AUTHOR=Cheng Xianfu , Guo Zhihu , Ma Xiaotian , Yuan Tian 

TITLE=Identification of Influential Modules Considering Design Change Impacts Based on Parallel Breadth-First Search and Bat Algorithm

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2021

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/bioengineering-and-biotechnology/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2021.791566

DOI=10.3389/fbioe.2021.791566

ISSN=2296-4185

ABSTRACT=Modular design is a widely used strategy that meets diverse customer requirements. There exists close relationships between parts inside module and loose linkage between modules in modular product. A change of one part or module may cause changes of other parts or modules, which in turn propagate through a product. This paper aims at presenting an approach to analyzing the associations and change impacts between modules and identifying influential modules in modular product design. The proposed framework explores all possible change propagation paths (CPPs) and measures change impact degrees between modules. In this article, a design structure matrix (DSM) is used to express dependence relationships between parts, and change propagation trees of affected part within module are constructed. The influence of affected part in corresponding module is also analyzed, and reachable matrix is employed to determine reachable parts of change propagation. The parallel breadth-first algorithm is used to search propagation paths. The influential modules are identified according to their comprehensive change impact degrees that are computed by bat algorithm. Finally, a case study on the grab is presented to illustrate the impacts of design change in modular product.