Methodology to build an assistance tool dedicated to preliminary design: application to compression springs
Résumé
This paper proposes amethod to develop a design assistance tool dedicated to preliminary design. This tool increases interactivity and enables the design space to be explored. The user-friendly interface proposes to define design parameters with interval values. In addition, an objective has to be selected and the tool offers an optimum design. To take full advantage of all the exploration’s capabilities, it is suggested that all the potential optimization functions be considered as design parameters and that each design parameter be considered as a potential objective function. This method was applied to build a software mock-up dedicated to compression spring design. The industrialization process leading to the commercial software is detailed.