Gathering Information

Chapter 5

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 5.1 The Information Challenge

How can having information help a design project?

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Early Placement of Gathering
Information Step

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 5.2 Types of Design Information

What are the different types of information for engineering

design?

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Types of Design Information
Customer Surveys & Feedback, Marketing Data
Related Designs Specs & Drawings for previous versions
Similar designs of competitors
Analysis Methods Handbooks, Textbooks, Monographs, Technical Reports,
Specialized computer programs
Materials Performance in past designs, Properties
Manufacturing Capability of Processes, Capacity analysis
Manufacturing sources,Assembly methods
Cost Cost history, Current material & manufacturing costs
Standard Components Availability & Quality of vendors, Size & Technical Data
Technical standards ISO, ASTM, Company specific
Governmental Regulations Performance-based, Safety requirements
Life Cycle issues Maintenance/service feedback, Reliability/quality/warranty
data
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 5.3 Sources of Design
Information
Where can we find the information we need?

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Sources of Design Information
Libraries Dictionaries, engineering handbooks, texts, periodicals

Internet A massive depository of information

Technical reports, databases, agency-based search engines, laws
Government
& regulations
Engineering Technical journals & news magazines, Technical conference
professional societies proceedings, Codes & standards
& trade associations

Intellectual property Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks

Buildup of knowledge, Contacts with colleagues, Personal

Personal activities network, contacts with suppliers & vendors, Attendance f
conferences,Visits of other companies

Direct involvement, Surveys, Feedback from warranty

Customers payments

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 5.4 Library Sources of
Information
What are the library sources?

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Types of Library Sources
 Dictionaries and Encyclopedias:
 McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Environmental Science and
Engineering, 3d ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 1993.
 Handbooks:
 Handbook of engineering fundamentals
 Handbook of mechanical engineering
 Textbooks and Monographs:
 Monographs are books with a narrower and more specialized
content that the books used as texts.
 Periodicals
 Catalogs, Brochures, and Business Information
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Common Database for Electronic Access

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 5.6 Information From the
Internet
How can internet information help a design project?

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Searching with Google
 Issues with Google is not getting “hits” for your keywords.
 The following simple rules help:

 Suppose we want to find responses on the topic proportional

control.
 We get results about: proportional in some web pages, control
in others, proportional control is still others.
 We should put the phrase in quotation marks: “proportional
control”.

 Some useful URLs are given in this chapter of the text book.

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 5.7 Professional Societies and
Trade Associations
What do professional societies do?

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Professional Societies
 Professional societies are organized to advance a particular profession and to
honor those in the profession for outstanding accomplishments.
 Engineering societies rarely lobby for specific legislation that will benefit their
membership.
 The first U.S. engineering professional society was the American Society of
Civil Engineers (ASCE).
 Professional Societies:
 MSET
 BEM
 AIME
 ASME
 IEEE
 AIChE
 ASHRAE
 SPIE
 ASEE

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 5.8 Codes and Standards

How can codes and standards help?

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Codes, Standards, and Specifications
 Codes:
 A code is a set of rules for performing some task, as in the local
city building code or fire code.
 Standards:
 A standard is less prescriptive and can be defined as a set of
technical definitions and guidelines.
 Specification:
 A specification describes how a system should work, and is
usually is much more specific and detailed than a standard, but
sometimes it is difficult to differentiate between documents that
are called standards and those called specifications.

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ANSI, NIST, ASTM, ASME,ISO
 The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is the
coordinating organization for the voluntary standards system for
the United States. (www.ansi.org).
 The standards responsibility of the U.S. government is carried
out by the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST). In
Malaysia the standard agency is SIRIM.
 ASTM International is the major organization that prepares
standards in the field of materials and product systems.
 The ASME prepares the well-known Boiler and Pressure Vessel
Code that is incorporated into the laws of most states.
 ISO is the international organization for standardization
(www.iso.org)

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 5.9 Patents and Other
Intellectual Property
What is a patent? How can a patent provide information?

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Patent and Other Intellectual Property
 Patent:
 A patent, granted by a government, gives its owner the right to prevent
others from making, using, or selling the patented invention.
 Copyright:
 A copyright gives its owner the exclusive right to publish and sell a
written or artistic work.
 Trademark:
 A trademark is any name, word, symbol, or device that is used by a
company to identify its goods or services and distinguish them from
those made or sold by others.
 Trade Secret:
 A trade secret is any formula, pattern, device, or compilation of
information that is used in a business to create an opportunity over
competitors who do not have this information.

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Intellectual Property
 Intellectual Property has received increasing attention in the
high-tech work.

 The technology in the information technology and

telecommunication businesses has become so complex that
there is a greater willingness to accept the innovations of
other companies.
 Since the technology is moving fast there is a tendency for
cutting-edge technology to quickly change to a commodity-
type business.
 Customers are demanding common standards and
interoperability between systems.
 For start-up companies, patents are important because they
represent assets that can be sold in case the company is not
successful and goes out of business.

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Patent
 There are three general criteria for awarding a patent:
 The invention must be new or novel.
 The invention must be useful.
 It must not be obvious to a person skilled in the art covered
by the patent.

 A key requirement is novelty.

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Technology Licensing
 The right to exclusive use of technology that is granted
by a patent may be transferred to another party through
a licensing agreement.
 A license may be either an exclusive license, in which it is
agreed not to grant any further licenses, or a
nonexclusive license.

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Patent Literature
 The U.S. Patent system is the largest body of information
about technology in the world!
 The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has been
highly computerized.
 Typical reasons for making a patent search are:
 You have been asked to comment on a patent used by a
competitor.
 You are looking fro ideas to improve your design concept.
 You have come up with a really cool design concept, and you
want to determine if the idea is novel enough to warrant the
expense of preparing a patent submission.
 You want to continue to update yourself on a particular
technology of interest.
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Reading a Patent
 Because a patent is a legal document, it is organized and
written in a style much different from the style of the usual
technical paper.
 Patents must stand on their own and contain sufficient
disclosure to permit the public to practice the invention
after the patent expires.
 Each Patent is a complete:
 exposition on the problem
 solution to the problem
 the applications for the invention in practical use

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Figure from US Patent 5,540,428
BASKETBALL RETRIEVAL AND RETURN APPRATUS

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Copyrights
 A copyright is the exclusive legal right to publish a tangible
expression of literary, scientific, or artistic work, whether it
appears in digital, print, audio, or visual form.
 While the U.S. Copyright Act does not directly define fair use, it
does base it on four factors:
 The purpose and character of the use.
 The nature of the copyrighted work.
 The amount of the work used in relation to the copyrighted work as a
whole.
 The effect of the use on the potential market value of the copyrighted
work.

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 5.10 Company-Centered
Information
What is the importance of gaining information by networking?

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Finding Information
 The degree to which individual engineers pursue
information:
 The nature of the project.
 The personality and temperament of the individual.
 Conversations are sometimes crucial to the solution of a
problem.
 The corporate culture concerning knowledge generation
and management.
 Perhaps the necessary information is known to exist but it
is classified, available only to those with a need to know.

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Information Gathered in a Company
 The amount of design information that can be obtained from within
the company is quite considerable and of many varieties such as:
 Product Specifications
 Concept designs for previous products
 Test data on previous products
 Bill of material on previous products
 Cost data on previous projects
 Reports on previous design projects
 Marketing data on previous products
 Sales data on previous products
 Warranty reports on previous products
 Manufacturing data
 Design guides prepared for new employees
 Company standards

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