Keywords: product design, spatial model, multi-scale product simulation, CAD/CAE, environmentally conscious design, digital hologram, material science.

Today, products are produced that require very small structures to be designed. However, this very small designed structure directly influences the properties and shape of the product. Simultaneously, product designers are required to consider not only the user and the market, but also the influences of the product on society and on the environment. It is important for a product designer to be able to forecast the mechanical and environmental influences of a new product easily and quickly. The forecast is carried out by computer simulation before a prototype is constructed.

Simulation methods and simulation systems for several scale levels have been developed and refined. However, there is no seamless simulation method that can be used from the micro-scale level to the macro-scale level for multi-scale product design. There is deep gap between micro-scale level simulation and human scale level simulation. The concept of the multi-scale product design and simulation system proposed in this paper is a trial to bridge the gap between the micro-scale level and human scale level. The multi-scale product design and simulation system is a platform for simulations from the micro-scale level to the human scale level and a design tool for product designers. The multi-scale product design and simulation system consists of a multi-scale spatial model, a multi-scale product/material tree, multi-scale simulation modules, and shape space. The multi-scale spatial model is an interface for multi-scale simulation modules and a bridge between multi-scale simulation modules.

Nodes of the multi-scale product/material tree connect the multi-scale spatial model at each scale level. The higher-level spaces are constructed from sampled and averaged information from the lower level spaces. The spaces of each level send and receive information to and from the multi-scale simulation modules. The sub-spaces of each level are implemented by employing a point light model and a digital hologram.

The multi-scale spatial model for the multi-scale product design and simulation system consists of a variable lattice space, particle space, potential distribution space, energy distribution space, thermodynamic quantities distribution space, and attributes distribution space. Particles represented by spatial tokens move in the variable lattice space. Electron, photon, atom, molecule, and elementary particles are represented by spatial tokens.

The distribution surface of the distribution space of the multi-scale spatial model is represented using an equi-potential surface generated by potential generator. The potential generator is a kind of distribution function. A set of potential generators is defined by a set of reference points in the distribution space. And the point light model is converted from the potential generator. The point light models are recorded in the digital hologram, and point light models are reconstructed from the digital hologram. And potential generators are converted from the reconstructed point light models. Then the distribution space is reconstructed. The spaces of the multi-scale spatial model are recorded and reconstructed by using point light models and digital holograms. And a spatial node of the variable lattice space is implemented by a task or process.

The concept and framework for a multi-scale product design and simulation system as a platform for simulations from the micro-scale level to the human scale level and as a design tool for product designers are proposed. The implementation method and the formulation of a multi-scale spatial model in the multi-scale product design and simulation system, which employs a point light model and digital hologram, is proposed.

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