Constraint-based design of Optimal Transport Elements

摘要

An airliner contains thousands of transport elements, such as tubes, hoses, and wires. Transport elements must be designed subject to many constraints. Some are extrinsic, involving factors such as clearance, slope, and stay-out/stay-in zones. Others are intrinsic, involving factors such as bend angles and bend radii. A key problem is to design a feasible route that runs from A to B optimally (e.g., as short as possible). We describe an algorithm that allows "sketching" a route in terms of constraints. The user can rapidly explore trade-offs between multiple optimal routes, making decisions and changes in terms of quantities directly related to engineering considerations. This effectively automates a tedious manual design process, potentially saving significant amounts of time and money, as well as producing superior designs.