Introduction to Engineering
ENGG200
Engineering Design Process
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What is Engineering
• Roots of the Word ‘Engineering’
• Engineering derives from the Latin words ingenium, meaning "cleverness" and
ingeniare, meaning "to contrive, devise”.
Oxford Concise Dictionary, 1995
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What is Engineering?
• Definition
• The profession in which a knowledge of the mathematical and natural sciences gained by study,
experience, and practice is applied with judgment to develop ways to utilize, economically, the
materials and forces of nature for the benefit of mankind.”
Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET)
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What is Engineering?
• Definition
• "Engineers have a hand in designing, creating, and modifying nearly everything we
touch, wear, eat, see, and hear in our daily lives"
(American Society of Engineering Education)
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Engineers are Problem Solvers
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Engineering Skills
• Problem-solving
• Analytical and creative thinking
• Design-oriented
• Communication (written and oral)
• Adapt to change
• Learn to learn
• Global perspective
• Project management
• Ability to work in diverse team
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Functions of Engineering
Research Design Development Analysis Systems
Operation and Technical Customer
Manufacturing Education
Maintenance Support Support
Management Medicine Law Business 7
Defining Engineering Design
• Engineering design: Is a systematic, intelligent process in which engineers
generate, evaluate, and specify solutions for devices, systems, or processes whose
form(s) and function(s) achieve clients’ objectives and users’ needs while
satisfying a specified set of constraints.
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Design Drivers
• All designed products have a reason behind them
• Reasons are indicators of what people want and need from products
• Reasons are known as design drivers
• Very often, the reasons may seem very obvious:
• to meet some specific need
• to serve a function
• to be useful in some way
• There is more than one reason for most designs
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Common Design Drivers
Traffic lights solve the problem of massive volume of traffic at
junctions.
• Solvea problem: Problems are identified
when people encounter them
[Link]
ville-road-forest-road-junction/
Food production systems are driven by the human need to eat
• Meet a need (food, transportation, shelter,
healthcare, etc.). Needs are often immediate
reasons and very strong drivers for design
[Link]
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anufacturers-can-benefit-going-green
Common Design Drivers
• Improvement: stems from the driver of problem-solving to do something
better. Modern product design adopts incremental design where small
changes are made to existing products
Solar traffic light
Efficiency and longevity of light bulb are driven by improvement
[Link]
[Link] 11
Common Design Drivers
Cell phones are constantly driven by technology change
(touch screen technology)
• Adapt and respond to change: Design is not
static. Solutions to problems tend to change
as circumstances change (advancements in
technology, environmental conditions, etc.)
[Link]
[Link]
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Common Design Drivers
• Fulfill a desire: Usually psychologically or socially driven factors, such as the
desire to have the same (or better) product as one’s peers.
Tablets are driven by people’s desire for a particular type of device and interface
[Link]
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Engineering Design Process
Define the Identify objectives, Brainstorm multiple Select the most
problem constraints, and functions solutions promising solution
Model/Prototype
your solution
Communicate your Iterate to improve your Test and evaluate
solution prototype your prototype
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Problem Statement
Problem definition/statement is an essential initiating
phase that describes the problem to be addressed. It
requires to:
• understand the existing problem, associating available data,
images, and fundamental principles with it;
• generate strategies and methodology;
• critically
evaluate the state-of-the-art technologies available
on the market.
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Aspects of Design
• Design objective: A feature or behaviour that we wish the design
to have or exhibit. (It is not what design should do; It is what the
design should be)
• Design constraint: A limit or restriction on the features or
Functions
and Means behaviours of the design. A proposed design is unacceptable if
these limits are violated. Constraints are binary (yes or no)
• Functions: Things a designed device or system is supposed to do
Form Design Objective
(Vehicle: transportation).
• Means: A way or a method to make a function happen. (For
example, friction is a means of fulfilling a function of applying a
Constraints braking force).
• Form: The shape and structure of something as distinguished
from its material.
Aspects of Design - Example
• Design objective: Design a car brake
system with indigenous material.
• Design constraint: Design with indigenous
material.
• Functions: Control over speed while
driving
• Means: Friction is a means of fulfilling a
function of applying a braking force [Link]
• Form: conforms to the contours of the
brake disks
Measuring the Success of an Engineering
Design
Metric: A standard of measurement; in the context of engineering design, a scale on
which the achievement of a design’s objectives can be measured and assessed.
Specification(s): A scale on which the achievement of a design’s functions can be
measured. Specifications are engineering statements of the extent to which functions
are performed by a design.
Specifications may specify values for particular functions or design features,
procedures for calculating functions or behaviors of the design, or performance
levels that must be attained by the design.
Measuring the Success of an Engineering
Design
• Requirements: shorthand for customer requirements, which are the
client’s statement of objectives, constraints, and functions.
• Specifications: shorthand for engineering specifications or design
specifications, which are the designer’s expression of what a design is
intended to do in engineering terms.