JP2000172739A - Design supporting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide information having relevance to a factor of a design object. SOLUTION: A relational factor extracting part 4 analyzes relevance data indicating the relationship between factors stored in a relational database 5 and extracts a factor related to the factor of a design factor directly or indirectly through another factor. An information displaying part 3 shows the extracted factor together with the design information of the factor stored in the design information database. A graphic displaying part 8 highlights the shape display of a part shown by a factor included in the extracted factor on the part 8.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a design support device for supporting a design.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is necessary to design a product by considering a large number of elements that can be classified into a plurality of categories representing quality, function, structure, economy, etc. from various aspects and comprehensively. There is. Here, each of these elements usually has an association with another element. Therefore, when determining the design value of one element, it is necessary to consider the influence of the design value on other elements.

Incidentally, as these classifications, classifications having a hierarchical relationship are sometimes set. For example, classification and elements may be set hierarchically, such as classification of elements relating to the structure of a product and classification of elements relating to the structure of a part. In addition, the classification, so that one of the elements of the classification of the higher hierarchy corresponds to the classification of the lower hierarchy,
Elements may be set.

Conventionally, as a technique for managing the relationship between each element of each classification and other elements, for example, "Technology for preventing defects at the time of manufacturing new toner varieties" (Zeon, 8th year, Quality function development study) Notation based on a technique called QFD (Quality Function Development) described in, for example, the Society Research Subcommittee Report: Nikkagiren.

[0005] In the QFD technique, how the elements of one class are related to the elements of another class sequentially from the top class. In this way, indicating how the elements of the second classification are related to the elements of the first classification is referred to as developing the first classification into the second classification. In general, the highest classification at the start of such development is a classification of an element representing the content that the user ultimately wants to achieve, such as quality.

Now, as classifications, Class I, Class II and Class I
Set II, class I to class II, class II to class III, QF
This notation will be described by taking as an example the case of expansion according to the technique of D. Here, when developed in this order, the elements of Class I and the elements of Class II have a direct relationship, the elements of the Class II and the elements of the Class III have a direct relationship, and the elements of the Class I Elements of III will not be directly related.

In this case, according to the QFD notation, for example, as shown in FIG. 10, two categories directly related to elements are always divided into row direction items and column direction items. , Divided into row direction classification and column direction classification, each row is assigned each element of each row direction classification for each classification, each column is assigned each element of each column direction classification for each classification, and assigned to the corresponding row A table is obtained in which cells assigned to the corresponding column are directly related to each other with a black circle. That is, for example, ● in the upper left corner indicates that element A of category I has a relationship with element h of category II.

According to such a QFD notation, for example, the element A of the class I is related to the element h of the class II from ● in the line to which the element A is assigned, and the element h of the class II is ,
By following the table, such that element h is related to element III of category III from ● in the assigned column, element A of category I becomes element h of category II and element h of category III. It turns out that a is related. Therefore, using such a table, it becomes possible to extract other elements related to the element of interest directly or via other elements.

Techniques for determining the design value of each element to be designed are described in "Examples of Simple AC Circuits" (Quality Engineering at Development and Design Stages P103-P114: Genichi Taguchi: Japanese Standards Association). A technique called described robust design is known.

In this technique, a design value of a design element that affects a function of interest is a control factor, and an uncontrollable factor such as disturbance or internal disturbance that affects a function of interest is an error factor. To obtain multiple levels, experimentally determine the quality (stability, etc.) of the function obtained for each combination of control and error factors, and use the results to determine the effect of each control factor on the performance of the function of interest. The value of each control factor that obtains the best quality for the function of interest and obtains the desired target value of the function while taking into account the influence of each control factor on the performance of the function of interest, Is determined.

[0011]

However, when there are a large number of the above-mentioned classifications and elements, while following the table created by the QFD notation in order, it is possible to associate the element of interest directly or through another element. In some cases, the amount of work for extracting other elements increases, and the burden on the worker becomes excessive. Further, in the case of performing the design by the robust design technique, it is difficult to extract these because the number of elements that should be extracted as control factors and error factors and that affect the function of interest is large. .

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to improve the efficiency of the work of designing each element in consideration of the influence of the operator on other elements.

[0013]

In order to achieve the above object,
The present invention is, for example, a design element of a design object,
A design support apparatus that supports design of a plurality of elements classified into a plurality of classes, wherein the plurality of classes include a class including an element representing a part of the design target object, and the two classes belong to different classes. Relevance data storage means for storing relevance data indicating the presence or absence of direct relevance of the object, graphic data storage means for storing graphic data representing the shape of each component constituting the design object, Extracting an element directly or indirectly via another element to the received specific element according to input means for accepting designation and relevance data stored in the relevance data storage means Extracting means, an information display means for displaying each element extracted by the extracting means, and a part represented by the element extracted by the extracting means according to the graphic data stored in the graphic data storing means. Jo, and provides a design support apparatus characterized by having a graphic display means for displaying in a distinguishable form the shape of the other portions.

According to such a design support apparatus, it is possible to extract and output another element related to the element of interest directly or via another element, so that the burden on the operator is reduced and It is possible to prevent the occurrence of improper design due to omission of element extraction, and it is possible to immediately confirm the portion related to the element of interest on the graphic display, so that the element of interest and the element related to this element can be checked. Thus, the design work of each part can be performed more efficiently.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a design support apparatus according to this embodiment.

As shown in the figure, a design support apparatus according to this embodiment includes an input unit 1 for receiving an input from an operator, a CAD database 2 for storing and managing three-dimensional shape data of a product to be designed, and related part graphic data. An extracting unit 3, a related element extracting unit 4, a related database 5 for storing and managing related data defining a relationship between elements to be designed, a related design information extracting unit 6, design value information indicating a design value of each element, and each element A design information database 7 for accumulating and managing design information including history information, which is information indicating contents to be considered in the design of the product, a graphic display unit 8 for displaying a three-dimensional shape of the product to be designed, and an information display unit 9. are doing.

However, this design support apparatus includes, for example, a CPU 301, a main memory 302, an external storage device 303a which is a hard disk device, another external storage device 303b, a communication control device 304, as shown in FIG. An input device 305 such as a keyboard or a pointing device,
It can be constructed on an electronic computer having a general configuration including an output device 306 such as a display device.

In this case, each part of the design support device is a CPU.
301 is realized as a process embodied on an electronic computer by executing a program loaded in the main memory 302.

The CPU loaded in the main memory 302 described above
The program for configuring the design support device on the computer by being executed by the computer 301 is stored in the external storage device 303a in advance, and the main storage
02 is executed by the CPU 301.
Alternatively, the program is directly loaded from the portable storage medium 307 to the main storage 302 as needed via a portable storage medium 307, for example, an external storage device 303b that handles a CD-ROM, and executed by the CPU 301. . Alternatively, once installed from the portable storage medium 307 to the external storage device 303a such as a hard disk device via the external storage device 303b that handles the portable storage medium, the main storage 302 may be installed as necessary. Loaded and CPU3
01. Further, the program may be provided to a computer from a network or the like via the communication control device 304.

Next, the related data stored in the related database 5 will be described.

In the present embodiment, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, information defining a table described according to the QFD notation is stored as related data.

That is, in this embodiment, the classification is
Seven classifications are set for required quality, quality characteristic, function, design specification, component configuration, component specification, and production technology, each of which includes a plurality of elements. The required quality consists of elements that qualitatively express the quality of the product based on customer needs. The quality characteristic is a development of the required quality, and is composed of elements expressing the quality of the product by measurable numerical values. The design specification is an expansion of the quality characteristics and represents the specification of the entire product. A function is a development of quality characteristics and consists of elements that represent the functions that a product should have. The component configuration is a development of functions and design specifications, and is made up of elements representing the components that make up the product. The part specification is a development of the design specification and is made up of elements representing the specification of the part. The production technology is a development of the part specification and is made up of elements that represent the material, processing / assembly conditions, and the like. The table in FIG. 3 indicates that the two elements assigned to the row and the column corresponding to the square indicated by ● have a direct relationship.

The operation of the design support apparatus will be described below.

First, in the initial state, the information display section 9
Displays the table shown in FIG. 3 on the related data display screen shown in FIG. 4A based on the related data stored in the related database 7, and the graphic display unit 8 stores the table stored in the CAD database. Fig. 4 (b) based on 3D shape data
The three-dimensional shape of the entire product is displayed on the graphic display screen shown in FIG.

First, a description will be given of a case where a designation of a specific element and an instruction to display related information of the element are input from the operator via the input unit 1 in such an initial state.

FIG. 5 shows a processing procedure in this case.

As shown in the figure, in this processing, when an instruction is input (step 51), the related information extracting unit 5 fetches related data from the related database 5 (step 52), and stores the specified data into the specified element. Then, elements having direct or indirect relation via other elements are extracted (step 52).

The extraction of an element having a direct relation to a specific element or indirectly via another element is performed, for example, by the processing shown in FIG.

As shown in the figure, in this processing, first, a specific element that has been input is set as an element of a focused element group and an extracted element group (step 61). Elements that are directly related to each element, that is, elements that share ● in the table with the specific element are extracted, and history information indicating which element the extracted element was extracted from is accumulated (step 62).

Next, the extracted elements are added to the extracted element group, and the elements of the target element group are rewritten to the extracted elements (step 64). However, among the extracted elements, elements already included in the extracted element group are not included in the extracted element group and the focused element group.

Then, the processing of the above steps 62 and 64 is repeated until no element to be newly added to the extracted element group and no element to rewrite the focused element group are extracted in step 61 (step 63).

As a result, the elements finally included in the extracted element group are elements having a direct relation to the input specific element or an indirect relationship with the specific element via another element. .

Returning to FIG. 5, the thus extracted
The specific element that has been input and the element that has a direct or indirect relationship with the specific element via another element are:
The relevant component graphic data extraction unit 3, the related design information display unit 6, and the information display unit 9 are passed as extraction elements. The accumulated history information is also passed to the information display unit 9.

The related part graphic data extracting unit 3 extracts a component of the component configuration classification (representing a component as described above) from the passed extracted components, and extracts a three-dimensional shape part of the component represented by the component. The specified information is passed to the graphic display unit 8 (step 57). The graphic display unit 8 highlights, for example, the three-dimensional shape part of the part indicated by the passed information as shown in FIG. 4B among the three-dimensional shapes of the product displayed on the graphic display screen ( Step 58). This highlighting may be performed by, for example, displaying the three-dimensional shape portion of the corresponding part in a different color or brightness so that the three-dimensional shape portion can be distinguished from other portions. This may be performed by displaying only the three-dimensional shape portion of the corresponding part.

On the other hand, the related design information extracting unit 6 extracts the design information of the passed extracted element from the design information database 7 and passes it to the information display unit 9 (step 55).

On the other hand, the information display unit 9 first displays the upper part of each element name display of each passed extracted element according to the passed history information, and displays the element name of the element from which the element is extracted. A tree diagram connected by line segments is created below (step 54). Then, the tree diagram and the passed design information are created and displayed on the information display screen shown in FIG. 4C in which the elements in the tree diagram are associated with the design information of the elements.

According to the processing described above, for example, when the element C of the function classification in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4, the elements of each class directly or indirectly related to the element C are shown together with the design information of each element in a tree diagram in which the association with the element C can be grasped.
And the three-dimensional shape of the part related to the element C of the classification function is highlighted on the graphic display screen of FIG. 4B. However,
FIG. 4 shows an example in which only the parts related to the element C of the classification function are displayed on the graphic display screen of FIG. 4B, and only the history information of the design information is displayed on the information output screen of FIG. 4C. It was shown to.

Therefore, the operator can easily obtain the design information of each element related to the function necessary for designing the function simply by designating the element of the function of the product to be designed. Not only that, you can check the parts related to the element of the function as graphic information,
An efficient design can be performed.

Further, according to the above-described processing, for example, when an element G (representing a part) of the component configuration classification in FIG. 3 is input, as shown in FIG. The elements of each class that are directly or indirectly related are displayed as an information output screen of FIG. 7C together with the design information of each element in a tree diagram in which the relation with the part G can be grasped. The three-dimensional shape of each component related to G is highlighted on the graphic display screen of FIG. 7B. However, FIG. 7 shows an example in which only the part related to the part G is displayed on the graphic display screen of FIG. 7B and only the history information of the design information is displayed on the information output screen of FIG. 7C. Indicated.

Therefore, the operator can easily obtain the design information of each element related to the part necessary for designing the part only by designating the part of the product to be designed. In addition, since a part related to the part can be confirmed as graphic information, efficient design can be performed.

Next, a description will be given of a case where, in the above-mentioned initial state, an instruction for designating a specific element and changing a design value of the element is input together with an instruction for displaying related information from the operator via the input unit 1. I do.

The operation in this case is almost the same as the operation shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, except that the format of the information output screen created and displayed by the information display section 9 and the input section 1 are displayed on the information output screen. The difference is that a change in the design value of an element that is directly or indirectly related to the input specific element through another element is received.

That is, in step 56 of FIG. 5, the information display unit 9 displays the tree diagram created in step 55,
FIG. 8 shows the passed design information and the area for accepting the change value of the design value of the element (the area after the item “changed”) in association with the element in the tree diagram and the design information of the element.
An information display screen shown in (c) is created and displayed.

When a region for accepting a change in the design value of an element on the information display screen shown in FIG. 8C is selected and a new design value is input, the input unit 1 responds accordingly.
The design information in the design information database 7 and the three-dimensional shape data in the CAD database 2 are updated. Further, the input design value is displayed on the information display section 9 in the selected area.

According to the above-described processing, for example, when the element I of the classification design specification in FIG. 3 is input, as shown in FIG. Element I is one of the design specifications
In addition to the information output screen shown in FIG. 7C along with the design information of each element in a tree diagram that can be grasped in relation to the element, the element output, which is one of the design specifications, is displayed on this information output screen. The design value of each class element directly or indirectly related to the element I can be changed. In addition, the three-dimensional shape of each component related to the element I is highlighted on the graphic display screen of FIG. 8B. However, FIG.
FIG. 8B shows an example in which only the component related to the component G is displayed on the graphic display screen of FIG.

Therefore, the designer simply designates a specific element whose design value is to be changed, easily obtains the design information of each element affected by the change, and obtains the parts affected by the change. Is changed as graphic information, the specific element and the design value of the specific element can be changed immediately and efficiently.

Next, a case will be described in which, in the initial state described above, the operator inputs both the designation of a specific element of the function classification and the instruction to display the factor of the element via the input unit 1.

The operation in this case is almost the same as the operation shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, except that the format of the information output screen created and displayed by the information display section 9 and the input section 1 are displayed on the information output screen. However, the difference is that the input of the factor setting of the input specific element is accepted.

That is, the information display unit 9 does not perform step 55 in FIG. 5, but in the next step 56, from the passed extracted elements, the control factor candidate and the error of the control element candidate of the specific element of the specified function classification are classified. A factor candidate is extracted, and the design information of the extracted elements of the control factor candidate and the error factor candidate is input to the control factor, error factor, compounding factor, level, and the optimal design data input area as shown in FIG. It is displayed as the provided information output screen.

However, rules for extracting control factor candidates and error factor candidates of specific elements of the specified function classification from the passed extracted elements are predetermined. . For example, some of the predetermined elements of the design specification classification elements are elements that can be error factor candidates, and some of the predetermined elements of the design specification classification elements can be control element candidates. There is a rule that there is. In this case, the minimum value and the maximum value of the design value of the element are set in the history information of each element of the classification extracted as the control factor candidate and the error factor candidate.

Now, with reference to the control factor candidate and the error candidate factor displayed on the information output screen and the history information, the operator can determine the control factor, the error factor, and the plurality of error factors. The prepared compounding factor and level are input to these input areas. Then, experiments and data processing are performed according to the set contents, and the determined design values of the respective control factor candidates are input to the input area of the optimal design data. Input unit 1
Causes the information display unit 9 to display the content input in the selected area in the corresponding area.

If the design value input by the operator is different from the design value of the displayed element of the control factor candidate, the design support apparatus responds to the selection of the element display by the operator.
The same processing as when the specification of the specific element and the instruction to change the design value of the element are performed is performed, and the information output screen shown in FIG. 8 is displayed.

From this display, the operator determines whether the input design values are consistent with the design values of other elements, and if necessary, further uses the design support device to make necessary changes. Continue the design work.

According to the above operation, the worker
By simply inputting the elements of the function to be designed, you can easily obtain a list of elements to be selected as factors to obtain the optimum quality of the function and design information that will be helpful in determining the level Therefore, design work can be performed efficiently.

[0056]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to increase the efficiency of the design work of each element in consideration of the influence of the operator on other elements.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a design support apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of hardware that can be used in the design support apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing relevance data according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a screen displayed by the design support device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation of the design support apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation of the design support apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a screen displayed by the design support device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a screen displayed by the design support device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a screen displayed by the design support device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an example of a table showing the association between the classified elements according to the QFD technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 input unit, 2 CAD database, 3 figure data extraction unit 3, 4 related element extraction unit, 5 related database,
6, related design information extraction unit, 7 design information database,
8 Graphic display section 8, 9 Information display section

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A design support apparatus for supporting a design of a plurality of elements classified into a plurality of classes, which are elements of a design of a design object, wherein the plurality of classifications define parts of the design object. Relevance data storage means for storing relevance data including presence / absence of direct relevance between two elements belonging to different categories, including a class including the element representing the
Graphic data storage means for storing graphic data representing the shape of each part constituting the design object, input means for receiving designation of a specific element, and reception in accordance with the relation data stored in the relation data storage means Extracting means for directly extracting an element having an association with the specific element directly or indirectly via another element; information displaying means for displaying each element extracted by the extracting means; According to the graphic data stored in the data storage means, the shape of the part of the design object represented by the element extracted by the extraction means,
A design support device comprising: a graphic display unit that displays a shape distinguishable from the shape of another part. 2. The design support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said information display means is capable of identifying a tree structure in which each element is a node and a direct relationship between elements is a branch between nodes. A design support apparatus for outputting each of the extracted elements in an expression form. 3. The design support device according to claim 1, further comprising: history information storage means for storing, for each element, history information describing matters to be considered when designing the element. The design support device, wherein the display unit outputs history information about the extracted element together with the extracted element. 4. The design support apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a design value storage means for storing, for each element, a design value of the element, wherein the information display means includes the extracted information. A design support apparatus for outputting a design value of an element together with the extracted element. 5. The design support apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said input means stores a change in a design value of an element received on a display performed by said information display means in said design value storage means. A design support device characterized in that a design value is reflected on a design value. 6. The design support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said graphic display means displays a shape of each part constituting said design object, and displays a shape of each part. Is displayed so that only the shape of the part of the design object represented by the element extracted by the extraction means is emphasized and displayed. 7. The design support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of classifications include a classification including an element representing a function of the design object, and wherein the input includes The means receives designation of an element representing a function as the specific element, and the graphic display means directly or another element on the function represented by the element received as the specific element extracted by the extraction means. A design support apparatus for displaying the shape of a part of a design object represented by an element indirectly related to a part in a form distinguishable from the shape of another part. 8. The design support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of classifications include a classification including an element representing a specification of the design object, and the input includes: The means receives designation of an element representing a specification as the specific element, and the graphic display means directly or another element in the specification extracted by the extraction means and represented by the element received as the specific element. A design support apparatus for displaying the shape of a part of a design object represented by an element indirectly related to a part in a form distinguishable from the shape of another part. 9. The design support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of classifications include a classification including an element representing a part of the design object, and wherein the input includes The means receives designation of an element representing a part as the specific element, and the graphic display means extracts the part extracted by the extracting means and directly or directly to the part represented by the element received as the specific element and the part. A design support apparatus for displaying a shape of a part of a design object represented by an element indirectly related via another element in a form distinguishable from the shape of another part. 10. A design support apparatus for supporting the design of a plurality of elements classified into a plurality of classes, which are elements of a design of a design object, wherein the plurality of classes include functions of the design object. Classifications that include elements that represent elements, classifications that include elements that can be control factors that are controllable factors that affect the characteristics of the functions represented by the elements of the function classifications, and uncontrollable factors that affect the characteristics of the functions. A relevance data storage means for storing relevancy data indicating whether or not there is a direct relevance between two elements belonging to different classifications, including a classification including an element which can be an error factor;
An input unit that receives designation of a specific element belonging to a function classification; and, in accordance with the relevance data stored in the relevance data storage unit, directly or indirectly through another element to the received specific element. Extracting means for extracting elements having a relevance, and selecting, from among the extracted elements, elements which can be the control factors as control factor candidates, and extracting, from among the extracted elements, the elements which can be the error factors, An information display unit for displaying as a factor candidate. 11. A storage medium storing a program read and executed by an electronic computer, wherein the program stores a classification including an element representing a part of the design object, which is a design element of the design object. A program for supporting the design of a plurality of elements classified into a plurality of classes including: a relation data storage means for storing relation data indicating presence or absence of a direct relation between two elements belonging to different classes; ,
Graphic data storage means for storing graphic data representing the shape of each part constituting the design object, input means for receiving designation of a specific element, and reception in accordance with the relation data stored in the relation data storage means Extracting means for directly extracting an element having an association with the specific element directly or indirectly via another element; information displaying means for displaying each element extracted by the extracting means; According to the graphic data stored in the data storage means, the shape of the part of the design object represented by the element extracted by the extraction means,
A storage medium characterized by being a program for constructing, on the computer, a graphic display means for displaying a shape that can be distinguished from the shape of another part. 12. A design of a plurality of elements classified into a plurality of classes including a class including an element representing a site of the design object, indicating whether there is a direct association between two elements belonging to different classes. Relevance data, a design support method for supporting using a computer that stores graphic data representing the shape of each component constituting the design object, wherein the computer receives a specification of a specific element, According to the specific data received according to the relevancy data,
A design in which elements having direct relevance are extracted directly or indirectly via other elements, the respective elements extracted by the extraction means are displayed, and the elements extracted by the extraction means represent according to the graphic data. A design support method characterized by displaying a shape of a part of an object in a form distinguishable from the shapes of other parts.