Design is a process of generating a description of a set of methods that satisfy all requirements. Generally speaking, a design process model consists of the following four major activities: analysis of a problem, conceptual design, embodiment design, and detailing design. Among these, the conceptual design stage is considered a higher level design phase, which requires more creativity, imagination, intuition, and knowledge than detail design stages. Conceptual | Chang C. Alec et al Intelligent Design Retrieving Systems Using Neural Networks Computational Intelligence in Manufacturing Handbook Edited by Jun Wang et al Boca Raton CRC Press LLC 2001 7 Intelligent Design Retrieving Systems Using Neural Networks C. Alec Chang University of Missouri - Columbia Chieh-Yuan Tsai Yuan-Ze University Introduction Characteristics of Intelligent Design Retrieval Structure of an Intelligent System Performing Fuzzy Association Implementation Example Introduction Design is a process of generating a description of a set of methods that satisfy all requirements. Generally speaking a design process model consists of the following four major activities analysis of a problem conceptual design embodiment design and detailing design. Among these the conceptual design stage is considered a higher level design phase which requires more creativity imagination intuition and knowledge than detail design stages. Conceptual design is also the phase where the most important decisions are made and where engineering science practical knowledge production methods and commercial aspects are brought together. During conceptual design designers must be aware of the component structures such as important geometric features and technical attributes that match a particular set of functions with new design tasks. Several disciplines such as variant design analogical design and case-based design have been explored to computerize the procedure of conceptual design in CAD systems. These techniques follow similar problem-solving paradigms that support retrieval of an existing design specification for the purpose of adaptation. In order to identify similar existing designs the development of an efficient design retrieval mechanism is of major concern. Design retrieval mechanisms may range from manual search to computerized identification systems based on tailored criteria such as targeted features. Once a similar design is identified a number of
