Expert systems technical design

R. Banares-Alcantara, A. W. Westerberg, and M. D. Rychener, Development of an Expert System for Physical Property Predictions, Technical Keport, Carnegie Mellon University, Design Research Center and Robotics Institute, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1983. 

Chapter 3 provides a concise summary on technical design, programming paradigms, and development tools for expert systems. 

At the Varian Research Center, expert systems are being developed for analytical chemistry method design, instrument calibration and operation, and flexible manufacturing. Sharing knowledge bases has not happened yet and might not be possible because of significant economic and technical obstacles. 

My first case also revealed another aspect of many corrosion investigations that is quite fascinating. It has to do with the complexity of the interactions that eventually culminate in a failure or a need to repair. The belief was widespread at the time that many of the corrosion problems could be alleviated with the help of well-designed and calibrated expert systems. In many countries the development of these systems was funded on the premise that these software tools would artificially improve the level of expertise of technical personnel. Of course, this optimistic view could not possibly consider many of the hidden factors that are behind many corrosion situations unreported system changes, rapid and frequent changes in technical personnel and many other factors that may remain invisibly at work on a micro scale for years before giving the final blow to a system. 

The Process Data Warehouse (PDW) has been designed to capture and analyze the traces of design processes products, process instantiations and their interdependencies. The artifacts (the technical system) to be designed and modified during the process are traced, and related to the processes which perform these modifications. From these semantically structured product and process traces, the relevant information can be extracted in an analysis step, and then reused in further process executions. This information can be presented to the experts as experience knowledge in order to solve the problems of later development cycles more easily, efficiently, and autonomously. 

In this chapter we introduce batteries in general, with few technical details. We consider the possible environmental Impact of batteries relative to that of other sources of the same toxic materials, and we review briefly some re latopr aspects of battery manufacture, recycling and disposal. Also Included is a discussion of the possibility of developing new battery systems and modifications aimed at the design of environmentally friendly batteries. Various recycling schemes are discussed from an elementafy point of view expert readers are referred to the literature cited at the end of the chapter for more detailed technical information. 

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