Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

EngineeringDesignandApplications

Prof.LiZhang
DepartmentofMechanical
andAutomationEngineering
TheChineseUniversityofHongKong

Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Chapter 5
Generating and Evaluating
Design Alternatives

Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Learningobjectives
Learnhowtogeneratedesignalternatives
Learnhowtoevaluatedesignalternatives

Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Review
Whatwehavelearnt?
Thedesignprocess
(Chapter2)
Definingthedesign
problem(Chapter3)

Attributelist
Objectivelist
Objectivetree
Metricsofobjectives
Constrainsofobjectives

Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Review
Whatwehavelearnt?
Definingthefunctionsandrequirementsofthedesign
(Chapter4)
Functionexpression(transformationofenergy,materialsand
information)
Functionanalysis(inputandoutputrelationship)
Blackbox
Openbox

Specifyingfunctions
Functionvalues
Interface

Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Generatedesignalternatives
Whatwewilllearninthischapter?
Generativedesignalternatives
Evaluatedesignalternatives

Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Generatedesignalternatives
Wecangeneratedesignalternativesusing
morphologicchart
Creatingamorphchart
Foreachdesignfunction,wecangeneratealistofdesign
alternatives
Anexample:Beveragecontainer
Objective:promotesales

Containbeverage
Materialforbeveragecontainer
Provideaccesstojuice
Displayproductinformation
Sequencemanufactureofjuiceandcontainer
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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Generatedesignalternatives
Anexample:beveragecontainer(continue)
Designoptions
Function

Alternatives

Containbeverage

Can,Bottle,Bag,Box

Material forbeveragecontainer

Aluminum,Plastic,Glass,Waxed
cardboard,Linedcardboard, Mylar
films

Provide accesstojuice

Pulltab, Insertedstraw,Twisttop,
TearCorner,Unfoldcontainer,Zipper

Displayproductinformation

Shapeofcontainer,Label,Color

Manufacturing Sequenceofjuice
andcontainer

Concurrent,Series

Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Generatedesignalternatives
Anexample:Beveragecontainer(continue)
Morphologicchart(Possiblealternatives:4x6x6x3x2=864)

Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Morphologicchart:feasible and
infeasiblesolutions

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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Morphologicchart:feasibleand
infeasible solutions

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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Generatedesignalternatives
Notesingeneratingamorphologictree
Thefunctionsshallbeatthesamelevel
(forthebeveragecontainer,wewouldnotincludemeansof
resistingtemperatureandmeansforresistingforcesand
shockswithinthemorphchartinthelastslide,becausethey
aremoredetailedfunctionsthatderivefromsubgoals that
aremuchfurtherdownintheobjectivetree.)
Themorphchartcanalsobeusedtoexpandthedesign
spaceforlarge,complexsystemsbylistingprincipal
subsystemsinastartingcolumnandthenidentifying
variousmeansofimplementingeachofthesubsystems.
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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Anotherexample
ofmorphologic
tree:singleboard
computerdesign
Onesubsystem
couldbecooling,
thatneeds
furtherdetailed
design
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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Generatedesignalternatives

Largedesignspacesarecomplexbecauseofthecombinatorial
possibilitiesthatemergewhenhundredsorthousandofdesign
variablesmustbeassigned.
Moreover,oneaspectofdesigncomplexityisthatcollaboration
withmanyspecialistsisoftencritical teamspirit.
Decomposingcomplexdesignspaces
Basicidea:divideandconquer
Ineachsubsystem
Thenumberofpotentialdesignsislimited
Thenumberofdesignvariablesissmall
Thedesignvariablescantakeonlylimitedrange

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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Generatedesignalternatives
Limitingthedesignspacetoausefulsize
Availabletechnologies(majorinfluence:theuserneeds)
Availablematerials Thechoiceofmaterialsaffect
appearanceofaproduct,itsmanufacture,anditsprice.
Otherexternalconstraints(e.g.theavailabilityof
manufacturingcapabilities).
Toavoidthelistofissuesandofcandidatedesigns
becometoolarge(ortoosilly),wecould:
(i)invokeandapplyconstraints.
(ii)freezethenumberofattributesbeingconsidered
toavoiddetailsthatareunlikelyseriouslytoaffectthe
designatthispoint(e.g.thecolorofabike)
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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Expandandprunedesignspace

Designgenerationisacreativeactivitytowardsagoal
Takingadvantagesofdesigninformationthatisalready
available
Informationsources
Google
ThomsonReuters,

Approaches
Benchmarking
Reverseengineering(What/how/whydoesthisdo?
theprocessissimple:webeginwithameansthathasbeenusedbya
previousdesigner,thendeterminewhatfunctionsarerealizedbythatgiven
means.Wethenexplorealternativewaysofdoingthesamething.
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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Expandandprunedesignspace
Expendingadesignspacewithoutreinventing
thewheel (patentsearch)
Patentsandcopyrights
U.S.PatentOffice(USPTO)
DesignPatents
UtilityPatents

Whendothepatentandcopyrightsexpire?

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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

AnintroductiontoUSpatentsystem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ1SBP8ul1s

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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Expandandprunedesignspace
Expandingthedesignspaceinnovativethinking
Divergentthinking(whenwetrytoexpandthedesign
spaceandgeneratedesignalternatives):
Outsidethebox
Stretchtheenvelope

Convergentthinking:focusonthebestalternative(s)
afterwehaveopenedupthedesignspacesufficiently.

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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Expandandprunedesignspace
The635 method
6 teammates,eachwritedown3 designsandpassto
theother 5teammatesforevaluation(nocrosstalk).
Comeupadesignbasedontheevaluations.
Themethodcanbegeneralizedtothem3(m1)
methodbystartingwithm teammembers.

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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Expandandprunedesignspace
TheCsketchmethod
Eachteammatemakes
asketchwith
annotations,and
followsthe635
method
Anexample:two
sketchesofthe
Danburyarmsupport

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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Expandandprunedesignspace
TheCsketchmethod(continue)
Importantnotes
Onannotation:clearandeasyread
notes
Onproportion:sketchongraph
paper

Typeofsketches

Orthographic(A)
Axonometric(B)
Oblique(C)
Perspective(D)
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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Expandandprunedesignspace

TheCsketchmethod
(continue)
Anexample:theDanbury
armsupport

Thesedrawingcan
provideagreatdealof
informationandare
niceforpresentingthe
worktoclients.
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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Expandandprunedesignspace
Thegallerymethod
Teammembersdeveloptheirindividual,initialideas,
andposttheideasonboard.
Teammemberscommentontheideasinanopen
discussionforum.

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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Expandandprunedesignspace
Thinkingdivergently
Usesimilarity(bioinspired):
Velcro:
Velcrofastener

plantseedsinnature

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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Expandandprunedesignspace
Thinkingdivergently(continue)
Usenewtechnologies:
CT,MRI
Anexample:theexpandablecoronarystent(thestentclearly
issimilarinbothintentandfunctiontothescaffolding
erectedtosupportwallsinminesandtunnelsastheyare
beingbuilt.

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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Selectthepreferreddesign
Aftergettingseveralfeasibledesigns,weneedto
choosethebest
Anumberofmethodsareavailable,suchas
Pughselectionchart(numericalevaluationmatrices)
Theweightedbenchmarkchart
Thebestofclasschart

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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Selectthepreferreddesign
Thenumericalevaluationmatrices
Thebeveragecontainerexample
Usexasviolationofconstraints
Usenumericalnumberasobjectivescore

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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Selectthepreferreddesign
Theprioritycheckmarkmethod
Useasprioritymarks
0=lessthan50marksand1=morethan50marks

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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Selectthepreferreddesign
Thebestofclasschart
Use1asthebest
Use2asthesecondbest

(Foreachobjective,weassignincreasingscorestoeach
designalternativethatrangefrom1forthealternative
thatmeetsthatobjectivebest,2tosecondbest,andso
on,untilthealternativethatmettheobjectiveworstis
givenascoreequaltothenumberofalternativesbeing
considered.)

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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Designexample
TheDanburyarmsupportexample
Morphchart

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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Designexample
TheDanburyarmsupportexample
Morphchart2

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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Designexample
TheDanburyarmsupportexample
Thetwodesignprototypes

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Engineering Design and Applications (MAEG3920)

Questions?
Chapter 6: Design Modeling, Analysis, and Optimization
(Learning objectives)
- Learnhowtomodeladesign

- Learnhowtooptimizeadesign

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