Substance-field analysis and effects for conceptual design

A computer aided innovation system, called Pro/Smart, based on substance-field analysis and effects etc has been developed. The system has three major functions, i.e. substance-field analysis, contradiction matrix for problem solving and the effects knowledge database for conceptualization. The substance-field module is to analyze the interactions between components of a product and to find the potential improving methods. The innovation module is to find the technical conflicts in the existing product, and the solutions are provided with typical and analytical examples. The effects module provided a knowledge database for enlightening of novel design ideas. Though it is an on-going project, two design examples are utilized in the developed modules to verify the effectiveness of TRIZ theory, the proposed methodology and the developed software system.