APPLICATION OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY DESIGN OPTIMIZATION TO A LAP TOP COMPUTER

摘要

A lap top computer is an excellent example of how trade-offs between several disciplines must be properly managed in order to achieve an optimal design. The techniques of multidisci-plinary design analysis and optimization outlined in this paper can provide a quantitative method for performing these trade-offs. By first examining all of the subsystems involved, it is clear that the contributing disciplines interact in a non-hierarchical manner. To fully understand the design, it is critical that the design team understand the complex coupling between the subsystems Simple models for each subsystem may be employed to provide the design engineers an understanding of this complex coupling. Once the complex coupling is understood, the design may be optimized using the MDO methods described in this paper. Further refinement of the models is possible by introducing more advanced modeling techniques such as finite element analysis.