Lesson 2

ENGG 401 – Introduction to Engineering

Factors in making Design Decision

A. Design Process
The basic steps that engineers regardless of their background, follow to arrive at solutions
to problems;

Step 1: Recognizing the need for a product or a service

Every time someone complains about a situation or about a task, or curses a product, then
there is an opportunity for a product or service. Always the need for a products or services exists;
what one has to do is to identify them.
New products are being developed everyday for the purpose of making our lives more
comfortable, most pleasurable and less laborious. Some existing products are constantly being
modified to take advantage of new technologies.

Step 2: Problem Definition and Understanding

This is the most important step in any the design process. The design engineer must to
fully understand the problem, and the best way is by asking questions. If you do not have the
good grasp of what the problem is or what the client wants, you will not come to a solution that
is relevant to the need of the client.

Step 3: Research and Preparation

In this step, you need to collect useful information. A good start is by searching to
determine if the product already exists closely meet the need of your client. Try collect as much
information as you can. This is where you are to spend more time not only on your client but to
engineers and technicians. Internet as currently important tool is use to gather such information.
Information collected must be reviewed and organised in suitable manner.

Step 4: Conceptualization
On this stage, you need to generate some ideas or concepts that could offer reasonable
solutions to your problem without performing any detailed analysis, you have to be creative and
perhaps develop several alternative solutions. You need to perform enough analysis to see
whether thee concept you are proposing have merits.

Step 5: Synthesis
During this stage of design, you begin to consider details. You need to perform
calculations, run computer models, narrow down the type of materials to be used, size the
components of the system, and answer question about how the product is going to be fabricated.

Step 6: Evaluation
Analyze the problem in more detail. You may have to identify critical design parameters
and consider their influence in your final design. You need to make sure that all calculations are
performed correctly. If there are some uncertainties then you must perform experimental
investigation.
Details of how the product is to be fabricated must be work out fully at this stage.
Step 7: Optimization
This minimization or maximization. Design optimization is always based on some
particular criterion, such as cost, strength, size, weight, reliability, noise or performance. Keep in
mind that in optimizing individual components of an engineering system does not necessarily
lead to an optimized system.

Step 8: Presentation
In this stage, you need to communicate your final solution to the client, it might be your
boss, or to another group of your company, or to outside customer. This may require a written
and oral reports, of which maybe a progress report on regular time basis to various groups.

B. Economics
Economics factor always play important roles in engineering design decision making. If
you design a product that is too expensive to manufacture, then it cannot be sold at a price that
consumers can afford and not profitable to the company. The fact is that companies design
products and provide services not only to make our lives better but also to make money.

C. Material Selection
As a designer, the selection of the material is an important design decision. There are
number of factors to consider in selecting materials for specific application. They consider the
cost and availability of the material and how easily they can repaired. They consider the
properties of materials; electrical, mechanical, and thermal. They search ways to use advanced
materials for products to make lighter and stronger for different application.

1. Electrical resistivity – a measure of resistance of material to flow of electricity

2. Density – a measure of how compact the material is for a given volume

3. Modulus of Elasticity (Young’s Modulus) – is a measure of how easily a material will stretch
when pulled and how will the material will shorten when pushed

4. Modulus of Rigidity (Shear Modulus) – is a measure on how easily a material can be twisted
or sheared

5. Tensile strength – is determined by measuring the maximum tensile load a material specimen
in a shape of rectangular bar or cylinder can carry without failure

6. Compression Strength – is determined by measuring the maximum compressive load a

material specimen in a shape of rectangular bar , cylinder, or cube can carry without failure

7. Modulus of Resilience – is a mechanical property of a material that show how effective the
material is in absorbing mechanical energy without going through permanent damage.
8. Modulus of Toughness – is a mechanical property of the material that indicates the ability of
the material to handle overloading before it fractures

9. Strength to Weight Ratio – is the ratio of strength of material to its specific weight (weight per
volume)

10. Thermal Expansion – used to determine the change in length of the material that would occur
if the temperature of the material change

11. Thermal Conductivity – is a property of materials that shows how good the material is in
transferring thermal energy from a high temperature to a low temperature region within the
material

12. Heat Capacity – represent the amount of thermal energy required to raise the temperature of
one kilogram mass of a material by one degree Celsius

13. Viscosity – a measure of how easily the given fluid can flow

14. Vapor Pressure – fluids with low vapour pressure values will not evaporate as quickly as
those with high value of vapor pressure

15. Bulk Modulus of Compressibility – represents how compressible the fluid is

D. Teamwork

A DESIGN TEAM maybe define as group of individuals with complementary expertise,

problem solving skills, and talent who are working together to solve problem or achieve a
common goal.

A GOOD TEAM is one that gets the best out of each other. The individuals making up the
good team know when to compromise for the good of the team and its common goal. The goal
must be understood and accepted by all members. They must have a good leader. The team
leadership and the environment in which discussion take place should promote openness, respect,
and honesty.

Characteristics of secondary good team members are the following:

The Organizer – is someone who is experienced and confident. He is the coordinator of the
entire project. He needs to be good in clarifying goals and advancing decision making.

The Creator – is someone who is good in coming up with new ideas, sharing them with other
theme members, and letting the team develop the ideas further. He is good at solving difficult
problems, but may have problems with following certain protocols.
The gatherer – is someone who is enthusiastic and good at obtaining things, looking for
possibilities, and developing contacts.

The motivator – is someone who is energetic, confident, and outgoing. he is good in finding
ways around obstacles. He is good at making objective decisions.

The Evaluator – is someone who is intelligent and capable of understanding the complete scope
of the project. He is good at judging outcomes correctly.

The team worker – is someone who tries everyone to come together, because he does not like
friction or problem among team members.

The solver – is someone who is reliable and decisive and can turn concepts into practical
solutions

The finisher – is someone who can be counted on to finish his assigned task on time. He is
detailed oriented and may worry about the team’s progress toward finishing the assignment.

- to God be all the glory -