A protocol for communication in a component-based modelling infrastructure

The concept-to-embodiment phase of the design process is one of the most important aspects of any machine system design activity. In this phase the designer must populate/embody a design concept with actual components and other machine elements. Populating a design concept entails the sizing, specification and matching of engineering components in order to fulfil the performance requirements of the design specification. This is a time-consuming and complex task when undertaken manually. New technologies for component specification, such as electronic catalogues and computational models, enable the designer to consider many more individual components in combination within a shorter space of time. However, to enable more effective and optimal design with these tools, it is desirable for the assembly of components and their associated representations to be considered as a whole during this process, rather than as separate software entities, as is the current practice. This paper describes the communication protocol for a modelling infrastructure that enables systems of components to be considered in an integrated and flexible manner during the embodiment phase of the design process. This is achieved by the generation of a convention for the exchange of component data within a system model. This convention enables the propagation of sufficient component interaction data to allow the concurrent execution of component selection procedures. For a mechanical systems model these procedures may incorporate a range of component representations from a variety of sources, such as electronic catalogues, parametric models or computational design algorithms. This approach enables individual components to be fully specified and the performance capabilities of the system to be assessed as well as ensuring that embodied solutions are achievable configurations.