps for use in the petroleum and gas industries. The API normative is utilised as an example for a generic process of understanding a normative and making it applicable inside the design process, in order to reduce the time requested to verify the compliance of the product with the standard.