Application of the Preference Set-based Design Method to Cantilever for Electrical Contact

In the design of electrical contacts, it is required to pursue a solution which satisfies simultaneously multi-objective (electrical, mechanical, and thermal) performances including conflicting requirements. Preference Set-Based Design (PSD) has been proposed as practical procedure of the fuzzy set-based design method. This paper newly attempts to propose a concurrent design method by PSD to electrical contact, specifically a design of a cantilever for a preliminary study. In the PSD method, when all the performances meet with the required ones, the allowable ranges of design parameters are finally given with those in the most high level of their indexes of satisfaction and robustness. The main elements of the PSD process consists of phases of “set-representation”, “set propagation”, and “set narrowing”. The phase of “set representation” is to configure the region or range of the design parameters and the required performances. The “set propagation” is the phase of calculation searching sets of possible performances. At the phase of “set narrowing”, the sets are narrowed by removing non-available partial sets from the sets of the design parameters. The design parameters (width and thickness) of a cantilever for drive an electrical contact, which satisfy required performance (target deflection), are obtained in ranges successfully by PSD. The validity of the design parameters is demonstrated by numerical modeling. Further study that takes into account more complex conditions will be carried out.