• Product development

    We do product development research within the area of mechanical engineering, with a focus of supporting the development of sustainable products and services

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  • Model driven development

    We're working with a model driven approach where we model, simulate and visualize entire life-cycles already in the conceptual design phase.

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  • Value Driven Design

    A shift from delivering products to giving access to use-of-product (product-service systems) is putting higher focus on the value of a design. Read about how we transform the field of Value Driven Design,

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About Product Development Research Lab

The Product Development Research Laboratory is a research team at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Blekinge Institute of Technology.

The unit is highly specialized on in-depth knowledge on digital product development.

Our work is focused on developing the “engineers desktop" with methods and tools to support companies to deliver innovative product-service system concepts that support the transition to a future sustainability society.

Director of the PDRL is Professor Tobias Larsson.

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PDRL newsletter

PDRL newsletter

Research

The ability to effectively deliver new values to the market; innovation, is a challenge on global scale for companies today. 

The research at PDRL aims at targeting early development stages of product development by use of a model based engineering approach with simulation at the core.

The research is particularly oriented towards early development, and questions of how to best identify, communicate, utilize, and re-use knowledge about, for example, user needs and product usage, are of high interest together with aspects of team based innovation, value creation and engineering optimisation.

Creating the ability to run simulation driven design of new sustainable solutions by using a model based approach is a key in order to support global product development where sustainable lifecycle solutions; product-service systems is the goal.

The applied research efforts provide new work procedures, methods and tools as well as new insights that support and enable product development improvements for our partners, while the research at the same time is disseminated in the proper academic channels to ensure quality control.

Below are our main research areas within mechanical engineering.

MODEL DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT

"Digital product development"

Industry and society is becoming more and more model driven and data and models are being shared between different stakeholders to follow-up productivity, carbon footprint, cost etc. It is clearly time utilize live data in combination with extended modelling and simulation to as early as possible in the conceptual design make Digital Twins and make informed decisions.

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PRODUCT-SERVICE SYSTEMS

"Engineering life-cycle functional solutions"

Society is rapidly developing into a function based solution society for a circular economy reasoning. We do research that support this transition from pure hardware development into hybrid product/service/software development.

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INNOVATION ENGINEERING

"Engineering the capability to deliver innovation"

Methods and tools to inspire and deliver innovation is at the core of the innovation engineering research. Supporting innovation capability, including measuring of innovation, to be deployed in corporate context.

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JOURNAL ARTICLES
353
CONFERENCE PAPERS
7193
CITATION COUNTS

Latest Research Publications

AI-Driven Comprehension of Autonomous Construction Equipment Behavior for Improved PSS Development

AI-Driven Comprehension of Autonomous Construction Equipment Behavior for Improved PSS Development

Abstract This paper presents an approach that utilizes artificial intelligence techniques to identify autonomous machine behavior patterns. The context for…

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A Value-Driven Design approach for the virtual verification and validation of autonomous vehicle solutions

A Value-Driven Design approach for the virtual verification and validation of autonomous vehicle solutions

Abstract Autonomous vehicle solutions (AVS) are regarded as a major enabling technology to support the realization of 'total site solutions'…

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A STUDY ON THE POTENTIAL OF GAME BASED LEARNING FOR SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION

A STUDY ON THE POTENTIAL OF GAME BASED LEARNING FOR SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION

Abstract Academic institutions are increasingly required to prepare future practitioners to face complex sustainability challenges. The need to foster the…

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VIRTUALLY HOSTED HACKATHONS FOR DESIGN RESEARCH: LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE INTERNATIONAL DESIGN ENGINEERING ANNUAL (IDEA) CHALLENGE 2022

VIRTUALLY HOSTED HACKATHONS FOR DESIGN RESEARCH: LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE INTERNATIONAL DESIGN ENGINEERING ANNUAL (IDEA) CHALLENGE 2022

Abstract The International Design Engineering Annual (IDEA) Challenge is a virtually hosted hackathon for Engineering Design researchers with aims of:…

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BEYOND THE OVERVIEW EFFECT: A VIRTUAL REALITY EXPERIENCE FOR SUSTAINABILITY AWARENESS IN DECISION-MAKING

BEYOND THE OVERVIEW EFFECT: A VIRTUAL REALITY EXPERIENCE FOR SUSTAINABILITY AWARENESS IN DECISION-MAKING

Abstract The challenges of sustainable development require a consistent transformation of decision-making practices in society and in the industry. In…

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MITIGATING UNCERTAINTY IN CONCEPTUAL DESIGN USING OPERATIONAL SCENARIO SIMULATIONS: A DATA-DRIVEN EXTENSION OF THE EVOKE APPROACH

MITIGATING UNCERTAINTY IN CONCEPTUAL DESIGN USING OPERATIONAL SCENARIO SIMULATIONS: A DATA-DRIVEN EXTENSION OF THE EVOKE APPROACH

Abstract The paper presents an approach where the iterative replication of Discrete Event Simulations on future operational scenarios is used…

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SUPPORTING CHANGEABILITY QUANTIFICATION IN PRODUCT-SERVICE SYSTEMS VIA CLUSTERING ALGORITHM

SUPPORTING CHANGEABILITY QUANTIFICATION IN PRODUCT-SERVICE SYSTEMS VIA CLUSTERING ALGORITHM

Abstract The design of Product-Service Systems (PSS) is challenging due to the inherent complexities and the associated uncertainties. This challenge…

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Conceptual Design in Informal Metalworking Microenterprises of Tanzania

Conceptual Design in Informal Metalworking Microenterprises of Tanzania

Abstract Product design is a key aspect of human intelligence and creativity, attracting not onlyexperts but also people without any…

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Research Projects

Research Partners

Contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals are a call for action by all countries – poor, rich and middle-income – to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. We contribute to the below goals, where #9 and #12 are our high impact goals. Here is our breakdown of the PDRL contributions.