Engineering Design Process

Lecture # 2 & 3
EN 223 Research Project and Presentation
Lecture Outline
• What is the Engineering Design Process?
• The steps in Engineering Design Process
1. Define the Problem
2. Do Background Research
3. Specify Requirements
4. Brainstorm Solutions
5. Choose the Best Solution
6. Develop the Solution
7. Build a Prototype
8. Test and Redesign
9. Communicate Results
What is the Engineering Design Process?
• The Engineering design process:
• is a series of steps that engineers follow to come up with a solution to a
problem.
• Many times the solution involves designing a product (like a machine,
robot or computer code) that meets certain criteria and/or
accomplishes a certain task.
• This process is different from the steps of the Scientific Method,
which you may be more familiar with.
What is the Engineering Design Process?
• Scientific Method:
• If your project involves making observations and doing experiments, you
should probably follow the Scientific Method.
• Engineering Design Process:
• If your project involves designing, building, and testing something, you should
probably follow the Engineering Design Process.

Making observations
Scientific Method & Doing experiments,
proposing theory

Identifying problem,
Engineering Design
Designing, Building &
Process and Testing Design
Scientific
Method
vs
Engineering
Method
What is the Engineering Design Process?
• Engineers do not always follow the Design
something
engineering design process steps in order,
one after another.
• It is very common to design something,
test it, find a problem, and then go back to Make Iterative Test it
modification
an earlier step to make a modification or Process
change to your design.
• This way of working is called iteration,
and it is likely that your process will do the Find problem
same!
Steps of the Engineering Design Process
1-Define the
Problem
9- 2-Do
Communicate Background
Results Research

8-Test and
Redesign
Engineering 3-Specify
Requirements
Design
Process
7-Build a 4-Brainstorm
Prototype Solutions

6-Develop the 5-Choose the

Solution Best Solution
Steps of the Engineering Design Process
1. Define the Problem
• Finding an idea for your engineering project
requires you to identify the needs of

Find an idea for your

Create a list of all the

engineering project
yourself, another person, or a group of
people. The act of looking at the world things that annoy or bother
the people around you.
around you to identify these needs is
called need finding/problem identification.
Record this bug list in
• To help you find an idea for your your Design Notebook.
engineering project:
• Create a list of all the things that annoy or Mind Map possible design
bother the people around you.
problems, ideas, or areas
• Record this bug list in your Design Notebook. of interest to you.
• Mind Map possible design problems, ideas, or
areas of interest to you.
Steps of the Engineering Design Process
1. Define the Problem
• The engineering design process starts when you ask the following
questions about problems that you observe and that is calling
defining the problem,
What is the
problem or need?

Define the
Problem
Who has the
problem or need?
Why is it important
to solve?

• [Who] need(s) [what] because [why].

Steps of the Engineering Design Process
1. Define the Problem
• Once you have found an idea for your engineering project, describe
the problem by writing a Problem Statement. Your problem
statement must answer three questions:
• What is the problem or need?
• Who has the problem or need?
• Why is it important to solve?
• The format for writing a problem statement uses your answers to the
questions and follows these guidelines:
• Who need(s) what because why.
• _____ need(s) _________ because ________.
Steps of the Engineering Design Process
1. Define the Problem
• What is Design Notebook?
• The design process takes days, weeks, sometimes even months or years,
to complete and involves many different steps and phases along the way.
• If you recorded all of your work in different places, it would be almost
impossible to find important thoughts when you need to refresh your
memory.
• And, it would be difficult to gather all your work to present your final
solution.
• To avoid being disorganized, designers and engineers keep design
notebooks, where they record every detail of their projects along the way.
Steps of the Engineering Design Process
1. Define the Problem

What is Mind mapping?

• Mind Mapping refers to a
technique that designers and
engineers use to express and
generate ideas.
• It is a way to get all of the ideas
in your head down onto paper.
• There is no right or wrong way
to mind map.
• It is simply a visual
representation of the thoughts
in your head, and it often looks
like organized chaos.
Steps of the Engineering Design Process
2. Do Background Research
• Learn from the experiences of others — this can help you find out
about existing solutions to similar problems, and avoid mistakes that
were made in the past.
• So, for an engineering design project, do background research in two
major areas:
Do Background
Research

Users or Existing
customers solutions
2.1 Background Research Plan
• Background research is especially important for engineering design projects, because you
can learn from the experience of others rather than blunder around and repeat their
mistakes.
• To make a background research plan— a roadmap of the research questions you need to
answer -- follow these steps:
1. Identify questions to ask about your target user or customer.
2. Identify questions to ask about the products that already exist to solve the problem
you defined or a problem that is very similar.
3. Plan to research how your product will work and how to make it.
4. Network with other people with more experience than yourself: your mentors and
teachers. Ask them: "What should I study to better understand my engineering
project?" and "What area of science covers my project?" Better yet, ask even more
specific questions.
Use this Background Research Plan Worksheet to help you develop your own plan.
2.2 Finding Information for Your Research
Paper
• How to find information?
• Find and read the general information contained in an encyclopedia,
dictionary, or textbook for each of your keywords.
• Use the bibliographies and sources in everything you read to find additional
sources of information.
• Search periodical indexes at your local library.
• Search the Internet to get information from an organization, society or online
database.
• Broaden your search by adding words to your search phrases in search
engines. Narrow your search by subtracting words from or simplifying your
search phrases.
• When you find information, evaluate if it is good information.
2.2 Finding Information for Your Research
Paper (Contd.)
How to evaluate if the information is good?

Good References Bad References

Come from a credible source Come from a source with poor credibility

Not too old Out of date

Not objective and fair, biased towards one

Not biased
point of view

Free of errors Prone to errors

Properly cite the original source of all

Do not cite where the information came from
information

Easy for other people to find or obtain Difficult for others to obtain
2.3 Bibliography & References
• Make a list to keep track of ALL the books, magazines, and websites
you read as you follow your background research plan. Later this list
of sources will become your Bibliography.
• For every fact or picture in your research paper you should follow it
with a citation telling the reader where you found the information.
• Difference between Bibliography & References?
• A list of references contains only the sources that you specifically cite within
your paper or essay.
• A bibliography, on the other hand, can contain sources you read and which
readers might find valuable to know about even though you didn't specifically
cite them within the body of your writing.
2.3 Bibliography & References
• A citation is just the name of the author and the date of the
publication placed in parentheses like this: (Author, date). This is
called a reference citation when using APA format and if IEEE format
is being used, citation is just number in square bracket i.e. [1], [5],
[20-23]
• Its purpose is to document a source briefly, clearly, and accurately.
2.3 Bibliography
Collect this information for each Collect this information for each Web
printed source: Site:

•author name
•title of the publication (and the title of the
•author and editor names (if available)
article if it's a magazine or encyclopedia)
•title of the page (if available)
•date of publication
•the company or organization who posted the
•the place of publication of a book
webpage
•the publishing company of a book
•the Web address for the page (called a URL)
•the volume number of a magazine or printed
•the last date you looked at the page
encyclopedia
•the page number(s)
3. Specify Requirements
• Design requirements state the important characteristics that your
solution must meet to succeed.
• What’s the best ways to identify the design requirements?
• Analyze the concrete example of a similar, existing product, noting each of its
key features.
• But how to analyze?
3.1 How to Analyze a Physical Product
• When you start to identify your design requirements, you already
know what problem you are trying to solve.
• But what does "solving" your problem really mean?
• Your design requirements are the specific needs that must be met in order to
call your design a solution.
• For a physical product, your problem is likely making a task possible
or easier for a user to complete.
3.1 How to Analyze a Physical Product
• An example is a pair of crutches. The problem statement is:
• People need a way to walk while using only one foot, because they still need
to be able to get around when one of their feet or legs is injured.
• From the problem statement, you can
• start asking the right questions to create a list of design requirements.
• Pull the major needs of your solution from your problem statement.
Example: The Major Needs of a pair of crutches are that they help
the user to:
• Walk while using only one foot
• Get around and mobilize
3.1 How to Analyze a Physical Product
• Few questions about analyzing physical product:
• What are absolutely essential to satisfy this need?
• What are physical requirements/limits?
• What are conceptual requirements/limits of the product?
• Do other products exist similar to your future design?
• Do you future product will have to compete with the other products?
• Will you include any features that are not present in the competing product?
What are they?
• How many requirements should you have?
3.1 How to Analyze a Physical Product
• For each need, ask yourself: "What is absolutely essential to satisfy
this need?"
• Right now, do not brainstorm. Instead, figure out what MUST happen
to meet the need in your future solution.
• Your answers to these questions are your first design requirements.
(Note: if you can remove your answer to the question and still meet
the need, then your answer is not a design requirement.)
3.1 How to Analyze a Physical Product
• The "Needs" table illustrates how to find the first design requirements
for the crutches example.

What is Essential to Meet the Need

Major Needs from Step 1
(Possible Design Requirements)

Allow the user to walk while using only one

•A way for the user to balance
foot

•Light enough to carry

Help the user to get around
•Small enough to transport
3.1 How to Analyze a Physical Product
• What are the physical requirements/limits of the product you are
designing? The answers to this question are your next design
requirements.

Example: What are the physical requirements/limits of a pair of

crutches?
• Less than 2 pounds
• Adjustable between 4 feet and 6 feet tall
• Able to hold up to 200 pounds of weight
3.1 How to Analyze a Physical Product
• What are the conceptual requirements/limits of the product you are
designing?
• These are requirements that are not related to the physical nature of
the product, but still must be met in order to make your solution
successful. Examples often include cost and the timeline of the
project.
Example: What are the conceptual requirements/limits of a pair of
crutches?
• The crutches must cost less than $30.00.
• The new design must be available in the next six months.
3.1 How to Analyze a Physical Product
• What other products exist that serve a similar function to solving
your problem?
Example: Products similar to crutches:
• Other crutches on the market
• Wheel chairs
• Leg braces
• Examine these products. If possible, obtain the products themselves
and take them apart. Otherwise, research everything you can about
the products.
• Identify every individual piece of the product in addition to any
features of the product.
3.1 How to Analyze a Physical Product
• In your design notebook, draw a vertical line down the middle of the
page. On the left, write down all of the component parts and
features that you see. On the right, write down the purpose for each
component or feature. Why is it present? See Figure 1 for an example
related to crutches.
•
3.1 How to Analyze a Physical Product

• Look at the right side of your table. Which functions listed here will your product
need to fulfill?
• Circle these functions, and look at the feature on the left for each.
• Is the feature absolutely essential in meeting the need on the right?
• If yes, then this is a design requirement, and you should circle it.
• If it is not, it is a possibility that could contribute to your design, but not a requirement.
3.1 How to Analyze a Physical Product
• Is the product that you are designing going to have to compete with
the other products?
• If yes, then look more closely at the features on the left side of your table.
• If you feel that your design needs to include the feature in order to
keep up with current products, then that feature becomes another
design requirement.
3.1 How to Analyze a Physical Product
• Will you include any features that are not present in the competing
product? What are they?
• If they are features that you consider to be "must haves" in order to
make your design successful, then they can be considered your final,
additional design requirements.
3.2 How Many Design Requirements?
• How many requirements should you have?
• That's a really good question without a good answer. You should have neither too
many nor too few.
• What is "too many" depends on the product.
• An airliner might have thousands of design requirements, and that could be just
right.
• For a university project, two or three, or maybe five design requirements
are appropriate.
• The reality is that experience is very important in deciding how many
design requirements are important.
• If you have too many design requirements, it can become very difficult to
actually design and build a product.
3.2 How Many Design Requirements?
• Why might too few design requirements be a problem?
• If you have too few requirements, you might get a result that you don't really
want.
• Let's say that you do not specify a cost requirement. You might end
up designing something that costs many times more than what
people would be willing to pay for it. Your design would be a failure.
So, don't be a slacker on your design requirements.
Over
Constrained Design • if it has too many requirements
Under
Constrained Design • one with too few requirements
4. Brainstorm Solutions Examining
existing
solutions

• There are always many good

possibilities/possible solutions for
solving design problems.
• If you focus on just one before Sketching
and Brainstorming
Creating
and using
looking at the alternatives, it is doodling analogies
almost certain that you are
overlooking a better solution.
• Good designers try to generate as
many possible solutions as they
can and they do this by ideation. Conducting
brainstorming
sessions
5. Choose the Best Solution
Robustness
• Ask, Whether each possible
solution meets your design Safety Aesthetics
requirements?
• Some solutions probably meet Universal
more requirements than others.
• Reject solutions that do not meet
Skill
Design
the requirements. required Criteria Cost

• Good designers consider

the Universal Design
Criteria when choosing which Time Resources
possible solution to implement.
 5. Choose
the Best
Solution
• It helps to
compare
solutions in
a decision
matrix—a chart
with the
requirements and
criteria on one
axis and the
different
solutions on the
other.
5. Choose the Best Solution
• If your requirements and solutions are relatively simple, you can
sometimes just list the pros and cons for each solution. Pros are good
things about a solution and cons are bad things.
Pros Cons
6. Develop the Solution
Drawings
• Development involves the
refinement and improvement of
a solution, and it continues
throughout the design process,
often even after a product ships Methods of
to customers. Analysis Development Modeling
Work
• The goals of development work
are to:
• Make it work!
• Reduce risk.
• Optimize success. Prototyping
6. Develop the Solution
• Drawing: Since the beginning of time,
drawings have been a way to share
ideas with others.
• Being able to describe your idea
verbally is important, but drawings are
what allow you to show other people
what's in your imagination.
• Words can only translate an idea to
someone else's mind—and that allows
for a new interpretation of what that
idea may look like.
• You don't want your ideas to get lost in
translation!
6. Develop the Solution
• Now, like many, you may think that you can't draw. But you don't have to be an
artist to be able to draw.
• Although it might seem intimidating, drawing is all about starting with the basics,
and like anything else in life—practice, practice, practice!
• The purpose of design/engineering drawing is to communicate your ideas to
other people in the simplest form possible. Your drawings don't need to be
elaborate or fancy. They just need to get your ideas across to others through
simple shapes and symbols.
• Start your drawing training by practicing the simplest of shapes. In your design
notebook, draw lines, curves, circles, rectangles, squares, triangles, etc.
• Don't just draw one of each shape—draw dozens! You will be amazed at how
much faster you get at drawing these simple shapes and symbols.
7. Build a Prototype
• Prototype
• an operating version of a solution.
• Often made with different materials
than the final version, and generally it is
not as polished.
• It is a key step in the development of a
final solution, allowing the designer to
test how the solution will work.
• It allow you to test how your solution
will work and even show the solution to
users for feedback.
7. Build a Prototype
• Creating prototypes
• may involve using readily available materials, construction kits, storyboards,
or other techniques that help you to create your solution quickly and with
little cost.
• Keep in mind that these are mockups of your final solution, not the
real thing!
8. Test and Redesign
Design
something
• The design process involves multiple
iterations and redesigns of your final
solution.
• At this point, you have created Design
prototypes of your alternative solutions, Make
modification process is Test it
tested those prototypes, and chosen Iterative
your final design. So you're probably
thinking that your project is finished!
• But in fact, you have yet to complete
the final and most important phase of Find
problem
the engineering design process—test
and redesign.
8. Test and Redesign
• Test and redesign requires you to go out and test your final design
with your users.
• Based on their feedback and their interaction with your solution, you
will redesign your solution to make it better.
• Repeat this process of testing, determining issues, fixing the issues,
and then retesting multiple times until your solution is as successful
as possible.
• Keep in mind that minor changes this late in the design process could
make or break your solution, so be sure to be thorough in your
testing!
9. Communicate Results
• To complete your project, communicate your results to others in a:
• Formal Project report
• Research paper
• Display Board
• Engineering Competition
• Professional engineers always do the same, thoroughly documenting
their solutions so that they can be manufactured and supported.
Components of a Formal Project Report
Bibliography
• “Engineering Design Project Guide.” Sciencebuddies.
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/engineering-
design-process-guide (accessed March 02, 2020).
• K. G. Budinski, Engineers' guide to technical writing, ASM
International, 2001.