Module 2

Engineering Design Approaches

 What is
design?
 To design is to pull together something new or to arrange existing things in a
new way to satisfy a recognized need of society.

 The ability to design is both a science and an art.

 Design should not be confused with discovery. We can discover what has already
existed but has not been known before, but a design is the product of planning
and work.

 Design may or may not involve invention.

 Design: Analysis and Synthesis
 Good design requires both analysis and synthesis.

 Typically we approach complex problems like design by

decomposing the problem into manageable parts. Because
we need to understand how the part will perform in service,
we must be able to calculate as much about the part’s
expected behavior as possible before it exists in physical
form by using the appropriate disciplines of science and
engineering science and the necessary computational tools.

 Synthesis involves the identification of the design elements

that will comprise the product, its decomposition into parts,
 The Four C’s of Design
 Creativity
 Requires creation of something that has not existed before or has not
existed in the designer’s mind before.
 Complexity
 Requires decisions on many variables and parameters.
 Choice
 Requires making choices between many possible solutions at all levels, from basic
concepts to the smallest detail of shape.
 Compromise
 Requires balancing multiple and sometimes conflicting requirements.
 Importance of the Engineering Design Process
 Cost of design
 Product quality
 Product cycle time

 The design process should be

conducted so as to develop
quality, cost-competitive products
in the shortest time possible.
 Types of Designs
 Original design
This form of design is at the top of the hierarchy. It employs an original, innovative
concept to achieve a need. Sometimes but rarely, the need itself may be original.
A truly original design involve invention. Example is steam engine.
 Adaptive design
This form of design occurs when the design team adapts a known solution to
satisfy a different need to produce a novel application.
 Redesign
To modify shape of existing design, working principle is same.
 Selection design
To modify the parts used in machine
 A Problem-Solving Methodology
 Designing can be approached as a problem to be solved. A problem-solving
methodology that is useful in design consists of the following steps

 Definition of the problem

 Gathering of information
 Generation of alternative solutions
 Evaluation of alternatives and decision making
 Communication of the results
 Definition of the problem

 The most critical step in the solution of a problem is the problem definition or
formulation.
 The formulation of the problem should start by writing down a problem
statement. This document should express as specifically as possible what the
problem is.
 It should include objectives and goals, the current state of affairs and the
desired state, any constraints placed on solution of the problem, and the
definition of any special technical terms
 Problem definition often needs analysis
 Gathering of information
 Textbooks and articles published in the scholarly technical journals
usually are of lesser importance. The need often is for more specific and
current information than is provided by those sources.
 Technical reports published as a result of government-sponsored R&D,
company reports, trade journals, patents, catalogs, and handbooks and
literature published by vendors and suppliers of material and equipment
are important sources of information.
 The Internet is a very useful resource
 Discussions with in-house experts (often in the corporate R&D center)
and outside consultants may prove helpful
The following are some of the questions concerned with
obtaining information

 What do I need to find out?

 Where can I find it and how can I get it?
 How credible and accurate is the information?
 How should the information be interpreted for my specific need?
 When do I have enough information?
 What decisions result from the information?
 Generation of Alternative Solutions
 Generating alternative solutions or design concepts involves the use of
creativity stimulation methods, the application of physical principles and
qualitative reasoning, and the ability to find and use information.
 The ability to generate high-quality alternative solutions is vital to a
successful design.

Evaluation of Alternatives and Decision Making

 Engineering analysis procedures
 Simulation of performance with computer models
 Mathematical checks and engineering-sense checks
 Robust design that is resistant to environmental influences (water
vapor, temperature, vibration, etc.)
 Communications of the results
 Satisfy the needs of a customer or client
 Detailed engineering drawings, computer programs, 3-D computer models,
and working models
Design-Social and Professional context
 Design-Social and Professional context
 Social - Design to solve social issue or
need
Ex- Devices for Handicapped
 Better housing
 Better sanitation
 Clean drinking water
 Abundant food
 Educational help

Note: Unsocial designs degrade the quality of life

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 Professional - Design focused on comfortability, ease to
access or technological advancement

 Ex- E-Newspaper
 Business class in aircraft
 Electric bicycles
 Wireless charger
 Headphones/wireless headphones
 Sensors watertap
 Different Phases of Design Process

Three Major Phases

1. Conceptual Design
2. Embodiment Design
3. Detailed Design
 Phase I. Conceptual Design
 Conceptual design is the process by which the design is initiated, carried to
the point of creating a number of possible solutions, and narrowed down to a
single best concept.
 It is sometimes called the feasibility study

 Identification of customer needs

The goal of this activity is to completely understand the customers needs and to
communicate them to the design team.

Problem definition
 Quality function deployment (QFD) is a valuable tool for linking customer
needs with design requirements.
 A detailed listing of the product requirements is called a product design
specification (PDS).
Gathering information
Engineering design presents special requirements over engineering research in the need
to acquire a broad spectrum of information
Conceptualization
Concept generation involves creating a broad set of concepts that potentially satisfy the
problem statement. Team-based creativity methods, combined with efficient information
gathering, are the key activities
Concept selection
Evaluation of the design concepts, modifying and evolving into a single preferred
concept, are the activities in this step
 Refinement of the PDS
The product design specification is revisited after the concept has been selected. The
design team must commit to achieving certain critical values of design parameters,
usually called critical-to-quality (CTQ) parameters
 Design review
 Before committing funds to move to the next design phase, a design review
will be held.
 The design review will assure that the design is physically realizable
and that it is economically worthwhile.
 It will also look at a detailed product-development schedule.
 This is needed to devise a strategy to minimize product cycle time and to identify
the resources in people, equipment, and money needed to complete the project .
 Phase II. Embodiment Design
 Structured development of the design concept occurs in this engineering design
phase.
 It is the place where flesh is placed on the skeleton of the design concept.
 It is in this design phase that decisions are made on strength, material selection, size,
shape, and spatial compatibility.
 Beyond this design phase, major changes become very expensive.

Determining product architecture

Product architecture is concerned with dividing the overall design system into
subsystems or modules. In this step we decide how the physical components of the
design are to be arranged and combined to carry out the functional duties of the
design
Configuration design of parts and components
 Parts are made up of features like holes, ribs, splines, and curves
 Preliminary selection of materials, modeling and size of parts
 Parametric design of parts
 Creating a robust design, and selection of final dimensions/parameters and tolerances
 Parametric design starts with information on the configuration of the part and aims to
establish its exact dimensions and tolerances
 Final decisions on the material and manufacturing processes are also established
if this has not been done previously
 Robustness refers to how consistently a component performs under variable
conditions in its service environment
 Parametric design also deals with determining the aspects of the design that could
lead to failure
 Reduction of manufacturing cost
 Phase III. Detail Design
 In this phase the design is brought to the stage of a complete engineering description
of a tested and producible product.
 Missing information is added on the arrangement, form, dimensions, tolerances,
surface properties, materials, and manufacturing processes of each part
 Detailed engineering drawings suitable for manufacturing. Routinely these are
computer-generated drawings, and they often include three-dimensional CAD models

 Verification testing of prototypes is successfully completed and verification data is

submitted. All critical-to-quality parameters are confirmed to be under control.
 Creation of final drawings and/or specifications
 Assembly drawings and assembly instructions also will be completed. The bill of
materials for all assemblies will be completed
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 A detailed product specification, updated with all the changes made since the
conceptual design phase, will be prepared.
 Decisions on whether to make each part internally or to buy from an external
supplier will be made
 With the preceding information, a detailed cost estimate for the product will be
carried out
 Finally, detail design concludes with a design review before the decision is
made to pass the design information on to manufacturing
Identification and Specifications
 Need Identification and Specification
 For design process, we require need and specification

 Needs arise from a number of sources including:

• Incremental improvements to existing designs
• Replacements for existing designs
 Categories of Needs:
(1) Minimum needs ==> Are the new features that the customers consider important
Ex. For car this would mean seating and dashboard electronics
(2) Assumed needs ==> It includes basic operation, safety and reliability.
Ex. For a car this would mean the ability to drive
(3) Unrecognized needs ==> Ex. . For a car this would mean sounds, AC, voltage
requirement
 Design objectives and functional requirements are what the design should strive
for. It is best to define the ideal and acceptable values
 Examples of well-defined objectives include the following:
 Cost between $100.00 and $120.00
 Provide a maximum power from 50 to 75 KW
 A maximum speed of 100 to 150 m/s
 Heating time between 40 and 60 s
 Design constraints are firm limits that must be met for the design to be acceptable.
Examples of these are listed below
Must be delivered by June 15
 Surface temperature below 50°C
 Cycle times below 3 seconds
 Power levels above 5 W
 Specifications
 A specific description of design and materials used to make something
 They are set of instructions or requirements given in codes and standards
 Must meet requirements of customers
 Example-Company provided specification, Product design specifications

Requirements of specifications
 Specifications provide specific/ additional requirements for materials,
components based on codes and standards
 Often generated by companies to address additional requirements applicable
to a specific products or application
 Conversion of needs to specification
When converting needs to specification, approaches to consider include
the following
 Find similar designs from the past, present, or future.
 Examine each of the objectives and constraints and find methods for
implementation.
 Identify components
 Meeting with customers, users, or others
 Perform benchmarking with competitive designs
 Identify technologically challenging features, e.g., Is it new? Have others used
it? For how long?
 Failure to adhere to the specifications results in feature creep, a common and
critical problem that occurs when specifications are poorly written or don’t
exist. After this phase the addition or change of any specification will result
in delays and increased costs

Specification to build a robot

cost $6.25
two motors and rubber tires
tank steering
traces your logo but avoids the walls
it has a plastic body with your logo on two
sides.
a domed top and round body with a 10-cm
diameter
Possible question that may help to explore Specification
1.Is the specification measurable?
2. How will the specification be measured?
3. Are there formal tests that can be used?
4. How will the customer see that the design specifications will be met?
5. How many ways can the specifications be interpreted?
6. What are the failure criteria?
7. Are the numerical values and ranges clear, with units?
8. What are the tolerances?
9. How will acceptance criteria be measured? Safety, usability, etc.
10. How can we manage feature creep?
11. Are there standard tests available for a specification?
Standard and codes
 Standards and Codes
ISO- International organization for standardization; ISI- Indian standard institute;
ASTM- American society for testing and materials

ANSI- American national standard institute

Why Standard is required?
Codes
Some important codes
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Design Features
 Why aesthetic design matters?
 Beautiful products/objects are perceived as easier to use and more valuable than
ugly ones. As well close bonding/attachment with design
 Aesthetically pleasing designs are bringing up positive attitude in the users. It
makes them care more about the product. Aesthetic design makes people more
loyal of the brand and tolerant toward mistakes or failures.
Aesthetics and usability in balance
Smart phones that look and feel good, but also have the desired usability
Aesthetics over usability
 Some times products have dominating aesthetics that are not supported by good
usability and ergonomics. This is mostly visible in the fashion industry.
 Shoes made to look nice and attractive, while at the same time destroying the
feet of the user
Usability over aesthetics
Equipment designed for emergency situations, where people cognition is
compromised
Design for Manufacturing or Production
(DFM)
 Design for Manufacturing (DFM) is the process of designing
parts, components or products for ease of manufacturing with an
end goal of making a better product at a lower cost.
 This is done by simplifying, optimizing and refining the product
design.
Four principles are examined during a DFM:
 Process
The manufacturing process chosen must be the correct one for the
part or product.
 Design
Design is essential. The actual drawing of the part or product has to
conform to good manufacturing principles for the manufacturing
process you’ve chosen.
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 Material
It's important to select the correct material for your part/product
Some material properties to consider during DFM
include:
 Mechanical properties - How strong does the material need to be?
 Optical properties - Does the material to be reflective or transparent?
 Thermal properties - How heat resistant does it need to be?
 Color - What color does the part need to be?
 Electrical properties - Does the material need to act as a dielectric (act as
an insulator rather than a conductor)?
 Flammability - How flame/burn resistant does the material need to be?
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 Environment
Your part/product must be designed to withstand the environment it will be subjected to
 Compliance/Testing
All products must comply with safety and quality standards
 DFM Guidelines
 Minimize total number of parts
Eliminating parts results in great savings. A part that is eliminated costs nothing to
make, assemble, move, store, clean, inspect, rework, or service. A part is a good
candidate for elimination if there is no need for relative motion, no need for subsequent
adjustment between parts, and no need for materials to be different
 Standardize components
Costs are minimized and quality is enhanced when standard commercially
available components are used in design. The benefits also occur when a company
standardizes on a minimum number of part designs (sizes, materials, processes)
that are produced internally in its factories
Use common parts across product lines
It is good business sense to use parts in more than one product. Specify the same
materials, parts, and subassemblies in each product as much as possible.
Standardize design features
Standardizing on design features like drilled hole sizes, screw thread types, and
bend radii minimizes the number of tools that must be maintained in the tool room.
This reduces manufacturing overhead cost
 Design parts to be multifunctional
A good way to minimize part count is to design such that parts can fulfill more than
one function, leading to integral architecture
Minimize secondary and finishing operations
Minimize secondary operations such as heat treatment, machining, and joining and
avoid finishing operations such as deburring, painting, plating, and polishing. Machine a
surface only when the functionality requires it or if it is needed for aesthetic purposes.
 Avoid excessively tight tolerances
Tolerances must be set with great care. Specifying tolerances that are tighter than
needed results in increased cost
 Design for Standardization
 The benefits of standardization occur in four areas: cost reduction, quality
improvement, production flexibility
 Cost reduction
 Purchasing cost
Standardization of parts and the subsequent reduction in part numbers will result in
large savings in procurement costs in outsourcing because parts will be bought in
larger quantities
Reduce costs through raw material standardization
Cost for in-house production of parts can be reduced if raw materials can be
standardized to a single size of bar stock, tubing, and sheet metal
 Feature standardization
Standardizing on design features like drilled hole sizes, screw thread types, and bend
radii minimizes the number of tools that must be maintained in the tool room. This
reduces manufacturing overhead cost
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 Quality improvement
 Product quality
Having fewer parts of a given type greatly reduces the chance of using the wrong part in
an assembly
 Prequalification of parts
The use of standard parts means that there is much greater cumulative experience
with using the particular part. This means that standard parts can be prequalified
for use in a new product without the requirement for extensive testing
 Supplier reduction means improved quality
Standardization of parts means there will be fewer outside suppliers of parts. Those
suppliers remaining should be those with a record of producing quality parts
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Production flexibility
 Material logistics
The flow of parts within the plant will be easier with fewer parts to order, receive,
stock, issue, assemble, test, and reorder
 Parts availability
Fewer part types used in greater volume will mean less chance of running out of parts
and delaying production
 Quicker supplier deliveries
Standardization of parts and materials should speed up deliveries. Suppliers will have the
standard tools and materials in their inventory
 Design for safety
 A safe product is one that does not cause injury or property loss
 Achieving safety is no accident. It comes from a conscious focus on safety
during design, and in knowing and following some basic rules
There are three aspects to design for safety:
 Make the product safe; that is, design all hazards out of the product.
 If it is not possible to make the product inherently safe, then design in
protective devices like guards, automatic cutoff switches, and pressure-relief
valves, to mitigate the hazard.
 If step 2 cannot remove all hazards, then warn the user of the product with
appropriate warnings like labels, flashing lights, and loud sounds.
 Provide training and protective clothing or devices (glasses, ear mufflers) to the
user or operator of the equipment
 Design for safety
A fail-safe design
 A fail-safe design seeks to ensure that a failure will either not affect the product or
change it to a state in which no injury or damage will occur.
There are three variants of fail-safe designs
Fail-passive design
When a failure occurs, the system is reduced to its lowest-energy state, and the
product will not operate until corrective action is taken. A circuit breaker is an
example of a fail-passive device
 Fail-active design
When failure occurs, the system remains energized and in a safe operating mode.
A redundant system kept on standby is an example
Fail-operational design
The design is such that the device continues to provide its critical function even
though a part has failed. A valve that is designed so that it will remain in the open
position if it fails is an example
 Design to cost
 Design to cost, also called target costing, is the approach in which a target value,
(sometimes called “should-cost” data), for the cost of a product is established at the
beginning of a product development project.
 All design decisions are examined for their impact on keeping below the target cost
The steps in accomplishing design to cost are
Establish a realistic and reliable target cost
The target cost is the difference between a realistic estimate of what the customer
will pay for the product when developed minus the expected profit
 Divide the target cost into subunits
 division according to competitors’ component costs, as determined from dissection
of competitor products
 on the basis of estimates of what the customer is willing to pay for various
functions and features of the product
Oversight of compliance with cost targets
Major difference in the design to cost approach is that the cost projections will be
evaluated after each design phase as well as before going into production
Order of Magnitude Estimates
At the very early stage of product development where the market for a new product
is being studied, comparison is usually made with similar products already on the
market. This gives bounds on the expected selling price.
Products can be divided roughly into three categories
 Large functional products—automobile, front-end loader, tractor
 Mechanical/electrical—small appliances and electrical equipment
 Precision products—cameras, electronic test equipment
Products in each category cost roughly the same on a weight basis
 A slightly more sophisticated method is to estimate cost on the basis of the
percentage of the share of the total cost that is due to materials cost. For example,
about 70 percent of the cost of an automobile is material cost, about 50 percent for
a diesel engine, about 25 percent for electrical instruments, and about 7 percent
for China dinnerware.
 What is the total cost of a diesel engine that weighs 300 lb? The engine is
made from ductile iron that costs $2/lb. The material cost share for the
engine is 0.5
Cost = (300 $2) /0.5 = $1200
Optimum Design
 Optimum Design
 Optimum design is a best possible design satisfying certain criteria among
many feasible or adequate design
 Mathematical, it is similar to finding
a maximum or minimum for a function
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Usability