<p>In the design of mechanical product families, modular design is often adopted as it enables the designer to combine product components into modules, which by nature facilitate the processing of core or foundational part (those common to all members of the product families) and variable part of the product families. In doing so, the identification of module types (corresponding to core, variable, and others) would be a critical aspect of work for the designers. Over the past years, quite some researches have been conducted on this topic, as well as those that are inevitably relevant, such as the determination of modules, i.e. module partitioning, and the analysis of module change propagation. However, there still exist some limitations, such as inadequate consideration of interdependencies and correlation characteristics between product components, and lack of comprehensive quantitative analysis of correlation relationships and change propagation impacts, leading to inappropriate determination of the modules, thus further to incorrect identification of module types. To address these limitations, this paper studies module partitioning and module change propagation first; based on this, it proposes a methodology for module type identification that is specifically oriented to module-based product family design. Firstly, by analyzing the characteristics of the entire product life cycle, five types of correlations between components are identified, covering functional, structural, maintenance, material recycling, and user requirement correlations. A comprehensive product structure model integrating multi-dimensional correlations of components is established, and module partitioning is implemented based on the hierarchical clustering algorithm. Secondly, in view of the inevitable module changes in design and to reduce their negative impacts on design efficiency and resource utilization, this paper introduces two indicators, namely the Module Comprehensive Change Propagation Impact Degree (M-CPID) and the Module Dependency Degree (MDD), and evaluates the change propagation effect by quantifying the module change cost. Thirdly, the Module Assemblability Index (MASI) is introduced to quantify the influence of module assemblability on module type identification. Finally, the Module Variation Degree (MVD) is determined by analyzing the mapping relationship between user requirements and modules. A judgment criterion is constructed by integrating the four indicators of M-CPID, MDD, MASI, and MVD to complete the identification of module types. In the end, a case study of a bridge crane is conducted to demonstrate the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed methods.</p>

A methodology for module type identification applicable to module-based product family design

期刊论文
发表日期：

2026年3月30日

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Kang Xu,
Yi-Min Deng

摘要

In the design of mechanical product families, modular design is often adopted as it enables the designer to combine product components into modules, which by nature facilitate the processing of core or foundational part (those common to all members of the product families) and variable part of the product families. In doing so, the identification of module types (corresponding to core, variable, and others) would be a critical aspect of work for the designers. Over the past years, quite some researches have been conducted on this topic, as well as those that are inevitably relevant, such as the determination of modules, i.e. module partitioning, and the analysis of module change propagation. However, there still exist some limitations, such as inadequate consideration of interdependencies and correlation characteristics between product components, and lack of comprehensive quantitative analysis of correlation relationships and change propagation impacts, leading to inappropriate determination of the modules, thus further to incorrect identification of module types. To address these limitations, this paper studies module partitioning and module change propagation first; based on this, it proposes a methodology for module type identification that is specifically oriented to module-based product family design. Firstly, by analyzing the characteristics of the entire product life cycle, five types of correlations between components are identified, covering functional, structural, maintenance, material recycling, and user requirement correlations. A comprehensive product structure model integrating multi-dimensional correlations of components is established, and module partitioning is implemented based on the hierarchical clustering algorithm. Secondly, in view of the inevitable module changes in design and to reduce their negative impacts on design efficiency and resource utilization, this paper introduces two indicators, namely the Module Comprehensive Change Propagation Impact Degree (M-CPID) and the Module Dependency Degree (MDD), and evaluates the change propagation effect by quantifying the module change cost. Thirdly, the Module Assemblability Index (MASI) is introduced to quantify the influence of module assemblability on module type identification. Finally, the Module Variation Degree (MVD) is determined by analyzing the mapping relationship between user requirements and modules. A judgment criterion is constructed by integrating the four indicators of M-CPID, MDD, MASI, and MVD to complete the identification of module types. In the end, a case study of a bridge crane is conducted to demonstrate the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed methods.