A Product Service System Concept Evaluation Approach Based On The Information Axiom Considering Fuzziness Uncertainty And Randomness Uncertainty

Conceptual design plays an important role in the process of product-service system (PSS) development. Selection of a good concept can reduce the design effort to avoid the redesigns or modifications at the later stages. Many uncertain factors, such as the subjective uncertainties described by fuzzy sets and objective uncertainties described by probability distribution functions, impact PSS concept evaluations. To consider both fuzziness uncertainties and randomness uncertainties for evaluation of PSS concepts, a new PSS concept evaluation approach is developed in this research based on the information axiom in axiomatic design. First, the PSS evaluation criteria are classified into four categories. Second, a hybrid model is introduced to describe the evaluation criteria. Third, the methods to calculate the information contents of the hybrid uncertain evaluation criteria are developed based on the fuzzy-random variable transformation. A case study is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed framework.