Design Engineering Process - Essay Example

? DESIGN ENGINEERING PROCESS of Supervisor: Introduction Design is the process of mental conception of ideas and communication of the ideas in a form that is easily understood. In engineering, however, design process entails a process of solving problems using knowledge, existing products, and resources to produce new goods and processes. Engineering design has both aesthetic and functional elements which can be split in to the categories of system and product design (Dym & Little, 1999). The engineering design process is a sequence of steps that a designer follows when creating a new design or solving a problem. The process steps in some instances appear sequential, although, in some cases with light of changing design models the steps may be reverse or parallel to one another. Every design situation has unique set of demands and criteria, thus, choosing a design process will be dependent on the specific needs of the project (Lumsdaine et al 1999). The design process would normally entail an entire business or enterprise from product idea to the maintenance of the product, and all the stages that are in between. An engineering designs, thus characterizes the aspect of both the process and the product. The process being the series of continuous actions ending in a precise result and the product being the thing produced as an end result of the process. Graphics would normally be employed to help in visualization of possible solutions and for documentation of the design for purposes of communication (Ertas & Jones, 1996). In an open-ended design setting, engineers would use their math and science knowledge to investigate all options that are possible and do a comparison of many ideas of design. In this case, at the starting point of problem-solving, the engineer or designer does not know precisely the solution to meet the requirements. The designer employs prototypes or early versions of the design and selects the best fit that best uses the resources available and best meets the requirements (Ertas & Jones, 1996). Lifting devices are essential in industrial jobs that require specialized equipment. There are numerous types of lifting equipment used industrially that are available in the market today. Their use is commonly in major hazards sites to remove or install large plant items. (Kemp, 2008)These kinds of lifts require large lifting equipment such as mobile and tower cranes. Plant operations involving lifting of the lifting of mobile equipment and spares for purposes of maintenance, drums of chemicals, will make use of equipment such as travelling cranes, lifting trucks, lifting chains and hoists. Trained plant operators are the ones who normally carry out these smaller routine lifts while specialists undertake the larger lifts (Bulala, 1998). Without lifting devices, operations in industries would be impossible. Industries such as mining, transport, construction, gas and oil, and steel rely on lifting equipment to move heavy items. Lifting devices are critical in carrying out activities of transportation of weighty materials from one place to another. It is, therefore, important to design equipment that will provide these essential services and ensure the smooth running of activities in industries. While coming up with the design of the equipment, the designing engineer and their design team factor in mind the general principles regarding use of the equipment, the major hazards related to the use of the device, and the code of practice relating to lifting procedures (Kemp, 2008). In this essay, we are going to look at an engineering design process that would work for a lifting device. The engineering design process The steps that would be essential in the design process would begin from first recognizing the problem or need, the user/ users, and the insight, or the importance of solving the problem. The design process leads to asking the question of whether customers have need for the product. There is evidently need for lifting devices such as cranes in industrial set ups as above mentioned. The services that they offer are crucial and without them, it would be impossible to carry out most of the tasks. To solve the problem will entail coming up with a solution design (Lumsdaine et al 1999). The solution would then be open-ended since there are various types of lifting devices that can do the job of carrying heavy materials. Problem-solving process would be iterative to ensure that the solution arrived at is refined and the best-fit. The solution to a design problem will not just pop from nowhere. A commendable solution will require this kind of process and methodology given by the engineering design process (Lumsdaine et al 1999). The design team through following the process will be able to acquire information about lifting devices, the current solutions available, safety, efficiency, and work environment regulatory issues surrounding the use of the equipment, operation, limitations and maintenance (Haik, 2010). The second step would entail definition of the objectives, goals, and possible constraints of designing the mechanical component. The aim/ objective of the design would be to invent a kind of lifting device that has not been in existence, or to improve the existing devices. This step would be critical since it brings to light with clarity, the goals to be achieved in the process of designing the lift device, and through the highlighted constraints, the designer is able to put in place appropriate measures of dealing with the constraints to ensure the achievement of the defined objectives (Ertas & Jones, 1996). The process of designing the lifting device would go to the third step of planning which entails scheduling and budgeting of activities and putting tasks in their respective order. At this point, the design team puts down all the materials that are necessary for making the lifting device required. The team then draws a plan, a descriptive graphic or diagram of what they entail to come up with. Every required material put down in detail including the quantity and quality required (Dieter & Schmidt, 2009). Research, investigation and exploration would then follow as the fourth step. This is where gathering of all the available information regarding the problem takes place. Gathering relevant information will help in revealing facts with regard to the problem resulting in redefinition of the problem. In the process of information gathering, the team could discover the mistakes or false starts that other designers might have made. Information gathering would normally begin by asking questions such as; is there really a need for a novel solution? What are the current solutions available for the problem? What could be wrong with the manner of solving the problem currently? What is right with the way of solving the problem currently? What companies are manufacturing the existent solutions to the problem? What factors are governing the solution economically? How much will users pay for the problem’s solution? What safety, environmental, aesthetic, efficiency, and other factors are important to the solution? (Dym & Little, 1999). The team would acquire as much information as possible from available sources such as traditional publications, electronic sources and visiting various libraries for books and as many sources as possible so as to get comprehensive information. The team could start with scientific encyclopaedias and technical handbooks. These would be good sources of brief general overviews with detailed references from which to obtain more information (Clarkson & Eckert, 2005). Electronic catalogues would be helpful in giving the listings of the library sources available. The internet is also a wealthy source of information for a design team or an engineer of the 21st century. Search engines for instance Google offers tools for quick and efficient location of relevant information (Clarkson & Eckert, 2005). The assessment of the questions above will be useful in making informed and refined decisions on the way to arrange the designed components into a product that is complete, and to come up with the best fit that will best meet the requirements. At this stage, there is consideration of various possible solutions that will take aspects such as efficiency of the equipment and its safety to consideration since aspects of safety and reliability are vital for any lifting device, without which it will be hazardous to use (Hyman, 1998). The design team achieves this by generating a wide variety of alternatives of design in this step of conceptualization of alternative approaches. The team then picks the most promising alternative for the lifting device to solve the problem. Once the design team selects the preferred design for the lifting device, they will make a prototype of the device (Lumsdaine et al 1999). A prototype is a test on the selected idea. Its use comes before the design team embarks on a costly journey of developing the new or improved lifting device. Low fidelity model will be brought to use for a rapid prototype test which should be quick and cheap. The tools that will be employed for servicing the prototype will help the design team answer the question of whether the device will serve its intended purpose and meet the requirements. This result will then enable the design team to go ahead and design the real device or iterate. Iteration refers to going back to the previous steps in the process to make adjustments and improvements where necessary (Dym & Little, 1999). Prototyping is essential and indispensable in the engineering design process. This makes it a choice design since it gives provisions for understanding the weaknesses and strengths as well, of the process. A prototype not only brings the product design to life, but also helps in the evaluation of the process by others. The prototype would be a replication of the intended final product. It is thus a mock-up and not necessarily the real device but its representation. The design team would carefully examine the prototype and see whether to proceed, start over, rework or modify the design (Hyman, 1998). Analysis and solution selection After the conception of the alternative solution to the design problem, the team carefully does an analysis of the solutions and then decide on the one that would be the best suit for implementation; an evaluation of the proposed designs. They would do the analysis by applying their technical knowledge to the proposed solutions and use the results to make a decision on the precise solution to implement (Dieter & Schmidt, 2009). The types of analyses to carry out would be functional analysis, product safety and liability, industrial design or ergonomics, mechanical or strength analysis, regulatory and compliance, electrical or electromagnetic analysis, manufacturability, and economic and market analysis (Stewart, 2011). Functional analysis determines whether the solution provided will function the way it should. It is essential to the evaluation of the success of the design process. A design solution that has hitches in its functionality would be a failure even if it meets all the other criteria (Stewart, 2011). Product safety and liability analysis is vital. It is the principal consideration for safety in product design. This helps in ensuring that the design use does not cause any form of injury to humans. This is critical in the design of lifting devices, the process should thus be absolutely safe and liable in use otherwise, it will be dangerous. Issues of safety and product liability extend beyond human injury to include damage of property and environment from the design’s use (Stewart, 2011). Designers and engineers also consider safety issues in design due to the liability associated with the use of a product that is unsafe. Liability is the manufacturer of a product or machine being liable or taking financial responsibility, for any damage or injury resulting from the use of an unsafe product. The process will, therefore, put this vital factor to consideration, which is critical in the use of the lifting device under design (Dieter & Schmidt, 2009). The way to ensure that the design will not cause loss or injury will be to design safety into the product, include sufficient protection for product users for instance a ‘kill switch’ that turns off or on automatically should there be potential for human injury. Warning labels would also be useful to describe any inherent dangers should the product be having any (Dieter & Schmidt, 2009). During this design process, the mechanical analysis of the lifting device is essential. Conducting a mechanical analysis will give the ability to answer critical question as to whether or not the device will support the maximum loads subjected to it. The design team will then determine the effects of shocks and dynamic or repetitive loading over the device’s life. A determination of whether or not the system can disperse heat generated during normal operation will also be essential. The team could also carry out strength calculation to check whether the design alternative will manage to support the specified mechanical loads (Stewart, 2011). Ergonomics is the human factor, the study of interactions between people and machines. People provide the power source, control, or act as a sensor to the device. The team would consider the design solution successful if it will fit its users. The solution should not be cumbersome or overly complicated for use by the people made for. The device should be able to see its use by people of all recommended sizes (Haik, 2010). The decision process comprises of analysis of the process alternative solutions. The widely used method of the formalization of the decision-making process is the decision matrix. It is a mathematical tool used to derive a number that specifies and justifies the best decision. To create the decision matrix, the team will rank in order of importance, the wanted criteria for the design solution. The criteria would be on issues such as safety, portability, manufacturing considerations, compliance with government rules and regulations, cost, ease of fabrication and assembly (Stewart, 2011). Form the attributes, each can have a value factor related to the relative importance of that criteria or attribute. For instance, if the design team considers safety to be as twice as important to the success of the success of the design as cost, they would assign a value factor of 10 to cost and a value factor of 20 to safety, with value factors assignment on the basis of 0 to 100 for instance, that represents the relative importance of the attribute (Haik, 2010). The team would then do an evaluation of every design alternative against the stated criteria. They would assign to each solution, based on how well that solution suits the criterion given. The rating factor would be on a 0 to 10 scale; with 10 giving a representation of the best-fit solution for the chosen criterion. For accuracy in evaluation, the team will require as much information as possible. With proper analysis, the results that the design team would have acquired will provide an evaluation basis. The prototypes and computer models also provide information that is valuable that will help in the phase of decision. It is advisable to use engineering judgment and make the decision subjective to it (Haik, 2010). Test and implementation of the solution The purpose of prototyping as mentioned earlier is to test the design solution under actual conditions. The process of design comprises of concurrent engineering which is the ability to execute parallel design and analysis in which compliance issues, safety, serviceability, manufacturability, and marketability considered earlier in the process. Concurrent engineering is feasible through the application of the current CAD (computer-aided-design), manufacturing software and analysis (Lumsdaine et al 1999). Using CAD, the design team can create a preliminary design and analyze it for functionality during the design’s creation. The team could then use the analysis results to make necessary changes and reanalyze the computer model. Rapid prototyping as mentioned earlier, would then follow in concurrent engineering, it is sometimes referred to as ‘art to part’. This is where the 3D computer model of the completed design is used with CAM software, which stands for computer-aided-manufacturing, to drive the appropriate machinery to create the part physically. In a case as such, the entire cycle of design is almost paperless. The design team can move from design to prototype in a matter of days instead of months or weeks as with earlier practices of serial design (Lumsdaine et al 1999). Since design is an iterative process, concurrent engineering makes the times between iterations significantly short. This ultimately results in getting the product to the market quicker, with higher quality, and at a lower cost. Documentation The process would then go to the next step of communication. This is communicating the solution through making an engineering presentation including a discussion of the ways in which the solution best meets the needs of the problem. The discussion given will also cover the impacts of the solution in society and its trade-offs. The final process is redesigning; revamping the solution based on the information gathered during the tests and presentation (Dym & Little, 1999) It is advisable to take into consideration that the people at the receiving end may not necessarily have the technical competence and or training. The target audience could be the government officials, the general public or business leaders. The team should therefore possess skills beyond the technical so as to sell their design solution to others, which is equally critical as all the other design process steps (Dym & Little, 1999). The team could employ charts, graphs, and other visual materials to make a summary of the solution process and present the work to others. The team could use techniques of multimedia such as computer-generated animations, slides, PowerPoint presentations, videos, and sounds to give a clear communication of the solution to the problem (Stewart, 2011). Applying for a patent In the case that the team settled for an original brand new solution for lifting in industry, the implementation phase would partly entail application for a patent for the solution. This may not necessarily protect their solution from aspects of copying but it will give the team specific rights to produce and sell the design for a given period of time. The process of obtaining a patent is normally quite expensive but it is worthwhile in the long-run. Testing and verification This part of the design process is crucial for checking for flaws in the potential solution. If the design team finds that there are flaws in the prospective solution, they would take an appropriate measure of backing up to a previous step so as to get a solution that is workable. The team ensures that there is proper testing at all stages so as to avoid mistakes that could later be costly. Below is a summarized diagram to describe the engineering design process that works for lifting device in industry: The design process diagram The engineering design process is, therefore, a process that works for mechanical components such as a lifting device. The clarity of steps followed in the process ensures delivery of a top-notch solution to solve the problem at hand. The designing team through this process become well equipped form the initial to the ultimate stage of redesigning. Through identification and definition of the problem, there is provision of room for setting clear and precise objectives that the team needs to achieve at the end of the process so as to give a solution to the problem at hand (Clarkson& Eckert, 2005). Through the process of design, there is provision of assurance that the selected solution delivers. The tests that the team can carry out will give an assurance of critical matters of safety, efficiency, reliability, and feasibility of rolling out the solution to tackle the problem. Prototyping gives the opportunity for doing such tests and through it; the team could make the necessary adjustments to ensure that the intended solution meets the expected requirements (Stewart, 2011). Through employment of effective communication tools, the potential solution of a lifting device reaches the intended audience. Redesigning the solution basing it on the feedback from the communication process step, leads to the production of a refined product that would be the best-fit solution to the identified defined problem (Clarkson& Eckert, 2005). The engineering design process also provides for analyses that ensure that the potential solution meets its expectations. The team will carry out these analyses to ensure that the lifting device complies with regulations and procedures that lifting devices ought to comply with. The team will ensure that the lifting device has the mechanical ability to carry out its functions properly, without failure or causing any form of injury to the user (Stewart, 2011). How the undertaking supports further learning Engineering affects every part of our daily lives. It is what is behind every product that people use on day-day basis, be it a pencil or a plane. This undertaking on employment of the engineering design process for a mechanical component provides a foundation for design in mechanical engineering. It is an eye-opener for designing of engineering products. It provides a hands-on experience for the exploration of the discipline of engineering (Stewart, 2011). The undertaking also brings to light an objective approach when one is observing their surroundings; they will be able to note creativity in technology. One is able to acknowledge the use of creative application of technology in physical objects such as electrical appliances, lifting devices, telephones, bicycles. The undertaking on the engineering design process gives a background understanding that the everyday inventions did not appear miraculously but originated in the minds of individuals and took time to develop (Hyman, 1998). Since problems are bound to occur, the engineering design process is superb for identifying, defining, and addressing them. The study and analysis of this process gives a platform for undertaking further research that will lead to development of potential design solutions in engineering to solve the problems that would have occurred. The methodology of the design process and all the steps involved enables one to come up with as many creative potential solutions as possible, and select the best from the varied solutions to fix the identified and defined problem (Clarkson& Eckert, 2005). The undertaking shows the importance of employing knowledge that is already acquired to explore all the possible options. This will lead to a motivation for acquisition of extensive knowledge during learning so as to have a wide reservoir of knowledge to put to good use during the process (Hyman, 1998). The key themes that stand out throughout the process are design and teamwork. It emphasizes the importance of design and teamwork for a successful process. These are commendable matters for every design team that would decide to embark on an engineering design process. From the first step of the design process to the last, the group works as a team and eventually decides as a team what solution to settle on, that they perceive, through analysis, would work best for the problem. The design process facilitates the turning of ideas to reality. It leads to the evaluation of sketch ideas, materials and solutions. It gives the power to change and improve things enormously. It provides an opportunity for participation in projects that will have effects that are far-reaching (Haik, 2010). Engineering design centric goods used in industries, goods such as cranes, and automobile parts. The design process arms an individual with the tools needed and the methods employed to ensure that the stated aims and objectives of the project come to realization at the end of the process. It provides room for refining the initial idea so as to obtain a better one that will solve the problem better at its implementation. The design process gives a leeway to engineers in the making to have an experience and acquire knowledge of how design solutions come to being. Individuals and teams can put to use such knowledge and information to create their own ideas in an effort of solving a problem that they have identified. The precisely stated steps and procedures could however be iterative to ensure that the solution that the team is working on is complete and without faults (Haik, 2010). The design process encompasses massive research. This will lead to expansion of knowledge in this area. It will enable the making of informed choices by designers based on the knowledge acquired during research. It enables the designer to be more creative with the idea that is under construction to become a probable solution to the stated problem (Hyman, 1998). The process enables the individual undertaking it to develop and polish their creative skills. The skills are normally employed at each stage of the process through to the finishing line at redesigning. The design process appears to become better as time goes, and in the availability of enough resources. The products designed over time become more improved and more efficient than those produced times back, due to a team’s objective of producing better improved products (Clarkson & Eckert, 2005). The engineering design process is vital in mechanical engineering and generally in the field of engineering. Every product used in an industry setting first underwent design before its physical production. It is thus, production of all the equipment in use industrially is infeasible without a design process. Moving devices and other equipment used in various industries employ the design process for their production (Clarkson & Eckert, 2005). The design process could cover a huge range of things from the designing of buildings, aeroplanes, cars, bridges; it offers a preparatory experience before launching into a fulfilling engineering design career. Reference Bulala, C., 1998, Human assisted lifting device for metal grinding operations. Clarkson, J., & Eckert, C., 2005, Design process improvement a review of current practice. London [U.K.], Springer. http://public.eblib.com/EBLPublic/PublicView.do?ptiID=571166 Dieter, G. E., & Schmidt, L. C., 2009, Engineering design. Boston, McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Dym, C. L., Little, P., 1999, Engineering Design: A Project-Based Introduction, John Wiley, New York. Ertas, A., Jones, J. C., 1996, The Engineering Design Process, John Wiley and Sons, New York. Haik, Y., 2010, Engineering design process. Independence, Ky, Nelson Engineering. Hyman, B., 1998, Fundamental of Engineering Design, Prentice Hall, New Jersey. Kemp, A. W., 2008, Industrial mechanics. Homewood, Ill, American Technical Publishers Lumsdaine, E., Lumsdaine, M., Shelnutt, J. W., 1999, Creative Problem Solving and Engineering Design, McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York. Stewart, G., 2011, Well test design & analysis. Tulsa, Okla, PennWell, accessed January 10th 2013, . Read More