ME 362

Mechanical Engineering
Design
Part 7.1

Muhammad Ilyas
 Concept Generation

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 Creativity and Problem Solving
How to develop creative thinking?
Some steps one can take to enhance creative thinking :

Develop a creative attitude : Develop self confidence

Unlock your imagination : Ask Why and What if.

Be persistent / determined

Develop an open mind : Be receptive from any one and all

sources

Suspend your judgment

Set problem boundaries : Take help from problem

definition and QFD
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 Creativity and Problem Solving

Example: Problem solving by thinking differently

use

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 Creativity and Problem Solving

Example: Problem solving by thinking differently

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 Psychological View of Problem Solving
Some psychologists describe the creative thinking process and
problem solving in terms of a simple four-stage model

3 1

4 2

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 Psychological View of Problem Solving

1. Preparation : The elements of the problem are examined

2. Incubation : Sleep on problem
3. Inspiration : A solution / path emerges
4. Verification : The inspired solution is checked against the
desired results

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 Brain Storming
Most common method used by design teams for
generating ideas
Generates : a large number of diverse concepts / ideas by group / team
Why team? It is likely that one persons mental block will be different
from anothers, so that by acting together, the teams combined idea
generation process flows well
An approach might be
Have a meeting with individuals (6-12 is good) related to the
design tasks
Make it clear that criticism is not allowed and every idea is good
Ask everyone to write ideas on separate pieces of paper

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 Conclusions: QFD Gas Oven
Rotary mechanism
Proper Design / Selection
of burner
position of burner
number of burners
type of burner (flame or
induction heating)
Cost of manufacture
Inner case design
Selection of a better
material

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 Brain Storming
Gas Oven : Concepts for Burner and Rotary Mechanism
Since the fuel is gas, following possible burners can be used:

Following are the possible rotary mechanisms:

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 Brain Storming
Gas Oven : Concepts for Burner Protection and Burner Door

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 Brain Storming
Gas Oven: Concepts for Shape

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 Brain Storming
Gas Oven: Concepts for Shape

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 Brain Storming
Think out of box
Join the DOTS with 4 (or less ) straight lines, without
removing pencil from the paper

https://www.mycoted.com/Nine_Dots

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 Systematic Methods for Designing

Structured processes for generating design Solutions

1. Functional Decomposition and Synthesis

2. Morphological Analysis
3. Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ)
4. Axiomatic Design
5.

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 Conceptual Decomposition
A common tactic to solve a complex
problem is to decompose it
Break the system such that the connections of the
elements within in the chunks are stronger

There are two approaches to Conceptual

Decomposition :
1. Decomposition in physical domain
2. Functional decomposition

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 Conceptual Decomposition
Decomposition in physical domain
When starting a design process, most engineers
unconsciously begin with physical decomposition
Sketching a system, a subassembly, or a physical part is a
way to represent the product and begin accessing all the
relevant knowledge about the product

Physical decomposition : separating the product or

subassembly subsidiary subassemblies / components and
accurately describing how these parts work together to
create the behavior of the product

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 Decomposition in Physical Domain
It starts with PDS (Product Design Specification)
1st step is to decompose the product into those
subassemblies and components that are essential
for the over all function of the product
Care must be taken about the Product
Architecture
There may be more than one ways to decompose a
product
Consider the bicycle example:

The bicycle can be

decomposed into several
parts, like wheel, rim etc.
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 Decomposition in Physical Domain

Physical decomposition of a
bicycle with two levels of
decomposition detail on the
wheel subassembly

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 Decomposition in Physical Domain
Major steps involved in physical decomposition:
Define the physical system in total and draw it like a tree diagram
(The decomposition diagram will be hierarchical)
Identify and define the first major subassembly of the system and
draw it as a new block below the main root
Identify and draw the physical connections between the
subassemblies and root
Identify and draw the physical connections between the subassembly
and any other subassemblies on the same hierarchical level of the
diagrams structure
Examine the first subassembly block in the now complete level of the
diagram (If it can be decomposed into more than one distinct and
significant components, make a new sub assembly)

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 Decomposition in Physical Domain
Some conclusions (Physical Decomposition) :
Physical decomposition is a top-down approach to understand the
physical nature of the product
The decomposition diagram is not solution-neutral because it is based
on the physical parts of an existing design
A physical decomposition will lead designers to think about
alternative parts already called out in the product
It limits the number of alternative designs generated to a
neighborhood of the design space surrounding the existing solution
Design of an air circulation system
The case of a ceiling fan: fan motor, rotary parts, supports etc.

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 Functional Decomposition

System is decomposed with respect to its functions

Functional decomposition results in a solution-neutral
representation of a product : a function structure
This type of representation is useful for generating a wide
variety of design solutions
Basically we draw functional blocks that show interfaced systems
and indicate inputs and outputs of information, energy and
materials
We can start by drawing one main box for a function (we consider
the example of CD case at the end)

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 Functional Decomposition
Functionality of some common devices

Other
Device Input Function Output
Effects
Increase Decrease
Nozzle Fluid flow Fluid Flow
velocity pressure

Rot.
Electrical Thermal
Motor ElecMech Mechanical
Energy energy
Energy

Change
Mechanic Increase
Pump flow Fluid flow
al Energy pressure?
direction

Rot. Change Rot.

Change
Gear Mechanic rotation Mechanical
speed
al Energy direction Energy

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 Rules for Functional Decomposition

The rules of thumb when creating the main diagrams (for

Functional Decomposition) :
Pick reasonable function boundaries (not too much or too little)
e.g. : What is Nozzles function? (bigger boundaries: a pipe
connected to a pipeline, smaller boundaries: a cylindrical piece)
Conserve energy and material
Indicate interfacing / involved parts of the system
Add information flows to determine how well the system is
performing

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