A module-based thermal design approach for distributed product development

Today, market demand for smaller, more powerful consumer electronics is rapidly posing a major challenge to product design. Several issues have been identified as major factors that affect the quality, cost, and delivery of product design in the so-called distributed design project. To address these concerns, a structured design method is needed. This paper proposes a design framework that can moderate inconsistent performance of system components (modules) resulting from a lack of communication between design sites. Module interconnection parameters at a system level are determined using the behavior-coupling matrix and work distribution matrix; initial design target values (ITVs) for system boundary conditions are provided for each module design. Our results show that system decomposition using ITVs offers a suitable framework for designing a product, considering the overall system behavior where each module is independently designed at different locations.