Defining and solving design problems

Designing products and process

plants
Product anatomy
Components: standard vs. special
purpose
Process plant anatomy
Component decomposition diagrams
Types of design
Tinkering
Summary

Imagine designing the following

products
automobile
baseball bat
bicycle
canoe paddle
coffee maker
commercial jet
fishing reel
inflatable kayak

laser printer
leaf rake
paper clip
paper cup
penlight
power lawn mower
toaster oven
vacuum cleaner

Are all design problems the same?

Lets start with product design

A product is an item that is purchased

and used as a unit (Dixon and Poli,
1995)

Example product. Penlight has

components

case

button
spring

battery
bulb
cap

Component decomposition diagram penlight

Parts
Assemblies

A diagram
showing the
anatomy

penlight

Standard
Special
purpose

bulb
glass lens
filament
base

battery
anode
cathode
electrolyte
plastic cover

body

screw cap
switch
case
spring

Other example
components
Standard
Parts

Standard
Assemblies

Special
Purpose Parts

bolt, nut
screw
rivet
key
gasket
gear blank
lubricant
seal

pump
electric motor
clutch
chain/sprocket
heat exchanger
brake caliper
ball bearing
power screw

housing
cover
bracket
link
support
shaft

General product
component decomposition
Product

Standard
Part

Special purpose
Part

Sub-assembly A
Special purpose part
Standard part

Sub-assembly B
Special purpose part
Sub-assembly B1
Standard part
Special purpose part

Final design (not included in text)

Communication book: letters,

emails, minutes.
Technical info book: catalogs,
articles.
Design book: math models,
optimization problems.
Plan book: assemblies, parts,
list of standard and specialpurpose parts.

Process plant - definition

A process plant is a combination

of systems used to process
energy or materials (both organic
and inorganic).

Component decomposition of a
frozen food processing plant
Plant
Frozen
Vegetable
Plant

Washing
System

Blanching
System

System
Equipment

Freezing
System

Packaging
System

Spraying

Parboiling

Chilling

Weighing

Conveying

Cooling

Inspecting

Wrapping

Inspecting

Conveying

Inspecting

Component decomposition of process

plant
Plant

Equipment 1

System A

System B

Equipment 2

Equipment 4

Equipment 3

Sub-system B1
Equipment 5

Why bother preparing

Component Decomposition Diagrams?
Understand the interaction
between components
Consider standard parts versus
special purpose parts (buy vs.
make)
Divide the design problem into
separate sub-problems, i.e.
decisions.
Learn pros & cons of existing
products or processing plants

Types of design (i.e. decisions and

activities)
modifying the form

choosing from existing standard

parts/subassemblies

Variant design modifying existing part/subassembly,

but keeping original concept

Redesign

Selection design

Adaptive design

Original design

Artistic design -

adapting known solution to new task

Part design

vs. assembly or product design

new concept, part never existed

before
modifying appearance or look

Types of design related to phase

Formulation
original
design
Concept Design

part
design

selection
design
variant
design

Configuration
Design

Configuration
Design

Parametric Design

Parametric Design

Parametric Design

Detail Design

Detail Design

Detail Design

Detail Design

Tinker
Date: 1592
---to work in the manner of a tinker; especially : to
repair, adjust, or work with something in an
unskilled or experimental manner: to FIDDLE

(http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary)

Real engineers do not tinker.

Real engineers predict how a product
will perform before building it, reducing
the need to cut and try or fiddle.

Summary

Products and process plants have an anatomy of

components
Components include parts & subassemblies
Process plant components include systems and
equipments
Components can be standard or special purpose
Component decomposition diagrams are very
useful
Types of design include: original, variant,
selection, adaptive, redesign
Tinkering is really not engineering design