MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DESIGN 1

MEC 531

PART A
MECHANICAL DESIGN PROCESS

By:
NURZAKI IKHSAN

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO MECHANICAL
DESIGN PROCESS
Chapter Outline
1. The Phases of Design
2. Problem identification and definition
3. Product design specifications
4. Concept development, evaluation and selection

The Phase Of Design

What is Design?

Design is an innovative and highly iterative process. It is also a decision-making

process.

Why do we design ?
To survive!
As an engineer as technical provider, we provide solutions to particular problems
However -if clients are not completely satisfied with provider then they will dismiss
They will go somewhere else and tell everyone about the unsatisfactory

The Phase Of Design

7 Phases Design Process

Define
Problem

Gather
Information

Concept
Generation

Evaluation of
Concepts

Product
Architecture

Phase I.
Conceptual
Design

Configuration
Design

Phase II.
Embodiment
Design
Phase III.
Detail Design

Phase VII.
Planning for
Retirement

Phase VI.
Planning for
Use

Phase V.
Planning for
Distribution

Phase IV.
Planning for
Manufacture

Parametric
Design

The Phase Of Design

7 Phases Design Process

Define
Problem

Gather
Information

Concept
Generation

Phase I.
Conceptual
Design

Evaluation of
Concepts

Feasibility Study.
Requires greatest creativity, involves the most
uncertainty and requires coordination among many
functions in the business organization.
Discrete activities to be considered:
Identification of customer needs
Problem definition
Gathering information
Conceptualization
Concept selection
Design review

The Phase Of Design

7 Phases Design Process

Define
Problem

Gather
Information

Concept
Generation

Phase I.
Conceptual
Design

Evaluation of
Concepts

Most important steps in the engineering design

process is identifying customer needs.
The customer needs can be gained from:
Interviewing customers
Focus group
Customer survey
Customer complaints
Tools to achieve this:
Benchmarking
QFD
PDS

The Phase Of Design

7 Phases Design Process

Define
Problem

Gather
Information

Concept
Generation

Phase I.
Conceptual
Design

Evaluation of
Concepts

Information from Internet

Engineering URLs
Patent Literature
Intellectual Property
Patents
Handbook

The Phase Of Design

7 Phases Design Process

Define
Problem

Gather
Information

Concept
Generation

Phase I.
Conceptual
Design

Evaluation of
Concepts

Brainstorming
Functional decomposition
Morphological chart

The Phase Of Design

7 Phases Design Process

Define
Problem

Gather
Information

Concept
Generation

Phase I.
Conceptual
Design

Evaluation of
Concepts

Comparison Based on Absolute Criteria

Pughs Concept Selection Method
Weighted Decision Matrix

The Phase Of Design

7 Phases Design Process
Preliminary Design.
Decisions are made in this design phase: strength,
material selection, size, shape, and spatial compatibility.
Any major changes beyond this design phase become
very expensive.

Product
Architecture

Configuration
Design

Phase II.
Embodiment
Design

Parametric
Design

The Phase Of Design

7 Phases Design Process
Arrangement of the physical elements to carry out its
required function.

Product
Architecture

Configuration
Design

i.e. defining the building blocks of the product in terms of

what they do and their interfaces
Design for Human Factor
Creating user-friendly Design

Phase II.
Embodiment
Design

Parametric
Design

The Phase Of Design

7 Phases Design Process
Establishing the shape and general dimensions of the
components.

Product
Architecture

Configuration
Design

Components include special purpose parts, standard

parts, standard assemblies or modules.
Develop from function.

Configuration depending on:

1. Available materials and production methods
2. Spatial constraints
3. Product architecture

Phase II.
Embodiment
Design

Parametric
Design

The Phase Of Design

7 Phases Design Process
Set the dimensions and tolerances in order to maximize
quality and performance and minimize cost.

Objective : to set values for the design variables that

will produce the best possible design considering both
performance and manufacturability.
A few established method in designing to maximise
performance and quality :
FMEA
Design for reliability
Robust design
Design for Assembly (DFA)
Design for Manufacture (DFM)

Product
Architecture

Configuration
Design

Phase II.
Embodiment
Design

Parametric
Design

The Phase Of Design

7 Phases Design Process

Any missing or incomplete information are added

arrangement, form, dimensions, tolerances,
surface properties, materials and manufacturing of
each part
Activities to be completed in the detail design
phase (documentation):
Detail engineering drawing.
Verification testing of prototype.
Assembly drawings and instruction, BOM.
A detailed product specification.
Decisions either to fabricate each part or to buy it
A detailed cost estimation.
A design review as a conclusion of the detail
design phase before beingpassed to manufacturing.

Final Phase- Detail design

Waiting for final decision to be manufacture

The design is brought to the stage of a

complete engineering description of a tested
and producible product.

Phase III.
Detail Design

The Phase Of Design

Product Design Specifications (PDS)

A document that contains all of the facts related to the outcome of

the product development (document listing the problem in detail).

It should avoid forcing the design direction toward a particular

concept and predicting the outcome.

Should be understood that the PDS is evolutionary and will change

as the design process proceeds.

It is important to work with the customer and analyse the

marketplace to produce a list of requirements necessary to
produce a successful product.

The designer should constantly refer back to this document to

ensure designs are appropriate.

Product Design Specifications (PDS)

Example: PDS
1. What is the product going to be?
2. What are the dimensions of the product?
3. What materials does the product require?
4. What is the estimate cost of the materials?
5. What tools/technology will be used to work on the project?
6. Are the tools/technology accessible, or will special arrangements need to be made?
7. What is the time estimate for completing the project?
8. Where will the product be worked on primarily?
9. Will an outside company be used to complete the project?
10. Will materials need to be ordered? If so, how much time should be allotted for
shipping, ordering, etc?
11. Will an expert in the field need to assist with the creation of the product? If so,
when will this person be contacted to set up a mutually convenient time to meet?
12. Who will benefit from the benefit from the creation of the product?
13. Why is it necessary to create this product?
14. How will the product demonstrate technical knowledge?

Product Design Specifications (PDS)

PRODUCT DESIGN SPECIFICATION
Product: Lightweight wheel for Formula Student car.
Weight
Size
Timescale
Cost
Quantity
Safety

:Maximum 3kg
:13 diameter;
15-25mm centre thickness
:18 weeks from initial phase to manufacture.
:Maximum RM300 per wheel
:4 on initial design run
:-Design for fatigue life of 250000 cycles at approximately
1.4g loading
-Interface between centre and rims must be airtight
-Smooth surface finish
-Secure fittings

Product Design Specifications (PDS)

Competition
Maintenance
Customer
Manufacturing Facilities

Installation
Materials

:There are few competitors in niche market, but

various racing wheel manufacturers.
:Seals and bolts must be checked occasionally.
:Lightweight motorsport / weekend racer.
:Dependent upon material
CNC and Casting in-house.
Other manufacturing must be out-sourced.
:4 inch PCD 4 stud formation.
:Range of materials to be modelled:
Aluminium 2024 T6
Steel
Plastics

Concept Development, Evaluation and Selection

Generating Design Concepts
Brainstorming
Most common method used by design teams for generating ideas for design
concepts in conceptual design.
Think of all the possible limitations or shortcomings of the product.
Functional decomposition (breakdown)
A logical approach for describing the transformation between the initial and final
states of a system or device.
Physical decomposition separating the product or subassembly directly into its
subsidiary subassemblies and components (output = physical decomposition block
diagram).

Functional decomposition a general description of a device is refined into more

specific arrangements of functions and subfunctions.

Concept Development, Evaluation and Selection

Physical decomposition
Urban Car

Suspension
system

Steering
system

Chassis

Braking
system

Power train

Functional decomposition
Power train

Variable valve
timing

Direct injection

3.5 cc

The controller are use to

varies the operational of the
open-closed valve

The gasoline is highly pressurized, and

injected via a common rail fuel line
directly into the combustion chamber

The engine consist of 6

pistons

Concept Development, Evaluation and Selection

Morphological chart
Representing and exploring all the relationships in multidimensional problems
regarding shape and form

Concept Development, Evaluation and Selection

Concept Evaluation & Selection

Evaluation methods:
1. Pugh concept selection method.

2. Weighted decision matrix.

Concept Development, Evaluation and Selection

Pugh Concept Selection Method

This method compares each concept relative to a reference or datum concept.
Each criterion determines whether the concept is better than, poorer than or about
the same as the reference concept.
Steps in this Pugh concept selection method:
1. Choose the criteria by which the concepts will be evaluated
- Can refer to QFD (House of Quality).
2. Formulate the decision matrix
- Concepts on the row headings and criteria on the column headings.
3. Clarify the design concepts

- Make sure every team member understand every concept developed.

Concept Development, Evaluation and Selection

4. Choose the datum concept

- Reference concept with which all other concepts are compared.
5. Run the matrix
- Use a three-level scale, better (+), worse (-) or same (S).

6. Evaluate the ratings

- Sum up the +, - and S ratings.
7. Establish a new datum and rerun the matrix
- To gain added insight regarding the highest rated concept.
8. Examine the selected concept for improvement opportunities
- Is there any improvement that can be done considering the worse ratings gained for
the selected concept.

Concept Development, Evaluation and Selection

Concept Development, Evaluation and Selection

Weighted Decision Matrix

Evaluating competing concepts by ranking the design criteria with weighting factors
and scoring the degree to which each design concept meets the criterion.

Weighting factors:
- A 5-point scale (0-4) knowledge of the criteria is not very detailed.
- An 11-point scale (0-10) the information is more detail.

The evaluation steps are quite similar to Pugh concept selection method but without
any datum.

Concept Development, Evaluation and Selection