Trends in Computer Aided Innovation

Design is situated, which means the explicit consideration of the state of environment, the knowledge and experience of the designer and the interaction between the designer and the environment during designing. Central to the notion of situated design is the notion of design situation and constructive memory. When Computer-aided innovation systems (CAIs) are applied in the design, the environment and the situation are different from the traditional design process and environment. The basic principles of some CAIs in the world market are directly related to theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ). Special TRIZ solutions, such as 40 inventive principles and the related cases, are medium-solutions to domain problems. The second stage analogy process is used to generate domain solutions and in this process the TRIZ solutions are used as source designs of analogy-based process. Unexpected discoveries (UXDs) are the key factors to trigger designers to generate new ideas for domain solutions. The type of UXDs for the specific TRIZ solutions is studied and an UXDs-driven contradiction solving for conceptual design is formed. A case study shows the application of the process.

This paper presents a range of computational simulations related to the compatibility of novel ideas that suggest interesting phenomena regarding divergence and convergence, social influence and patterns of change. These computational studies produce insights providing the researcher with another tool to reason about these challenging problems. According to current theory, innovations that are perceived by social groups as having greater compatibility will be adopted more rapidly than other innovations. However, compatibility plays a role in some of the paradoxes of creativity and innovation and its real implications in a range of situations remain unclear.

The paper focuses on the identification and resolution of conflicts and contradictions in complex systems. By constructing simple, computer-based bottom-up models of an exemplar complex system, we show the potential for the emergence of multi-phase macro-level outcomes. We then show how these discontinuous phase-shifts may be modelled as contradictions, and from there, how TRIZ tools can be used to generate innovative solutions.

Based on previous works by the authors on evolutionary architecture paradigm of evolving architectural form, new research is being carried out to develop a virtual environment with system implementation model of evolving creative tower designs. The solid models are created by evolution with computational intelligence and enhanced mathematical models. Models will evolve according to computational intelligence including generic algorithms, particle swarm optimization. Mathematical models include analytical functions, parametric functions and other nonlinear functions. We also present analysis of relationship between evolution and exploration.

The odds for success of a future CAI system (as well as the present CAI movement) are completely dependent on the quality of an underlying theory of innovation and the effectiveness of its tools, processes and models. This paper establishes a set of requirements for such a theory, evaluates existing approaches, methodologies and theories (including TRIZ), and presents an overview of the General Theory of Innovation (GTI) that, in the author’s opinion, satisfies most of the established criteria. The overview includes the theoretical foundation of GTI, a list of available applications, a list of future tasks, and other pertinent information.

This paper focuses on creativity in the process of designing as the foundation of potential innovations resulting from that process. Using an ontological framework that defines distinct stages in designing, it identifies the locations for creativity independently of their embodiment in human designers or computational tools. The paper shows that innovation, a consequence of creativity, can arise from a large variety of processes in designing.

Functional design is a process includes function understanding, function recognition, function representation, function modeling and function-to-structure mapping. The effect in TRIZ is extended by multi-pole effect model and effect chain modes, and then the functions and flows in TRIZ are reclassified. The combinative relationships among functions are discussed, and the function modeling based on effect is proposed. The principle structure is introduced, and the combined rules are presented. The functional design process model for function modeling and function-to-structure mapping is proposed, and the computer-aided functional design software is developed. A design example is presented to demonstrate the proposed functional design methodology.

This paper presents a method for increasing the level of formalization of the description of a problem situation and obtaining a “big picture” of the problem situation in order to be solved by TRIZ and OTSM instruments. The main output of the method is a list of problems to be turned into contradictions. Elements concerning computer support for this approach are discussed.

Patent documents contain important technical knowledge and research results. They have high quality information to inspire designers in product development. However, they are lengthy and have much noisy results such that it takes a lot of human efforts for analysis. And due to the fact that hidden and unanticipated information plays a dominant role for TRIZ user, it is difficult to discern manually, thus, patent analysis has long been considered useful in product innovative process. Automatic tools for assisting innovators and patent engineers in obtaining useful information from patent documents are in great demand. In TRIZ theory, a product design problem can be considered as one or several Contradictions and Inventive Principles. Text mining could be used to analyze these textual documents and extract useful information from large amount documents quickly and automatically. In this paper, a computer-aided approach for extracting useful information from patent documents according to TRIZ Inventive Principles is proposed.

Technology innovation and creative problem solving are necessary for long-term enterprise survival. Making Strategic decisions for product development is a key step in the technical innovation process. Computer-aided innovation (CAI) Systems based on TRIZ (Theory of inventive problem solving) support Strategic ideas generation of innovation. TRIZ methods are applied to assess the maturity of a technical System and to forecast future technological R&D plans. A general process for technology innovation of product supported by CAI System is developed. A case study is presented to show how technology maturity mapping and patterns and lines of evolution are used to predict the future development of butterfly valve’s sealing technology.

Quality and reliability of product is not established completely in detail design process, but is brought out essentially in the course of conceptual design. A potential functional failure analysis method to improve reliability of product based on design axiom in the stage of conceptual design was introduced in this paper. This method provided designers with an analytical and non-probabilistic tool to evaluate the result of conceptual design from the opinion of design axioms. Functional failure modes can be identified by function analysis based on the ideality axiom, the independence axiom and the information axiom. These potential functional failures point out working direction for the latter improving design. A speedy cutting off valve in the TRT (Top Gas Pressure Recovery Turbine) System is studied as an example to illustrate this method’s potential.

InventionTool 3.0, which is a CAI Software based on TRIZ, is created by Institute of Innovation of Hebei University of Technology. Using the CAI Software, designers can solve innovation problem. During the design process, the InventionTools 3.0 plays a very important role. Firstly, the technical evolution module of the InventionTools 3.0, as an effective method, is used to obtained conceptual design and several Solutions. Secondly, using the Complexity Theory based on the Axiomatic Design, the Solutions are analyzed. Finally, according to analysis result, the best solution would be obtained. In this paper, the pill counting System is used as an complexity problem to show how the InventionTool 3.0 and the Complexity Theory based on the Axiomatic Design is applied.

This paper presents a novel Computer supported design System which uses computational approach to producing 3D images for stimulating creativity of designers. It put forward generic algorithm based on a binary tree to generate 3D images. This approach is illustrated by an artwork design example, which uses general complex function expressions to form 3D images of artistic flowers. It shows that approach is able to generate some innovative Solutions and demonstrates the power of computational approach.

Research in the area of the early-stage of innovation concentrates on non-linear innovation environments constituted by the nature of the “fuzzy front end” of innovations in which there are no well-defined problems or goals at that point in time [1,2]. Early-stage-innovation requirements are the general applicability and the support of iterations within the software tools to be developed within future collaborative working environments (CWE). The research presented in this paper focuses on innovators’ every day work and the related needs in todays and future work environments to provide a highly flexible software solution supportive to the early-stage-innovation. The adaptability of the software tools to — which depends on the fulfillment of the users requirements — will be achieved by supporting the real-life work routines of innovation workers and teams; be they co-located or dislocated. In the actor-network theory [3] early-stage-innovation is seen as a social process. Therefore the participation of individuals will be encouraged by the usage of game dynamics to supporting idea generation related workflows. To equalize the dependences of people working together in one place, time zone and personal relationship a database of knowledge and object representations will be implemented in the CWE. The CWE tools support and guide innovators to get connected to the right people, produce ideas based on explored knowledge and evaluate them to achieve the goal of developing successful innovations. The approach presented in the proposed paper is basing on the work carried out by the European funded research project Laboranova.

Problem solving is a key activity for any innovative company. As the dialectical approach has shown its efficiency in problem solving, the starting point of our work is the use of contradiction in problem formulation stage. In this article, we analyse the possibility to use information brought by a Design of Experiments (DoE) to formulate a contradiction. Constraint Satisfaction Problem is employed to present information brought by the DoE. To use the dialectical approach, we define the concept of the Generalised Contradiction (GC). In the framework of DoE data, we show how to formulate a GC, and propose an algorithm able to identify OTSM-TRIZ System of Contradictions. Results and perspectives are discussed.

CAI software products based on TRIZ were successfully applied in superior firms in the world. The Standard Solutions CAI system is one of branch of CAI software. Standard Solutions is important tool for product design. Standard Solutions for innovation firstly models a technical or process problem by Substance-Field (Su-F) Analysis, then synthesizes and converts the problem to acquire a solution. This paper researched on Standard Solutions arithmetic which can be applicable in CAI software product based on Standard Solutions, and established the flow of software. During the development of CAI software product, static models built based on UML were used to construct the configuration of system. For the components of system, dynamic models were used to describe the behaviors of system components. The Standard Solutions CAI software was coded with VC++ language. The interfacial view of this software, which is friendly for users, was created by VC++ combines with XML+XSL. Standard Solutions have great help to innovation design, farther more, its CAI software system help designer adequately apply the theory of Standard Solutions.

The application of standard Information Extraction techniques to Patent Analysis has several limitations partially due to the difference existing between patents and web pages, which are the object of the biggest majority of information search. Indeed, while in other fields customized processing techniques have been developed, the number of studies fully dedicated to patent text mining is very limited and the tools available on the market still require a relevant human workload. This paper presents an algorithm to identify the peculiarities of an invention through an automatic functional analysis of the patent text; as a result a ranked list of components and functions is provided as well as a selection of meaningful paragraphs disclosing the details of the invention. An example related to laser irradiation devices for medical treatment clarifies its basic steps.

This paper presents an innovative tool and method that allow efficient innovation of shape and topology of virtual parts at both mesh and CAD levels using optimization methods. The method consists of automatic variations of shapes in CAD/CAE environments that allow effective search for new shapes that are not considered initially by designers.

The paper presents a methodology developed within the PROSIT project, aimed at the improvement of the product development cycle through the integration of Computer-Aided Innovation systems with Optimization and PLM/EKM systems. The interoperability of these tools is obtained through the adoption of Optimization systems as design analysis means and the definition of formalized and validated procedures and guidelines. The logic of the proposed methodology is explained through a detailed study case related to the design of a plastic wheel for light moto-scooters.

Engine crankshafts are required to be balanced. The balance of a crankshaft is one of several parameters to be analyzed during the design of an engine, but certainly a poor balance leads to a low life time of the whole system. It is possible to optimize the balance of a crankshaft using CAD and CAE software, thanks to the new optimization tools based on Genetic Algorithms (GA) and tools for the integration of the CAD-CAE software. GAs have been used in various applications, one of which is the optimization of geometric shapes, a relatively recent area with high research potential. This paper describes a general strategy to optimize the balance of a crankshaft. A comparison is made among different tools used for the sustaining of this strategy. This paper is an extension of a previous paper by the authors [1] but now different tools are being included to improve the performance of the strategy. The analyzed crankshaft is modeled in commercial 3D parametric software. A Java interface included in the CAD software is used for evaluating the fitness function (the balance). Two GAs from different sources and platforms are used and then they are compared and discussed.

The performance of cars has during recent years become increasingly dependent on complex electronic systems used especially for safety but also comfort, performance and informatics. Automotive winter testing activities in northern Sweden is vital to test and try out those systems. A contradiction to increased performance is that faulty software also causes 30 % of severe malfunctions in the functionality of the car. To deal with these problems, as early in the design process as possible, innovative methods to cope with digital abstraction and the physical world in a unified way seems promising. One useful approach, in automotive winter testing, might be to support the possibilities for real-time vehicle simulations of the car in motion.

The closer collaboration in the automotive industry might be an incitement for investing in technologies for knowledge sharing. Besides enhancing the product development process, additional knowledge might support innovations. Today, instead of providing parts similar to their competitors and relying on one or two automakers, successful suppliers focus heavily on innovation and on collaboration with a number of manufacturers on a global market. Due to the possibilities to visualize whole processes, the use of simulations seems to support a’ seeing first’ approach to innovations.

Thus, the purpose of this paper is to describe an as-is scenario and a to-be scenario for automotive winter testing to highlight how the use of real-time simulations facilitates innovative methods.

In this paper, the trend of FEM which is one of core tools of CAE and the future of CAE are examined in terms of TRIZ concept. This observation leads to the necessity of engineering creativity. This paper reports our successful experiences of implementing systematic innovation tools into engineering design classes. Also potential revolutionary change of engineering education is hinted by extending the accomplishments of TRIZ. It can innovate the current engineering curricula and an on-going study of classifying the engineering activities is introduced.