Abstract: The independence axiom in Axiomatic design (AD) states that the independence of functional requirements (FRs) must always be ensured. However, it does not provide corresponding methods to remove FRs’ dependence. Based on systematic in-ventive thinking (SIT), a new method is proposed to decouple the coupled design in AD. First, the relationship and consistency of AD and SIT are analyzed. Then a decoupling model is constructed based on SIT. According to the model, a structured approach is proposed to deal with the coupled FRs. This method first deals with the design problem using AD framework by zigzagging between the functional domain and physical domain, then rearranges the binary design matrix and identifies the coupled FRs and depicts the coupled FRs depicted using the SIT description mode. According to the reformulating problem, proper thinking strategies and idea provoking techniques are selected to obtain an inventive solution, which is described with simple sentences. Finally, new design parameters are selected to validate the solution, so the coupled FRs are decoupled. This method is very novel and available, which avoids measuring functional dependency, tuning parameter, or searching alterna-tive technological concepts. An example of vibration and noise of flushing facility is demonstrated to validate the method.

Key words: Axiomatic design, Coupled design, Decoupling, Systematic inventive thinking