TABLE OF CONTENTS The attention in the development of design support systems is gradually shifting to conceptual design because of its importance in product realization. However, the fundamental mechanisms of conceptual design have only been partially explored. There are many open issues from cognitive, epistemological, methodological and computational points of view. This gave the motivation for this paper, which summarizes the essential characteristics of conceptual design and investigates what to consider in the development of computer aided conceptual design systems in order to be successful. It also gives an account on the industrial use of the computer-based methods and tools developed by academia. Its general conclusion is that much has been done, but even more has to be done towards genuine solutions. As a first result of the authors, nucleus-based concept modeling is discussed in the paper.
Key words: computer aided conceptual design, cognitive aspects, methodological aspects, computational aspects, relation-based modeling, and nucleus technology.
Conceptual design of products has been regarded as the most influential part of each product realization process. It plays a particularly essential role in the development of new products. For this reason the...
