SOMEDGRA: A Case Retrieval Method for Machine Tool Product Configuration Design

Case based design is an intelligent method which involves retrieving the most similar previous case to provide a solution of a new decision problem. However, conventional case based design approaches are too reliant on experts’ experiences. A new case retrieval method SOMEDGRA that combines Self-organizing map (SOM) and Euclidean distance (ED) method as well as Grey relational analysis (GRA) method is proposed in case based design. SOM is used to reduce the retrieval range and increase the retrieval efficiency, and ED is used to evaluate the similarity of cases comprehensively. To ensure that the final case has the best overall performance, an evaluation method of similar cases based on GRA is proposed to evaluate similar cases to select the most suitable case. The case study and result on an HTC series machine tool product show that the proposed method is effective, accurate and rapid in the process of product configuration.