Abstract
| System engineering (SE) methods and principles are nowadays widely adopted in the product development processes, especially in the industrial sector, where saving production time and costs are primary goals. This work describes an application
of a particular SE methodology, the V-model-based design, in which the system development lifecycle is divided on the basis
of a graphical V-shaped scheme, called V-model. Following this approach, a new concept of charging arm for Robotic Train
Inspection Monorail (TIM) of Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire) has
been developed. The current charging arm version is afected by several issues and limits that have led to the necessity of a
new solution. Starting from the frst stages of functional requirements (FRs) defnition and decomposition (left side of the
“V”), a new concept has been implemented, in order to be tested for its verifcation and validation (right side of the “V”).
As part of the principles of SE, the process has been based on virtual models of the product and on virtual simulations of its
operation, rather than on the realization of time-consuming and expensive physical models and tests, even if a fnal physical
prototype has also been built and some physical operative tests have also been carried out on it. These tests have showed that
the new product appears to fulfll each one of its FRs and overcome the limits imposed by the previous version. The future
commissioning and operative tests in the real operating condition and location shall defnitely validate the new product. |