Automatic Definition of Density-Driven Topology Optimization with Graph-Based Design Languages

Today, the product development process is characterized by increasing diversity. A trend towards customer-tailored products can be observed. This trend demands new processes for product development and manufacturing. Increasing product individuality up to lot size one can be faced with methods, which automate the design process and avoid redundant manual work. As the number of tools involved in the product development process is ever-increasing, one goal is to eliminate the distribution of knowledge into several software tools and begin with one central and consistent data model from where all the software tools used can be triggered automatically. This goal can be addressed by using graph-based design languages [1], which themselves are based on the Unified Modeling Language (UML). On the manufacturing side, one technology can be seen in the additive manufacturing process. For finding a good structure, a combination of additive manufacturing and topology optimization can be advantageous because of the ability of additive manufacturing to create almost arbitrary geometry. Using the example of a lightweight quadrocopter, we propose a graph-based design language which integrates topology optimization and can cover different aspects of the multi-disciplinary product development process: requirements, abstract product functions, design constraints (i.e. equations) and costs among others. The topology optimization triggered by the design language can take into account different product configurations (i.e. packaging configurations) and accordingly makes design proposals (i.e. structural proposals for the frame of the quadrocopter). The executable nature of the graph-based design language reduces the design time significantly.