Integral attachment using snap‐fit features: a key to assembly automation. Part 5 ‐ a procedure to constrain parts fully and generate alternative attachment concepts

This fifth part of a comprehensive six‐part series of articles presents a systematic procedure for formalising the generation of alternative concepts for a particular design employing integral snap‐fit attachments. With the procedure, the alternatives generated are representative of the entire pertinent design space, since they include alternative attachment interface geometries, assembly procedures, attachment features, and constraint options for a particular application. The procedure is easy to use, effective and efficient, and results in a number of alternatives which are sufficient to represent the entire pertinent design space, but not so large as to preclude selection of a best concept using an optimisation method.