Domain knowledge versioning and aggregation mechanisms in product design processes

Abstract

In the context of concurrent engineering and routine design, this study consists in the first step of structuring knowledge models. In the second step, it deals with the development of a method that puts in emergence the collaboration of actors involved in a design process. This aims to dynamically build a project library that traces the history of engineering process and capitalizes knowledge related to the product. The crucial part of this article studies domain knowledge versioning and aggregation mechanisms after modifications made by actors during the design process. We propose, to mitigate these problems, a mechanism that allows expressing and managing knowledge version’s evolution strategies. The validation of the suggested approach was through its application on the design of car air-conditioners and the development of a prototype of knowledge processing tool named ‘DISKOVER’.