This paper presents a knowledge-based system "KBCS", the "Knowledge-based conceptual synthesiser" that supports the synthetic phase of conceptual design. It was developed using an expert system shell called CLIPS. By using this knowledge, physical behaviour can be derived from a desired function or desired behaviour, and a functional model which represents causal relationships among the functions and behaviours can be created. In addition, complicated desired functions which cannot be matched with the functional output of any behaviour after searching the object-oriented behaviour base, will be automatically decomposed into subfunctions by means of relevant function decomposition rules. A case study for the conceptual synthesis of an automatic assembly system provides an application of this intelligent design environment, and a demonstration of its methodology. In this paper we also describe how two popular AI representation techniques, object-oriented representation and production rule representation, can be usefully integrated to solve the problem.
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Zhang, W., Tor, S. & Britton, G. A Prototype Knowledge-Based System for Conceptual Synthesis of the Design Process. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 17, 549–557 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s001700170137
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s001700170137