Introduction of a Data Schema to Support a Design Repository

This paper presents the data schema required to capture fundamental elements of design information in a heterogeneous repository supporting design reuse. Design information captured by the repository can be divided into seven main categories of artifact-, function-, failure-, physical-, performance-, sensory- and media-related information types. Each of the seven types of design information is described in detail. The repository schema is specific to a relational database system driving the implemented design repository; however, the types of design information recorded are applicable to any implementation of a design repository. The aim of this paper is to fully describe the data schema such that it could be recreated or specialized for industrial or research applications. The result is a complete description of fundamental design knowledge to support design reuse and a data schema specification. The data schema has been vetted with the implemented design repository that contains design information for over 100 consumer electro-mechanical products