Abstract—In today’s product development, the use of templates to reuse knowledge and existing design solutions is well-established. Most CAD systems offer functions for defining and storing design knowledge, but user-friendly classification and structuring is still a matter of research. As a consequence, the retrieval of existing templates is challenging and instead of reusing design knowledge in successive development projects, new design solutions have to be created. In this paper an approach to structure Feature Templates is introduced. The approach is based on the generic product structure, which provides extensive contextual information about possible applications of templates. By integrating structural information about Feature Templates into the product structure, reuse of existing design knowledge can be improved. The approach is exemplarily applied to the assembly of a planetary gear and an elastomer coupling. Index Terms—feature, knowledge based engineering, product family, product structure, template I. INTRODUCTION HE usage of templates to reuse knowledge and design solutions is a common knowledge based engineering (KBE) approach within today’s product development. Most modern CAD systems provide functions to define Feature Templates (FT) and to store and manage them in libraries. In this context, FT represent a creation logic for defining geometry models. The creation logic is depending on parameters, which can be changed by the designer to create different instances of FT. While defining FT is becoming more and more popular, the consequent reuse is still rare due to two main reasons: The first reason is that geometry definition of FT is insufficient to be instantiated in a different context. The second and more frequent reason is that structuring of FT and their libraries are lacking a methodical approach and thus FT cannot be retrieved by other designers. Manuscript received July 10, 2013; revised July 20, 2013. A. Christ is with Technische Universität Darmstadt, Department of Computer Integrated Design, Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany (phone: +49-6151-16-3771; fax: +49-6151-16-6854; e-mail: christ@dik.tu- darmstadt.de). V. Wenzel is with Technische Universität Darmstadt, Department of Computer Integrated Design, Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany (e-mail: wenzel@dik.tu-darmstadt.de). A. Faath is with Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany (e-mail: andreas.fa@web.de). R. Anderl is with Technische Universität Darmstadt, Department of Computer Integrated Design, Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany (e-mail: anderl@dik.tu-darmstadt.de). In this paper a methodical approach to support the structuring process of FT is introduced. The approach combines the product structure, hierarchically representing assemblies and parts of a product or a product family, with the FT library structure as it exists in modern CAD systems. The main goal of the approach is to provide a structuring guideline for FT, which enables linking FT and product structure and which can be comprehended equally well by designers defining FT and designers using them. The usage of FT is most promising in adaptive design, where mainly geometrical details or shape-defining parameters are varied, while the product structure remains basically unchanged. This invariance of the product structure and its comprehensibility for all involved designers supports the integration of FT. Both elements together, the product structure and the FT library structure, define a matrix that allows representing a) relations between different parts of the product structure, b) relations between different Feature Templates, and c) relations between parts and Feature Templates. The capabilities of the approach are illustrated by an example of the product family “planetary gears”, which contains several FT highlighting the different types of relations a), b) and c). The paper shows how the usage of existing and already digitalized knowledge can be enhanced by following a methodical approach for structuring FT. The conceptual approach is independent of any software. But both product structures and FT libraries are accessible in CAD/PDM software and pave the way for a sample implementation. II. RELATED WORK The approach described in this paper belongs to the field of knowledge-based engineering (KBE). Its main goal is the integration of Features Templates in product structures via a proper mapping. This enables the consistent reuse of Feature Templates and established design solutions, but also the integration of expert knowledge through Feature Templates. In this chapter a brief overview about relevant subjects will be given and the essential terms will be defined. A. Product Structure The product structure is a structured presentation of a product. It describes the sub-elements of a product and their Integration of Feature Templates in Product Structures Improves Knowledge Reuse Alexander Christ, Volkmar Wenzel, Andreas Faath, and Reiner Anderl T Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering and Computer Science 2013 Vol II WCECS 2013, 23-25 October, 2013, San Francisco, USA ISBN: 978-988-19253-1-2 ISSN: 2078-0958 (Print); ISSN: 2078-0966 (Online) WCECS 2013