1. GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2008 Engineering Design GE121 Finding Answers to the Problem Part II Lecture 5B

2. GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2008 Generating Design Ideas: Expanding the Design Space  Engineering creativity is goal-directed  Goal may be External (usually the case in Design Firms) or Internal (Start-up company operating out of a garage)  Creativity involves Work!  Thomas Edison – “Invention is 99 percent perspiration and 1 percent inspiration”  Expanding and Limiting the Design Space is essential to effective design  During the early stages, it is desirable to expand the size of the Design Space  At the conclusion, the design space should be contracted down to a good alternative

3. GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2008 Taking Advantage of Design Information that is Already Available  Sources of Ideas  Literature Search Identify Prior Work in the field Determine the State of the Art  Some Sources for literature searches www searches  thoughtful keyword selection Studying previous solutions Product advertising Vendor literature Compendia of material properties Design and Legal codes Thomas Register –Valuable Digest of product vendors –www.thomasnet.com

4. GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2008 Taking Advantage of Design Information that is Already Available (continued)  Benchmarking Competitive products How WELL they perform certain functions  Dissection and Reverse Engineering Determine HOW functions are performed Identify other ways of performing similar functions  Good idea to look back at old notes at this point Recapture old or premature ideas that were recorded earlier May have set aside MEANS / SOLUTION IDEAS earlier during objective development phase – now is the time to revisit them

5. GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2008 Patents: Expanding the Design Space Without Reinventing the Wheel  Patents  Intellectual Property  Holders of Patents are given credit having discovered or invented a device or a new way of doing things  Can file for a Patent detailing what they believe to be the new art, or originality of their invention or discovery  Usually filed by country, but cooperative agreements exist  Reasons why Patent Searches are important  Re-inventing the wheel is not productive  May already be patented  May be able to licence technology / process  May generate ideas (see what others have done)

6. GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2008 Patents: Expanding the Design Space Without Reinventing the Wheel (continued)  Two Kinds of Patents  Design Patents Granted on the Form or Appearance “Look and Feel” of an idea Clearly relate to visual appearance – minor alterations can create a new product – relatively easy to “work around” Relatively weak patents  Utility Patents Granted for Functions - how to do something or make something happen Harder to “work around” Stronger patents

7. GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2008 Patents: Expanding the Design Space Without Reinventing the Wheel (continued)  In both cases, the right to use the designs are limited  Rights can be obtained from the inventor in many cases, usually through licensing agreements  Patent information is available on the www  One good source for information on Patent Searches: Patent Information Research Guide – Ryerson University website http://www.ryerson.ca/library/subjects/patents/print.html http://www.ryerson.ca/library/subjects/patents/print.html

8. GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2008 Group Activities for the Design Team  Convergent and Divergent Thinking  Will examine Group activities, and will emphasize a respectful environment for idea generation  Divergent Thinking Try to remove limits or barriers “Think Outside the Box” “Stretch” or “Push” “the Envelope” Expand the Design Space  Convergent Thinking Narrows the focus to the “Best” Designs Done later in the design process  Think Outside the Box, but within the Physics and Logic!

9. GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2008 Group Activities for the Design Team (continued)  Techniques to encourage Divergent thinking  The 6-3-5 Method 6 Individuals within a design team generate 3 ideas each, then circulate them for written comment (no verbal communication or cross-talk) to each of the remaining 5 group members, building on the feedback of others Move to a common visual medium (i.e. blackboard etc.) to record and discuss the results Can be modified to the 4-3-3 Method for our groups of 4, versus a group of 6  The C-sketch Method Similar to 6-3-5 method, but uses sketches as the communication medium Becomes unwieldy with 6 or more participants – may work better with 4 Sketches are a natural way of thinking/visualizing in mechanical design

10. GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2008 Group Activities for the Design Team (continued)  The Gallery Method Can involve written and/or sketched proposals from each member All are posted (to a wall, or “gallery”), and all are discussed at once Process can be iterative, with number of cycles open- ended

11. GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2008 Ways to Think Divergently  Other methods include the use of Synectics and other Analogy based tools  Suggest that parallels or similarities exist between 2 sets of circumstances  Types of Analogies Personal Analogies –What would it be like to be a … Fantasy Analogies –Think outside of the box –Wild ideas can trigger feasible solution ideas  Analogical thinking has led to a number of inventions Velcro – direct analogy to plant burrs (the kind that stick to your socks) Heart stents – Extremely miniaturized version of construction scaffolding to expand human arteries

12. GE 121 – Engineering Design - 2008 Activity  Review Top 5 Project Proposals (20 min)  Group Selection  Determine which project that you want to work on  We will be forming groups  Start your Literature Search, and begin Refining your Objectives