MODELING OF PRODUCT FAMILY STRICTURE AND

MODULE ANALYSIS METHOD BASED ON
COMPLEX NETWORK

FAN Beibei  QI Guoning

(Institute of Contemporary Manufacturing Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027 )

Abstract: Applying complex network to product family structure modeling, network model of parts relationship for product family is presented. Parts and components are the nodes of the network and subjection relations of parts and components are the edges. Network model of module relationship is evolved. Parameters of the networks such as betweenness, usage times and product numbers of each node are calculated via simple path searching algorithm. Through analyzing and comparing these parameters, a method of distinguishes various modules based on network model is presented. As an example, a product family of the industry steam turbine is researched with this algorithm and some useful results of analyzing module characters are obtained. Distinguishing basic modules, must- selected modules and may-selected modules is an important work. The idea can be applied in looking for key modules and analyzing conversion of module types, which is the base and key for researching evolvement of product family.

Key words: Product family Complex network Module

CLC No: TP14 N94

国家自然科学基金(50575204、60374057、50405037)资助项目. Received 20060430, received in revised form 20061113