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1.1. What is Engineering?
The Seven Engineering Wondersof the Ancient World
The Great Pyramid of Giza
The Colossus of Rhodes
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
The Lighthouse of Alexandria
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
What is an “Engineer”?
Middle English: ingineer
“One who builds and operates siege engines”
Latin root: ingeniare“to contrive, devise”
Same root as for “ingenious”
What is an Engineer?
Engineer: a person who uses math and science to improve or create new technologies to suit human needs or wants
What? Why? How?
Technology: everything that people make or do to change the natural world. Technology can be an object or a process (e.g. cooking food).
Q: Can you name 5 technologies right now?
The Four Main Branches of Engineering
Civil Engineering• Buildings, bridges, dams, roads, tunnels
Mechanical Engineering• Engines, generators, automobiles, heating and cooling systems
• Aerospace Engineering – air flight and space flight
Electrical Engineering• Electronics, electric power generation
• Computer Hardware Engineering
Chemical Engineering• Drugs, paints, pesticides, cosmetics, oil refining, paper, textiles
• Agricultural Engineering
How is an Engineer different from a Scientist or a Technician?
Engineers: people who use science to create new technologies to suit human needs and wants (i.e. solve problems)
Scientists: people who observe and investigate the natural world to determine how it functions
Technicians: people who operate, repair and maintain equipment
They all work together!
The “Ages of Man” are Identified by Technology
The Stone Age – stone tools, fire
The Bronze Age – copper smelting, canals, agriculture, cities
The Iron Age – iron and steel, roads, aqueducts
The Middle Ages – a slow down in technological advance!
The Renaissance – printing press, gunpowder
The Industrial Revolution – steam engine, factories
“The Information Age” – computers, satellites, the Internet
Q: What will the next Age be called?
Technology Timelines
Technology timelines are generally organized in terms of improvements made in meeting societal needs:
Transportation Technology: canoe, wheeled cart, locomotive, airplane
Communication Technology: ink, telegraph, television, cell phones
Military Technology: bow, chariot, steel weapons, nuclear submarines
Q: What are other human needs?
The established strategy to develop new technologies is called the Engineering Design Process.
The Engineering Design Process
1. Identify the Problem
2. Research the Problem
3. Develop Possible Solutions
4. Select the Best Solution
5. Make a Prototype or Model
6. Test and Evaluate the Solution
7. Communicate the Solution
8. Redesign
IDRE-DESE-MATE-CORE?
1. Identify the Need or Problem
Many times, a client will come to an engineer with a problem that is only vaguely defined. With the client, through careful listening, questioning and interpretation, develop a Design Brief that clearly and in detail states the problem, the criteria and the constraints.
Problem Statement: what the specific need or want is
Criteria: what the product must do or have; the desired elements
Constraints: what the product must not do; limitations, restrictions
Typical constraints are maximum cost, time and size, and strength.
If a product is to be shipped to or made in another country, another constraint is that it be an appropriate technology: a technology that can be manufactured, repaired and maintained with local resources.
An example Design BriefClient: Plymouth Valley Power AuthorityDesigner: SHS Engineering Solutions, LLC
Problem Statement: Power plant workers must handle low-level nuclear waste without risking direct contact with the objects.
Criteria: Design a hydraulic robotic arm than can pick up and move a ping-pong ball-sized object and drop it down a 1½ʺ tube.
Constraints: 1. 3-week deadline2. $100 budget3. Fully-assembled, the solution must fit and operate in a
11ʺ×9ʺ×17ʺ space.4. Must be able to be operated from at least 10ʹ away.
The design brief serves as an agreement between the engineer and the client, and is used as a standard for assessing a solution’s validity at any point in the development process.
2. Research the Need or Problem
• Research the current state of the problem: learn all you can about it• Read the Internet, library books and periodicals; conduct personal interviews,
make observations, even perform experiments• Research on patents will tell you what has already been developed. You
cannot make or sell something that someone else holds the patent to without their permission.
• Examine current solutions and their good points and bad points• Including their impact on the environment• See what solutions or components you can already purchase
• Find out the causes of the problem, and consider whether the solution should solve the causes of the problem or the problem itself• E.g. polluted pond water
• Start recording all of your research, ideas and test results in an Engineer’s Notebook! You’ll want to refer to this later.
3. Develop Possible Solutions• Brainstorm possible solutions with a team (Fun!)
• Come up with as many creative solutions as you can, only considering the criteria and without considering the constraints
• Sketch the possible solutions in 2-D and 3-D• Teamwork is important! Every person has different experiences, skills and
point of view. A team may consist of different types of engineers and non-engineers. Make sure even the quiet team members provide input.
• Refine the details of the possible solutions• Apply science and math to evaluate if a solution will work• CAD (Computer-aided Design): 3-D drawings made on a computer• FEA (Finite Element Analysis): Testing the CAD designs with simulated physics• Consider different variants, e.g. the same design but made from different
materials• Consider constraints and questions that need to be answered• Think about any possible negative impacts on the environment or in case of a
malfunction; You don’t want to create problems! Incorporate safety features.
4. Select the Best Possible Solution(s)
• Determine which solution(s) best meets the original need, criteria and constraints
• Team members may vote on what they think is the best solution, or compute a total score from a decision matrix:
• The client should also participate in the selection process
Solution Fewest
moving parts
Complexity Structural
Stability
Environmental
impact
Efficiency Total
Score
Idea #1 4 2 4 3 2 15
Idea #2 3 1 2 4 3 13
Idea #3 2 3 1 2 4 12
Idea #4 1 4 3 1 1 10
4=best; 1=worst
The Engineering Design Process
1. Identify the Problem
2. Research the Problem
3. Develop Possible Solutions
4. Select the Best Solution
5. Make a Prototype or Model
6. Test and Evaluate the Solution
7. Communicate the Solution
8. Redesign
5. Make a Prototype
• Construct a Prototype: a first full-scale working version, to be used for testing purposes (beta version)
• Sometimes it is not possible to make a full-scale prototype (e.g. the Hoover Dam), or it may be cost-effective and faster to make and test a reduced-scale 3-D model
Model: a simplified or reduced-scale version that contains the essential characteristicsA model may be an equation, a drawing, or a 3-D object; but the term “model” indicates it is an approximation, not the exact itemModels can be used for testing if they will respond the same as a full-scale versionMock-up: a rough 3-D model (often made of the wrong material!)
• Alternatively, prototypes may be made for certain components e.g. the turbines in the Hoover Dam
6. Test and Evaluate the Prototype(s)
• Did it work?
• Does it meet all the design criteria and constraints?
• Conduct relevant tests: How does it wear out over time? How much pressure can it withstand? Is it too fast or too slow? Does it need more power, or could it run on less power?
• Make adjustments or modifications, if necessary.
• You may need to go back to Step 2, 3, 4 or 5; refer to your Engineer’s Notebook.
• Failure is common and not a total loss: you will learning something essential to the design that you didn’t know before, perhaps even something that nobody else knows! Knowing this new information will bring you closer to the final solution.
7. Communicate the Solution(s)
• Give an written report, a presentation (typically in Powerpoint) and a demonstration to your client to explain your solution, including how it meets the design criteria and constraints
• Discuss any (positive or negative) societal or environmental impact of the solution, and the tradeoffs of different solutions
• Determine whether this is what the client wants. Success?
• If permissible, communicate the solution to other potential clients (companies or consumers)
• Create a website, write an article…What else could you do?
• Communication is critical: an unused technology is no better than an unavailable technology!
Patent your New Technology
• A patent is a document issued by the government that gives an inventor the sole right to make, distribute, or sell a particular invention for a certain number of years.
• The patent system ensures that inventors get appropriate credit and compensation for their work (i.e. for the time and money they invested).
• A company will typically ask you to sign over all patent rights to them in exchange for the time and money they invest in you! If you have lots of ideas, you may want to eventually start your own company.
• To obtain a patent, the inventor must submit detailed documentation, including an engineer’s notebook with signed and dated entries. So keep a detailed notebook!
8. Redesign
• If the solution is not satisfactory during the presentation, overhaul the solution based on the feedback gathered.
• If the solution is satisfactory, produce the final product. People using the new technology will usually quickly find weaknesses or think of ways to improve it further. Start collecting feedback about what is needed in Version 2.0!
• The Engineering Design Process is a cycle of continual improvement and advancement.
The Engineering Design Process
1. Identify the Problem
2. Research the Problem
3. Develop Possible Solutions
4. Select the Best Solution
5. Make a Prototype or Model
6. Test and Evaluate the Solution
7. Communicate the Solution
8. Redesign
IDRE-DESE-MATE-CORE?
Summary
Know these definitions:
Engineer Appropriate technology
Scientist Prototype
Technician Model
Technology Mock-up
Criteria Constraint
The Elements of a Design Brief
Four Main Branches of Engineering
Eight Steps of the Engineering Design Process
End
Additional Material
1. Identify the problem:1. Identify if it is to be a one-of-a-kind item, or to be mass-produced. That is,
is the manufacturing process part of the design problem?
2. Research the problem:• Market research will tell you what consumers may be willing to pay for a
product• E.g. How many consumers pay $20,000 or more for a motorcycle each year?
• In a large company, market research is typically done by the Marketing Department; however in a small company, you may be the CEO, Engineer and Marketing all in one!
