Abstract:

It is of great practical value to design adaptable-function product. The research of this kind of product is still lacking. Based on a study of the behavioral process characteristics of the mechatronic products, behavioral process is Categorized into basic behavioral process and teleological behavioral process, as such points out the fact that it is due to the similarity of basic behavioral processes that makes it feasible to redesign existing products for a new adaptable-function product. Besides, the greater the similarity, the more feasible the redesign. After mapping the same or similar basic behavioral process to some structural components, it proposes a quantitative method for evaluation of similarity of the components. By extracting the components with maximum similarity, it is able to identify the shared components, as well as to determine the products to be redesigned. Furthermore, it is noted that one of the most essential problems to be tackled in redesign is to design the interface between the shared and non-shared components. To this end, it proposes two rules to be followed as well as two methods to be applied. A case study of redesigning two mechatronic products, namely an electric ice-shaker and an electric vegetable-shredder, for an adaptable-function product is also presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed methodologies.

Key words: interface, redesign for functional adaptability, structural similarity, mechatronic product