Xiaoning Li Conflict - based Method for Conceptual Process Synthesis

Xiaoning Li Conflict-based Method for Conceptual Process Synthesis Lappeenranta 2004 79 p. Acta Universitatis Lappeenrantaensis 187 Diss. Lappeenranta University of Technology ISBN 951-764-941-X ISSN 1456-4491 The changing business environment demands that chemical industrial processes be designed such that they enable the attainment of multi-objective requirements and the enhancement of innovative design activities. The requirements and key issues for conceptual process synthesis have changed and are no longer those of conventional process design; there is an increased emphasis on innovative research to develop new concepts, novel techniques and processes. A central issue, how to enhance the creativity of the design process, requires further research into methodologies. The thesis presents a conflict-based methodology for conceptual process synthesis. The motivation of the work is to support decision-making in design and synthesis and to enhance the creativity of design activities. It deals with the multi-objective requirements and combinatorially complex nature of process synthesis. The work is carried out based on a new concept and design paradigm adapted from Theory of Inventive Problem Solving methodology (TRIZ). TRIZ is claimed to be a ‘systematic creativity’ framework thanks to its knowledge based and evolutionary-directed nature. The conflict concept, when applied to process synthesis, throws new lights on design problems and activities. The conflict model is proposed as a way of describing design problems and handling design information. The design tasks are represented as groups of conflicts and conflict table is built as the design tool. The general design paradigm is formulated to handle conflicts in both the early and detailed design stages. The methodology developed reflects the conflict nature of process design and synthesis. The method is implemented and verified through case studies of distillation system design, reactor/separator network design and waste minimization. Handling the various levels of conflicts evolve possible design alternatives in a systematic procedure which consists of establishing an efficient and compact solution space for the detailed design stage. The approach also provides the information to bridge the gap between the application of qualitative knowledge in the early stage and quantitative techniques in the detailed design stage. Enhancement of creativity is realized through the better understanding of the design problems gained from the conflict concept and in the improvement in engineering design practice via the systematic nature of the approach.