Classification factors of the process of structural synthesis of discrete objects

Automation of design is the urgent problem; its solution is the basis for the quality of the developed object and the efficiency of enterprise activity aimed at the development of such an object. The possibility of automation of design stages is determined by the presence of algorithms of solving the appearing problems, that is, by the level of formalization. One of the design stages of objects is the choice of structure of these objects - the structural synthesis, whether it be the layout of the mechanical engineering product, the manufacturing process of the item production, the university educational process of the expert training or the university activity, or the industrial enterprise as a whole. Automation of the stage of the structural synthesis is the time consuming and complex problem, since for most objects the formalized description of the process is absent, therefore, the level of qualification and intuition of the designing engineer is of crucial importance. Nowadays there is no universal approach to the development of the computer-aided design system that implements the structural synthesis of objects. It is explained, first, by the different nature of objects with their structural synthesis to be automatized, second, by the different bulk of knowledge in each specific subject area and the level of their formalization, and third, by the level of complexity of the design object. There are various approaches to the development of computer-aided systems of structural synthesis. As a rule, they are determined by algorithms of the subject area and implemented intuitively basing on the corresponding expert representation of the process of generation of the structure of the synthesis object. Analysis of features of the design objects allowed not only for proposing the classification of these objects, but for stating classification factors of the process of structural synthesis. Depending on the actual situation in the subject area, these classification factors allow for choosing the ideology of automation of the process of structural synthesis.