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GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2009

Engineering DesignGE121

Finding Answers to the ProblemPart III / IV

Lecture 12A

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GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2009

Limiting Design Space to a Usable SizePragmatic (practical) issues related to how

an artifact will be used, and how it will be made

Provides ‘guideposts’ for development of the search space – may narrow rather than expand the search space

Design alternatives must be functions ofUser NeedsAvailable TechnologiesExternal Constraints(and some common sense!)

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GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2009

Limiting Design Space to a Usable Size(Continued)

Example – Design of vehicles for a campus transportation systemCandidate Vehicles

Simple bikesHigh Tech bikesRecumbent bikesTricyclesRickshaws

User Needs may dictate consideration of:Parking availabilityCarrying PackagesAccess for Handicapped

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GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2009

Limiting Design Space to a Usable Size(Continued)

Available Technologies may affect design alternatives:Materials (affects appearance, manufacturing, price)

External Constraints may limit design alternatives:Team’s area of expertise (may be expert in tricycle design)Available Manufacturing Facilities (may dictate material)

Practical Considerations – Common Sense!Invoke and apply constraints (similar to user needs, as above)Freeze the number of attributes (avoid those unlikely to

seriously affect design – i.e. color)Impose some order on the list (which functions / features are

most important)Get Real! (watch out when silly / infeasible options are

repeated too often)

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GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2009

Morphological Charts: Organizing Functions and Means to Generate Designs that Work

Morphological Charts - Important Alternative Development toolsChart or Matrix

Functions or Key Features are listed in the first column

Alternate Means of achieving each function are given in that function’s row

Generating the Means for each function can be a highly creative processMeans do not have to be Words – some designers

use sketches or thumbnails to show some alternative means

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GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2009

Morphological Charts (continued)

The Morphological Chart can be used to generate Complete AlternativesLeftmost column lists ALL functionsSelecting a means from EACH row guarantees that

the solution satisfies all required functionality

Will NOT, however, guarantee thatAlternatives will WORKOr even be internally consistent (see Fig. 5.2b)Judgement is still required

This approach can result in a HUGE number of alternatives

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GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2009

Morphological Charts (continued)

Start with FunctionsContain BeverageMaterial for Beverage ContainerProvide Access to JuiceDisplay Product InformationSequence Manufacture of Juice and Container

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GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2009

Morphological Charts (continued)

Add Means for Each FunctionContain Beverage: Can, Bottle, Bag, BoxMaterial for Beverage Container: Aluminum,

Plastic, Glass, Waxed Cardboard, Lined Cardboard, Mylar Films

Provide Access to Juice: Pull-Tab, Inserted Straw, Twist-Top, Tear Corner, Unfold Container, Zipper

Display Product Information: Shape of Container, Labels, Color of Material

Sequence of Manufacture: Concurrent , Serial

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GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2009

Morphological Charts (continued)

Create Morph Chart (words)

Or – Use Thumbnails (next page)

Fig. 5.1 p104

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GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2009Fig. 5.3 p106

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GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2009

Morph ChartGenerating a Complete Alternative

Morph Chart showing one means for each function which can be combined to form one complete alternative that looks feasible

Fig. 5a

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GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2009

Morph ChartComplete Does not Mean Feasible

Morph Chart showing a complete alternative that is not consistent – Glass Bottle with a zipper (zip-lok requires plastic)

Fig. 5b

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GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2009

Managing Your Group

You may want to consider appointing someone to fill each of the following roles:Project leaderScribe/recorderProject file keeperReport co-ordinator

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GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2009

C-Sketch MethodIt may be helpful to use the C-Sketch Method

to generate ideas from your Morph Chart(examples from microlaryngeal stabilization device)

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GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2009

Activity

Create a Morph Chart for your projectStart with a List of functionsBrainstorm a List of Means for each Function

Be Creative in your Brainstorming!