Abstraction Layers for the Synthesis and Analysis of Production Systems

Modern production systems consist in the assembly of mechatronic systems for the production of material goods. The design of these systems is complex since different disciplines must be integrated. In the last years, systems engineering approaches have been proposed, along with hierarchical methodologies that break-down the design process in order to reduce complexity by gradually refining the design. However, to the best of authors' knowledge, a methodology that completely defines abstraction layers for the synthesis and analysis phases, along with starting information and expected deliverables for each layer has not been proposed yet. Therefore, the objective of this work is to introduce a design methodology for the synthesis and analysis of production systems. The proposed methodology identifies the design aspects to be considered within the mechanical, electrical and software domains, and is validated through the design and implementation of a scaled coffee grinder.