|
IT HAS BEEN WIDELY RECOGNIZED THE INCREASING IMPORTANCE THAT COST HAS RECEIVED IN THE DESIGN PROCESS. GRADUALLY, MORE DESIGNERS ARE BECOMING AWARE OF CONSIDERING COST ASPECTS, AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE, IN THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS, I.E. DESIGN FOR COST. IN A CONCURRENT ENGINEERING PERSPECTIVE, COST ASPECTS MUST BE INTEGRATED IN THE DESIGN PROCESS SINCE THE PRODUCT CONCEPTUAL STAGE. MOREOVER, CONCURRENT ENGINEERING EMBRACES EXPERTISE FROM DIFFERENT AREAS. IN HYDRAULICS, SUCH EXPERTISE INCLUDES KNOWLEDGE GATHERED FROM SEVERAL SOURCES, E.G. MANUFACTURERS, TEXTBOOKS, DESIGNERS. THESE ARGUMENTS SUPPORT BOTH THE DEMAND AND FEASIBILITY OF DEVELOPING AN EXPERT SYSTEM TO ASSIST THE DESIGN OF HYDRAULIC SYSTEMS CONSIDERING A CONCURRENT ENGINEERING PERSPECTIVE (SILVA,98A). THIS WORK PRESENTS AN EXPERT SYSTEM PROTOTYPE THAT INTEGRATES CONCEPTS FROM DESIGN METHODOLOGY, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND HYDRAULIC SYSTEM, DEVELOPED USING CLIPS. THE DEVELOPMENT APPLIED INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES FOR KNOWLEDGE HARVESTING AND USER INTERFACE. FIRST, THIS PAPER DISCUSSES THE RELEVANCE OF HYDRAULIC SYSTEMS FOR INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT PERFORMANCE, IT FOLLOWS A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROTOTYPE. FINALLY, THE PAPER FOCUSES ON HOW COST WAS DEALT WITH IN THE PRESENT STAGE AND CHALLENGES AHEAD TO INVOLVE MORE KNOWLEDGE SOURCES IN ORDER TO DEVELOP A COST ESTIMATE TOOL, ALLOWING THE PROTOTYPE EXPANSION BASED ON INTERACTION WITH INDUSTRY.
KEY WORDS : EXPERT SYSTEM, COST ESTIMATE, DESIGN, HYDRAULICS
|
