Automated Multi-Level Dynamic System Topology Design Synthesis

Abstract

Designing new mechatronic systems for vehicle applications is a complex and time-consuming process. The increasing computational power allows us to generate automatically novel and new mechatronic discrete-topology concepts in an efficient manner. Using state-of-the-art computational design synthesis techniques assures that the complete search space, given a finite set of system elements, is processed to find all feasible topologies. The topology generation is done by converting the design synthesis problem into a constraint satisfaction problem. Accordingly, this mathematical problem is solved by assigning the presence of components and connections to variables, whereby a set of mathematical constraints need to be satisfied. These constraints capture, in essence, formalized engineering knowledge. After solving this problem, the results are post-processed to discard redundant topologies due to isomorphism. In this paper, a newly developed software application with automated constraint generation is presented that facilitates the topology generation with multiple system levels in a loop. The scalability of the problem and the different levels of expressiveness are analyzed, and the influence of the abstraction level choice on the search space is discussed. Finally, a relevant mechatronic design study from the automotive engineering field is discussed concerning the topology synthesis of alternative electro-hydraulic actuation systems being part of new continuously variable transmission topologies, thus showing its applicability.