Question Paper Code :92114

BE/BTech-Examination, Nov/Dec 2014

7 th semester- Mechanical and Automation Engineering

AN 3005 — MODERN CONCEPTS OF ENGINEERING DESIGN

(Regulation-2008)

Answer Key

PART-A (2 MARKS)

1. Computer-aided engineering (CAE) is the broad usage of computer software to aid in engineering analysis tasks. It includes Finite Element Analysis (FEA), Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD),  Multi body dynamics (MBD), and optimization.

2. Technology push is a part of a business strategy of a company. In the innovation literature, there is a distinction between technology push and market pull or demand pull. A technology push implies that a new invention is pushed through R&D, production and sales functions onto the market without proper consideration of whether or not it satisfies a user need.

  A good example is touch screen technology.

3. Must-be Quality , One-dimensional Quality,  Attractive Quality , Indifferent Quality and Reverse Quality 

4. Specification may refer to an explicit set of requirements to be satisfied by a material, design, product, or service. Should a material, product, or service fail to meet one or more of the applicable specifications, it may be referred to as being out of specification; the abbreviation OOS may also be used.

5. Product concept is the understanding of the dynamics of the product in order to showcase the best qualities and maximum features of the product. Marketers spend a lot of time and research in order to target their attended audience. Marketers will look into a product concept before marketing a product towards their customers.

6.

7. Modular architecture refers to the design of any system composed of separate components that can be connected together. The beauty of modular architecture is that we can replace or add any one component (module) without affecting the rest of the system.

8. Industrial design is a process of design applied to products that are manufactured through techniques of mass production. Its key characteristic is that design is separated from manufacture: the creative act of determining and defining a product's form takes place in advance of the physical act of making a product, which consists purely of repeated, often automated, replication.

9. An invention disclosure, or invention disclosure report, is a confidential document written by a scientist or engineer for use by a company's patent department, or by an external patent attorney, to determine whether patent protection should be sought for the described invention. It may follow a standardized form established within a company. 

10.Robust design advantages

(i) The effect of robustness on quality is great.

(ii) Robustness reduces variation in parts by reducing the effects of uncontrollable variation. More consistent parts equals better quality.

(iii) lower quality parts or parts with higher tolerances can be used and a quality product can still be made. This saves the company money, because the less variable the parts can be the more they cost. (iv). The product will have more appeal to the customer. Customers demand a robust product that won't be as vulnerable to deterioration and can be used in a variety of situations.

PART –B- 16 Marks

11a(i).

11a(ii)

11b(i)

11b(ii) Environmental and Social Considerations

The designer has a major role in shaping the environment in which we live. Designers therefore have a moral responsibility to ensure that the products they design contribute towards our environment in a positive way.

All products have an impact, to a lesser or greater extent on society. This impact will influence the following areas.

• Environment - aesthetic. As a consequence of the visual impact of the product in association with its surroundings; • Environment - pollution. Created by the manufacture, use and/or disposal of the product at the end of its life; • Social - physical and social impact of the product on the user and society in general.

Sociological considerations

The environment in which we live, work and play has a considerable effect on our state of mind and general well being.

Studies show that, for example, to simply alter the lighting levels from day to day in a factory will improve the output of the work force. It is not the quality of light that creates the improvement but the fact that there has been a change. A changing environment is more stimulating and therefore more motivating.

This example shows that even very subtle changes to the environment can have dramatic effects on people. Clearly then, designers have to very careful when designing the products which shape our environment. The impact that a major new Craft and Design Support Materials: Factors that Influence Design building has on those who live and work in and around is obvious. Products such as computers or even hair dryers all have a bearing on our general state of mind, particularly in a society where people lead very busy lives. The feelings of frustration and even anger when a product we are using doesn’t function in the way expected are common place.

Many available products do not take into account the problems of the disabled, old or very young. In particular handles and switches are often too small or too difficult to operate. With a little bit of thought many of these problems could be avoided. Good design should take into account as many users as possible.

12a(i)

Product Planning is the ongoing process of identifying and articulating market requirements that define a product’s feature set. Product planning serves as the basis for decisions about price, distribution and promotion. Product planning is the process of creating a product idea and following through on it until the product is introduced to the market. Additionally, a small company must have an exit strategy for its product in case the product does not sell. Product planning entails managing the product throughout its life using various marketing strategies, including product extensions or improvements, increased distribution, price changes and promotions.

Phases of product planningDeveloping the product concept

The first phase of product planning is developing the product concept. Marketing managers

usually create ideas for new products by identifying certain problems that consumers faces or

various customer needs.

Studying the market

The next step in the product planning process is studying the competition. Most small companies

will order secondary research information from vendors such as the NPD Group and Forrester

Research. Secondary research usually provides details on key competitors and their market

share, which is the percent of total sales that they hold in the marketplace. 

Market research

A small company should consider doing both qualitative and quantitative marketing research for

its new product. Focus groups are an example of qualitative information. Focus groups allow

companies to ask their consumers about their likes and dislike of a product in small groups. A

focus group allows the company to tweak the product concept before testing it through phone

surveys—a more quantitative marketing research function. 

Product introduction

If the survey results prove favorable, the company may decide to sell the new product on a small

scale or regional basis. During this time, the company will distribute the products in one or more

cities. The company will run advertisements and sales promotions for the product, tracking sales

results to determine the products potential success.

Product life cycle

Product planning must also include managing the product through various stages of its product

life cycle. These stages include the introduction, growth, maturity and decline stages. Sales are

usually strong during the growth phase, while competition is low. However, continued success

of the product will pique the interest of competitors, which will develop products of their own.

12a(ii)

12b(i) Target Specifications

The target specifications are established after the customer needs have been identified but before product concepts have been generated and the most promising one(s) selected.

The process of establishing the target specifications contains four steps:

Step1: Prepare the list of metricsThe most useful metrics are those that reflect as directly as possible the degree to which the product satisfies the customer needs. The relationship between needs and metrics is central to the entire concept of specifications. A simple needs-metrics matrix represents the relationship between needs and metrics. 

Step 2: Collect competitive benchmarking information

Unless the team expects to enjoy a total monopoly, the relationship of the new product to competitive products is paramount in determining commercial success. While the team will have entered the product development process with some idea of how it wishes to compete in the marketplace, the target specifications are the language the team uses to discuss and agree on the detailed positioning of its product relative to existing products, both its own and competitors.

Step 3: Set ideal and marginally acceptable target values

In this step, the team synthesizes the available information in order to actually set the target values for the metrics. Two types of target value are useful: an ideal value and a marginally acceptable value. The ideal value is the best result the team could hope for. The marginally acceptable value is the value of the metric that would just barely make the product commercially viable. Both of these targets are useful in guiding the subsequent stages of concept generation and concept selection, and for refining the specifications after the product concept has been selected.

 Step 4: Reflect on the results and the process

The team may require some iteration to agree on the targets. Reflection after each iteration helps to ensure that the results are consistent with the goals of the project.

12b(ii) The objective tree

An objectives tree is a visual representation of objectives. It is the positive opposite of the problem tree, and helps to give us a clear idea of all objectives, which are more important, which need to be achieved first and the relationship between them all.

Steps

1. Taking the problem tree as your base

2. Convert each problem into a positive statement which represents the ideal or hoped for situation, with the central problem becoming the central objective. For example the problem of “lack of materials” became the objective “increased availability of materials“, “lack of technical capacity” became “increased number skilled people”, etc. The conversion of problems into objectives was not merely a mechanical inversion; thus, for instance, the problem of “seasonal dry period” was converted into the possible objective of “Increased storage of rain water”.

3. The effects will likely become objectives, answering the question “what?”, and the causes will likely become the means, answering the question “how?.

While doing the exercise it will become clear that some “positive” changes are unrealistic and beyond the scope of the intervention. For example “reduced cyclical drought” is not realistic within the confines of a project. However, all possible (no matter how improbable) objectives in the objective tree should be kept, in order not to discard the possibilities without discussion, and to be aware of external factors which could influence the final objectives.

13a(i) Main types of test employed to qualify design concept

13a(ii)

Probabilistic design is a discipline within engineering design. It deals primarily with the consideration of the effects of random variability upon the performance of an engineering system during the design phase. Typically, these effects are related to quality and reliability. Thus, probabilistic design is a tool that is mostly used in areas that are concerned with quality and reliability. For example, product design, quality control, systems engineering, machine design, civil engineering (particularly useful in limit state design) and manufacturing. It differs from the classical approach to design by assuming a small probability of failure instead of using the safety factor.

The objective of probabilistic design

Typically, the goal of probabilistic design is to identify the design that will exhibit the smallest

effects of random variability. This could be the one design option out of several that is found to

be most robust. Alternatively, it could be the only design option available, but with the optimum

combination of input variables and parameters. This second approach is sometimes referred to

as robustification, parameter design or design for six sigma.

Conventional design

13b(i) Concept Generation Process

Step 1: Clarify the problem

o Decompose a complex problem into simpler sub problems

o Focus initial efforts on critical sub problems

Step 2: Search externally

o Interview lead users

o Consult experts

o Search patents

o Search published literature

o Benchmark related products

Step 3: Search internally

Step 4: Explore systematically

o Concept classification tree

o Concept combination table

o Managing the exploration process

Step 5: Reflect on the solutions and the process

13b(ii) Advantages in concept generation process:

Customers may be more familiar with the use environment than developers, which leads to concepts that fit this environment well

Customers may be able to express product concepts which address their frustrations more easily than they can express the needs directly. Developers may have missed some important customer needs due to an ineffective process

Keeping the team in contact with customer will keep the team thinking about how to satisfy their needs

The customers will develop some allegiance and pride in the resulting product and confidence that a suitable development process was followed to create the best possible product

Disadvantages:

Customers and developers have goals that are similar but not identical. Both are interested in creating high quality new products, but economically they are at odds.

Customers may become frustrated that the development process is too slow, since they probably do not understand the complex realities of development

The team may be uncomfortable with unfamiliar customers as part of the concept development process

Customers may have no allegiance to the team and the company. They may take the best ideas and other sensitive information and provide this to competitors.

14a(i)

Product architecture is the scheme by which the functional elements of the product are arranged

into physical chunks and by which the chunks interact

• This definition links architecture to system-level design and the principles of system engineering

• Architecture also has profound implications for how the product is designed, made, sold, used,

repaired, etc

• Architecture makes its influence felt during assembly Product Arch.

14a(ii)

Design For Manufacture (DFM) is an integrated component of the design process that bridges the gap between design and manufacturing considerations ultimately affecting the cost, performance, and producability of a product. DFM demands a commitment to establish a model that systematically addresses manufacturing, assembly, testing, and performance concerns concurrent with the development of the design (Figure 2-1).

A company must be organized to support the DFM discipline. Best manufacturing practices suggest a team approach that includes customers and suppliers. Design projects must be organized to address producability. This can be accomplished by forming multi-disciplinary, integrated teams that facilitate communication by including as much knowledge from key stakeholders as possible. Seven to ten member teams can effectively examine and disseminate the relevant information and provide problem solving resources while still allowing for unplanned changes. It is crucial to identify and manage risk.

14b(i)

Ergonomics (or human factors) is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance.

Human factors and ergonomics is concerned with the "fit" between the user, equipment and their

environments. It takes account of the user's capabilities and limitations in seeking to ensure that

tasks, functions, information and the environment suit each user.

To assess the fit between a person and the used technology, human factors specialists or ergonomists

consider the job (activity) being done and the demands on the user; the equipment used (its size, shape,

and how appropriate it is for the task), and the information used (how it is presented, accessed, and

changed). Ergonomics draws on many disciplines in its study of humans and their environments,

including anthropometry, biomechanics, mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, industrial

design, information design, kinesiology, physiology, cognitive psychology and industrial and

organizational psychology.

Aesthetics is the aspect of design and technology which most closely relates to art and design, and issues of colour, shape, texture, contrast, form, balance, cultural references and emotional response are common to both areas.

Like the artist, the design and technologist makes use of creativity and imagination, divergent thinking, personal interests, inspiration from design movements and from nature.

Aesthetics is the human perception of beauty, including sight, sound, smell, touch, taste, and movement – not just visual appeal.

Occasionally the complex electronic contents of an electronic product have their own aesthetic appeal to (perhaps more technical) users and this can sometimes be exploited.

Designers need many aesthetic qualities to improve the marketability of manufactured products: smoothness, shininess/reflectivity, texture, pattern, curviness, color, simplicity, usability, velocity, symmetry, naturalness, and modernism. The staff of the Design Aesthetics section focuses on design, appearance and the way people perceive products. Design aesthetics is interested in the appearance of products; the explanation and meaning of this appearance is studied mainly in terms of social and cultural factors. The distinctive focus of the section is research and education in the field of sensory modalities in relation to product design. These fields of attention generate design baggage that enables engineers to design products, systems, and services, and match them to the correct field of use.

14b(ii)

A prototype typically simulates only a few aspects of, and may be completely different from,

the final product.

Prototyping has several benefits: The software designer and implementer can get valuable

feedback from the users early in the project. The client and the contractor can compare if the

software made matches the software specification, according to which the software program is

built. It also allows the software engineer some insight into the accuracy of initial project

estimates and whether the deadlines and milestones proposed can be successfully met.

Types of prototypingThrowaway prototyping

Also called close-ended prototyping. Throwaway or Rapid Prototyping refers to the creation of a

model that will eventually be discarded rather than becoming part of the final delivered

software. After preliminary requirements gathering is accomplished, a simple working model of

the system is constructed to visually show the users what their requirements may look like when

they are implemented into a finished system.

Rapid Prototyping involved creating a working model of various parts of the system at a very early stage, after a relatively short investigation. The method used in building it is usually quite informal, the most important factor being the speed with which the model is provided. 

Evolutionary prototyping

Evolutionary Prototyping (also known as breadboard prototyping) is quite different from

Throwaway Prototyping. The main goal when using Evolutionary Prototyping is to build a very

robust prototype in a structured manner and constantly refine it. The reason for this is that the

Evolutionary prototype, when built, forms the heart of the new system, and the improvements

and further requirements will be built.

Incremental prototyping

The final product is built as separate prototypes. At the end the separate prototypes are merged

in an overall design. By the help of incremental prototyping we can reduce the time gap between

user and software developer.

Extreme prototyping

Extreme Prototyping as a development process is used especially for developing web

applications. Basically, it breaks down web development into three phases, each one based on

the preceding one. The first phase is a static prototype that consists mainly of HTML pages. In

the second phase, the screens are programmed and fully functional using a simulated services

layer. 

15a(i)

Product development is the process of creating a new product to be sold by a business or

enterprise to its customers.  In the document title, Design refers to those activities involved in

creating the styling, look and feel of the product, deciding on the product's mechanical

architecture, selecting materials and processes, and engineering the various components

necessary to make the product work. Development refers collectively to the entire process of

identifying a market opportunity, creating a product to appeal to the identified market, and

finally, testing, modifying and refining the product until it is ready for production.

A product can be any item from a book, musical composition, or information service, to an

engineered product such as a computer, hair dryer, or washing machine. This document is

focused on the process of developing discrete engineered products, rather than works of art or

informational products.

Perform Economic Analysis:    Throughout the foregoing activities, important economic implications regarding development expenses, manufacturing costs, and selling price have been estimated. A thorough economic analysis of the product and the required development effort is necessary in order to define the remainder of the development project. An economic model of the product and a review of anticipated development expenses in relation to expected benefits is now developed.

Plan the Remaining Development Project:   In this final stage of concept development, the team prepares a detailed development plan which includes a list of activities, the necessary resources and expenses, and a development schedule with milestones for tracking progress.

15a(ii) In finance, the net present value (NPV) or net present worth (NPW) of a time

series of cash flows, both incoming and outgoing, is defined as the sum of the present

values(PVs) of the individual cash flows of the same entity.

In the case when all future cash flows are incoming (such as coupons and principal of a bond)

and the only outflow of cash is the purchase price, the NPV is simply the PV of future cash

flows minus the purchase price (which is its own PV). NPV is a central tool in discounted cash

flow (DCF) analysis and is a standard method for using the time value of moneyto appraise

long-term projects. Used for capital budgeting and widely used throughout economics, finance,

and accounting, it measures the excess or shortfall of cash flows, in present value terms, above

the cost of funds.

NPV can be described as the “difference amount” between the sums of discounted: cash inflows

and cash outflows. It compares the present value of money today to the present value of money

in the future, taking inflation and returns into account.

The NPV of a sequence of cash flows takes as input the cash flows and a discount rate or

discount curve and outputs a price; the converse process in DCF analysis — taking a sequence

of cash flows and a price as input and inferring as output a discount rate (the discount rate which

would yield the given price as NPV) — is called the yield and is more widely used in bond

trading.

Each cash inflow/outflow is discounted back to its present value (PV). Then they are summed.

Therefore NPV is the sum of all terms,

where

 – the time of the cash flow – the discount rate (the rate of return that could be earned on an investment in the

financial markets with similar risk.); the opportunity cost of capital – the net cash flow i.e. cash inflow – cash outflow, at time t . For educational

purposes,   is commonly placed to the left of the sum to emphasize its role as (minus) the investment.

The result of this formula is multiplied with the Annual Net cash in-flows and

reduced by Initial Cash outlay the present value but in cases where the cash

flows are not equal in amount, then the previous formula will be used to

determine the present value of each cash flow separately. Any cash flow within

12 months will not be discounted for NPV purpose, nevertheless the usual initial

investments during the first year R0 are summed up a negative cash flow.[2]

Given the (period, cash flow) pairs ( ,  ) where   is the total number of

periods, the net present value   is given by:

15b(i) Intellectual property (IP) is a legal term that refers to creations of the mind. Examples of intellectual property include music, literature, and other artistic works; discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. Under intellectual property laws, owners of intellectual property are granted certain exclusive rights. Some common types of intellectual property rights (IPR) arecopyright, patents, and industrial design rights; and the rights that protect trademarks, trade dress, and in some jurisdictions trade secrets. Intellectual property rights are themselves a form of property, called intangible property.

Intellectual property is protected by U.S. law under one of the following four classifications.

Patents

A patent is defined by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) as "the grant of a property right to the inventor." A patent grant confers upon the owner "the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling, or importing the invention."

Trademark

A trademark, as defined by the U.S. PTO, is "any word, name, symbol, or device, or any combination, used, or intended to be used, in commerce to identify and distinguish the goods of one manufacturer or seller from goods manufactured or sold by others.

Copyright

A copyright is a form of protection granted to the authors of "original works of authorship," both published and unpublished. A copyright protects a tangible form of expression rather than the idea or subject matter itself. Under the original Copyright Act of 1909, publication was generally the key to obtaining a federal copyright. 

Trade secret

A trade secret is proprietary or business-related information that a company or individual uses and has exclusive rights to. To be considered a trade secret, the information must meet the following requirements:

Must be genuine and not obvious: Any unique method of accomplishing a task would constitute a trade secret, especially if it is backed up by copyrighted, patented, or

copyrighted proprietary software or methods that give an organization a competitive advantage.

Must provide the owner a competitive or economic advantage and, therefore, have value to the owner: Google's indexing algorithms aren't universally known. Some secrets are protected.

Must be reasonably protected from disclosure: This doesn't mean that it must be kept absolutely and exclusively secret, but the owner must exercise due care in its protection.

15b(ii) PATENT

In order to obtain the grant of a patent, a person, either legal or natural, must file an application at a patent office with the jurisdiction to grant a patent in the geographic area over which coverage is required. This will often be a national patent office but may be a regional body, such as the European Patent Office. Once the patent specification complies with the laws of the office concerned, a patent may be granted for the invention described and claimed by the specification.

Provisional application

Provisional patent applications can be filed at many patent offices, such as the USPTO in the

U.S. A provisional application provides an opportunity to place an application on file to obtain a

filing date (thereby securing a priority date), but without the expense and complexity of

a standard patent application. The disclosure in a provisional application may, within a limited

time (one year in the U.S.), be incorporated into a standard patent application if a patent is to be

pursued. Otherwise, the provisional application expires. No enforceable rights can be obtained

solely through the filing of a provisional application.

The process of obtaining the grant of a patent begins with the preparation of a specification

describing the invention. That specification is filed at a patent office for examination and

ultimately a patent for the invention described in the application is either granted or refused.

Application preparation, filing and prosecution stages of patent includes, Patent specification Claims Filing date Priority claim Security issues Publication

Patent pending

Patentable subject matter

Search and examination

Issue or grant

Post-issue or grant