Optimization as an Innovative Design Approach to Improve the Performances and the Functionalities of Mechatronic Devices

The economic context, more frequent needs and increasingly more requirements expressed by customers imply to design more complex products but using less time-consuming approaches. New products are currently integrating technologies from different fields. Mechatronic devices are some examples and are increasingly more present in our daily lives: vehicles, trains, and airplanes… To improve and design such devices, new multidisciplinary design approaches and technologies are required. Research works presented in the paper fit within this context and aim to improve the performances and/or the functionalities of mechatronic devices by integrating optimization tools within the preliminary design stage. The approach presented in this paper should be seen as a guideline to better design and optimize mechatronic devices by supporting the designer during the development stage. As shown in the presented approach, the optimization can now be used as an automated tool to develop a solution layout that follows design concepts created using tools such as TRIZ and evaluate them through the embodiment process. The methodology is the heart of our paper and has then been applied the innovative design of an X-Y table to produce products by laser cutting. Results are finally presented and discussed, and outlooks are introduced.