JP2520966B2 - Design support device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a design support device that supports efficient design using a computer, and more particularly, to efficiently change a design. The present invention relates to a design support device that assists users to do so.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, when designing a large-scale design target such as a vehicle, for example, a design support device using a computer is designed to improve the efficiency of design.

When this design support device is explained by exemplifying a vehicle as a design object, the vehicle is generally designed based on a certain design concept, for example, a concept of designing a sports car that can run at high speed on Hakone Pass. In order to design a vehicle that satisfies the design concept, first, a plurality of target indicators are set that further embody the design concepts such as acceleration performance and cornering performance, and in order to achieve these target indicators, A huge number of design elements, that is, design parameters, related to the target index are set. The designer is required to determine the value of each design parameter, that is, the design value to a value that can achieve the target index while adjusting these design parameters. At this time, the design support device supports the design efficiency by providing various design information to the designer.

Here, the value of each design parameter is determined by one of the following methods. That is, a) It is determined by the input of the designer (user of the design support device).

b) It is a fixed value such as a physical constant and is fixed from the beginning.

c) In determining the value of a certain design parameter, it is determined by causing a predetermined function f such as a calculation formula or table reference to act on the values of other design parameters arranged in the lower layer. That is, for example, let X be a value of a design parameter determined by applying a predetermined function f,
Assuming that the values of the other three design parameters arranged in the lower layer are a, b, and c, it is determined on the assumption that the relational expression X = f (a, b, c) holds.

Here, each design parameter is hierarchically arranged based on the relational expression of the above c). The value of the design parameter existing in a certain layer is uniquely determined depending on the value of the design parameter existing in the lower layer. Therefore,
In general, d) the value of the design parameter of the lowest layer is determined by the method of a) or b) above.

e) The value of the design parameter of the uppermost layer is determined by the method of c) above and is a so-called design target.

f) The values of the design parameters existing in the intermediate layer are usually determined by the method of the above c) and are auxiliary parameters.

The conventional design support apparatus stores the above-mentioned design parameters, relational expressions and the like in a memory of a computer, and when, for example, the relational expression of X = f (a, b, c) in c) above is satisfied, When deciding a value, it is desired to obtain it by sequentially deciding the value of each design parameter according to a predetermined fixed procedure such as “decide value of a → decide value of b → decide value of c”. The value X of the design parameter is decided.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the conventional design support device, the value of each design parameter is sequentially determined in accordance with a predetermined fixed design procedure. When it is desired to change the value of a certain design parameter for some reason, it is necessary to input the parameters related to the value determination of the design parameter again in a predetermined order. Some of these input parameters affect design parameters other than the design parameter to be changed, and there is a possibility that a design parameter not intended by the designer may be changed. However, in the conventional design support device, when the values of the plurality of design parameters are affected by changing the values of the plurality of input parameters, the values between the plurality of design parameters are compared and evaluated, so-called trade. Since off-evaluation cannot be performed, the designer must repeat the design parameter input many times to determine the optimum value by trial and error in order to determine the optimum design parameter. It took a lot of time.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, searches for a common parameter related to the value determination of a plurality of design parameters, and influences on the plurality of design parameter values with respect to the value variation of this common parameter. It is an object of the present invention to provide a design support device capable of easily performing so-called trade-off evaluation between a plurality of design parameters by calculating

[Configuration of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the design support apparatus according to the present invention is necessary for obtaining information necessary for designing a design object and the information. An information storage unit that stores a plurality of pieces of information about a design including a data value, related information, and a relational expression as a combination of heading information and sub-information, and an input unit that inputs a plurality of desired heading information for which a trade-off evaluation is desired. , Searching means for searching sub information related to each of the plurality of heading information from the stored contents of the information storing means based on the plurality of heading information input by the input means, and the searching means. Of the sub-information, common information detection means for detecting sub-information that is commonly related to the plurality of headline information, and variation of the common sub-information detected by the common information detection means Against the gist that have a influence calculating means for calculating the effect on the desired plurality of title information.

(Operation) According to the design support apparatus of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, first, when a plurality of desired headline information items for which trade-off evaluation is desired are input to the input means 3, this input information is input. Based on the plurality of heading information, the searching means 5 searches the storage content of the information storage means 1 for the sub information related to each of the plurality of heading information. Then, the common information detecting unit 7 detects, among the sub information searched by the searching unit 5, the sub information commonly related to the plurality of heading information. Then, the influence calculating unit 9 calculates the influence on the desired plurality of headline information with respect to the variation of the common sub information detected by the common information detecting unit 7. The calculated influence information is provided to the designer via the display device, for example. As described above, according to the design support device of the present invention, common sub-information related to each of the plurality of heading information is searched for, and the influence on the plurality of heading information with respect to the value variation of the common sub-information is calculated. As a result, so-called trade-off evaluation between the plurality of heading information items can be easily performed.

(Examples) Examples of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the design support apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. The design support device shown in the figure, for example, an input device 11 including a keyboard or the like for inputting desired information and other information to be redesigned, and a display device 13 including a CRT display or the like for displaying various design support information and the like. , Information storage that stores a plurality of pieces of knowledge about design, specifically, data values necessary for design, related information, input information including relational expressions and output information such as design information derived from the input information The information storage device 15 constituting the means, and the input information having a combination relationship with the desired information input from the input device 11 is searched from the information storage device 15, or between the input information for a plurality of desired information. Of the plurality of desired input information to detect the common information of the plurality of desired input information to calculate the trade-off evaluation between the plurality of desired input information
It consists of and.

FIG. 3 shows a frame composed of a combination of output information and input information described in the information storage device 15. As shown in the figure, the output information stored in combination with the information storage device 15 and the input information for the output information are shown according to the description of a frame.

As an example, FIG. 3 shows an A frame in which the output information is “A” and a plurality of input parameters B, C, D and calculation formulas are provided as input information for the output information A. The calculation formula (a = f ₁ (b, c, d)) is the input parameter B,
It shows that the value A of the output information is calculated from the values b, c, and d of C and D. Further, in the A frame, the value a of the output information A is shown as Va or more as the target value (target) of the output information.

As described above, the information stored in the information storage device 15 as a frame composed of a combination of output information and input information is obtained from the input information and the calculation formula in which each output information has the combination relationship. The input information is the output information of the frames that make up the other combinations,
In addition, the output information of the other combination is the input information of the other combination, and each information composed of the combination of the output information and the input information has a hierarchical structure. With such a configuration, design can be supported by any procedure,
It is versatile and can improve efficiency.

Although FIG. 4 shows such a hierarchical structure, as shown in FIG. 4, input information B,
The values of C and D are required, and the input information E, F: G, H: H, I, and J are required to obtain the values of the information B, C, and D, respectively. Has become. Similarly, the value of the output information K is also composed of input information L and M, and these information L and M are respectively composed of input information J, N, O: H, N, P. That is, the values of the output information A and K are B, C, and
D, E, F, G, H, I, J and L, M, H, J, N, O, P, both information A, K
It can be seen that the input information common to both is H and J. Therefore,
When this common input information H, J is changed, the information A, K changes, and it can be grasped by the influence.
The trade-off evaluation between A and K can be performed. The bottom layer information E, F, etc., are called input parameters that are parameters directly input by the user, and the top level information such as the output information A, K, etc. is compared with some target value, and the design result It is an index for determining the quality of and is called a performance parameter. Further, there may be a parameter that can be a performance parameter other than the highest parameter, but in the present implementation order, for the sake of simplicity, description will be made assuming that only A and K are performance parameters. Further, in a normal design, the parameter relationships are more complicatedly intermingled and often deeper than the hierarchy, but in such a case, the procedure described later in the present embodiment can be applied. .

Next, the operation will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, assuming that the performance parameters A and K which are output information as shown in FIG. 4 are performance parameters for which the trade-off relationship is to be evaluated, the performance parameters A and K are used as reference parameters A and K by which the user searches. Is input from the input device 11 and set (step 110). Next, a search for each parameter that is the input information that constitutes the input reference parameters A and K is executed with reference to the knowledge representation of the frame shown in FIG. 3 (step 120). In FIG. 3, the relation of the parameters is only one layer (A, B, C, D are described, and E, F ..... It is searched as follows using the full search method.

A component = [B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J] K component = [L, M, H, J, N, O, P] When the component is searched, the common part between the components of each reference parameter is extracted (step 130). This is obtained by applying list processing as follows: A component K component K = [H, J].

Then each common component extracted in step 130
Evaluate how H and J affect the reference parameter (step 140). This is the common component H, J
The fluctuations of the reference parameters A and K due to the fluctuations are calculated respectively, and the results are displayed on the display device 13 (step 15
0).

More specifically, it is assumed that the current values of the reference parameters A and K and the common parameters H and J are a, k, h, and j, the target of A is Va or higher, and the target of K is Vk or higher.
When the values of H and J are h and j, respectively, the calculation formulas in the knowledge as shown in Fig. 3 are applied sequentially, and the values of A and K are a and k, respectively.
Then, this value is set as the initial value. Then, calculate A and K for h ± Δ and j ± Δ, respectively, where H and J fluctuate from the initial value by a small amount (for example, 10% of the initial value is defined as the fluctuation range), and then Get the result of.

h + △, j → a ₁ , k ₁ h− △, j → a ₂ , k ₂ h, j ＋ △ → a ₃ , k ₃ h, j− △ → a ₄ , k ₄ Figure 6 shows the results of linear approximation of A with a ₁ , a ₂ ], [a ₃ , a ₄ ] and linear approximation of K with [k ₁ , k ₂ ], [k ₃ , k ₄ ]. Has been done.

Now, the evaluation method is that both the values of the performance parameters A and K are equal to or higher than the target values. Therefore, when it is desired to further increase the design result of one of the parameters A and K, the value of the parameter J can be left unchanged. It can be seen from FIG. 6 (a) that the value of the parameter H should be slightly increased. Conversely, if the evaluation of one of the parameters A and K is less than or equal to the target value (less than) and the other evaluation method is greater than or equal to the target value (greater than), the design result is shifted in the appropriate direction. To J
It can be seen from FIG. 6 (b) that it is necessary to correct In the above embodiment, the trade-off between the two reference parameters has been described, but even if there are three or more reference parameters, the trade-off evaluation can be predicted by expanding this method. Although FIG. 6 shows a relative display standardized by the initial value of the reference parameter, it may be an absolute display. Furthermore,
It is also possible to display the target value of the reference parameter and the target area in an overlapping manner on this evaluation result graph, which makes it easier to plan a trade-off strategy.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the design support apparatus of the present invention, first, when a plurality of desired headline information items for which trade-off evaluation is desired are input to the input unit, the input plurality Based on the heading information, the searching means searches the storage content of the information storage means for sub-information related to each of the plurality of heading information. Then, the common information detecting means, among the sub-information searched by the searching means,
Sub-information commonly related to the plurality of heading information is detected. Then, the influence calculation means calculates the influence on the desired plurality of headline information with respect to the variation of the common sub-information detected by the common information detection means. The calculated influence information is provided to the designer via the display device, for example. As described above, according to the design support device of the present invention, common sub-information related to each of the plurality of heading information is searched for, and the influence on the plurality of heading information with respect to the value variation of the common sub-information is calculated. As a result, a so-called trade-off evaluation between a plurality of pieces of heading information can be easily performed, which is an extremely excellent effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram corresponding to the claims of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a design support apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a diagram showing a frame composed of output information and input information used in the design support device of FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a hierarchical structure of knowledge information of the design support device of FIG. 2, FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the operation of the design support device of FIG.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of the evaluation result output from the design support device of FIG. 11 …… input device, 13 …… display device, 15 …… information storage device, 17 …… control device.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. Complex storage of information necessary for designing a design object and information about design including a data value required for obtaining the information, related information and a relational expression as a combination of heading information and sub-information, respectively. Information storage means, input means for inputting desired complicated heading information for which a trade-off evaluation is desired, and based on a plurality of heading information input by the input means, from the stored contents of the information storage means, Search means for searching sub-information related to each of the plurality of heading information; and common information detection means for detecting sub-information commonly related to the plurality of heading information among the sub-information searched by the searching means. An effect calculation means for calculating an effect on the desired plurality of headline information with respect to a variation of the common sub-information detected by the common information detection means,
A design support device comprising: