UXDs-Driven Contradiction Solving For Conceptual Design Using CAIs

Design is situated, which means the explicit consideration of the state of environment, the knowledge and experience of the designer and the interaction between the designer and the environment during designing. Central to the notion of situated design is the notion of design situation and constructive memory. When Computer-aided innovation systems (CAIs) are applied in the design, the environment and the situation are different from the traditional design process and environment. The basic principles of some CAIs in the world market are directly related to theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ). Special TRIZ solutions, such as 40 inventive principles and the related cases, are medium-solutions to domain problems. The second stage analogy process is used to generate domain solutions and in this process the TRIZ solutions are used as source designs of analogy-based process. Unexpected discoveries (UXDs) are the key factors to trigger designers to generate new ideas for domain solutions. The type of UXDs for the specific TRIZ solutions is studied and an UXDs-driven contradiction solving for conceptual design is formed. A case study shows the application of the process.