An object-oriented configuration design method for paper feeding mechanisms

As printing machines attain higher operating speeds, paper feeding mechanisms are more prone to problems such as vibration, noise, and paper jams. To design reliable paper feeding mechanisms, designers first use heuristic knowledge to decide the basic specifications of the printer according to the user's requirements. In the preliminary design stage, the design process is represented hierarchically and the characteristics of each part are determined. Conceptually, the process is analogous to the methodology used in configuration design. In this research, the design process has been analyzed systematically by the OMT (object modeling technique) method, which integrates the object, functional, and dynamic models. The physical parts of the paper feeding mechanism are represented as objects, and the design knowledge and design constraints are represented by rules and methods. A commercial expert system shell, Nexpert Object, is adapted for the implementation. The inferred results are converted to create the BOM (bill of materials) data and are saved in a database for the detailed design and production stage.