Transformable product formal definition with its implementation in CAD tools

Abstract

Nowadays products extend their capabilities towards changing their configurations in order to cover multiple usage needs. They may be named transformable products and have not been taken into consideration in early design stages yet. In this paper, a proactive definition of the product is provided with transformation intrinsic properties. The formalization leads to an architecture. This enables developing a transformable product from two ordinary non-evolving objects. Different configurations and transformation processes have been set and implemented within a CAD tool to design a transformable product. A new paradigm is thus initiated, which will lead to efficient and dynamic design of transformable product.