Engineering 1000 Chapter 7: Synthesis - York University... R. Hornsey Synthesis 8 Synectics n “A method of problem-solving, esp. by groups, which seeks to illuminate and utilize

Engineering 1000Chapter 7: Synthesis

R. HornseySynthesis 2

Outline

n Introduction to synthesis

n Design spacen what is it?

n complex and large design spaces

n expanding and limiting the design space

n Design by accident

n Synecticsn making the familiar stange

n making the strange familiar

n Analogiesn direct, fantasy, personal, symbolic, biological

n Morphological charts

n Prototypes and proof of concept

n Exercise


Introduction to Synthesis

n Synthesis: the putting together of parts or elements so as tomake up a complex whole (Oxford English Dictionary)

n So far we have been systematically building up towards adesign solutionn we worked out what the design should do

n we clarified our objectives and added constraints

n we refined the problem statement and structured the problem

n we generated new ideas and thought creatively

n we structured the search for solutions to sub-problems

n Now we are seeking to combine the various elements into aselection of complete and potentially workable solutionsn the selection between these potential solutions will occur in the

analysis phase


Design Space

n What is ‘design space’?n it is a mental framework encompassing all the potential solutions to a

design problem

n the concept of ‘space’ is useful because it conveys the idea of freedomto movement

n Hence, a large design space has many potential solutions ormany parameters, and may be difficult to navigaten e.g. a Boeing 747 has approximately 6 million parts

n A small design space is highly constrained, with minimal‘freedom of movement’n e.g. the design of an image sensor pixel


Complex Design Spaces

n A design space can be complex, even if is not large

n Complexity can result from the interdependency of even a fewparametersn especially if some of the dependencies are very sensitive to each other

n or if precise conditions cannot be known

n hence the system is hard to optimise

n e.g. the image sensor pixel again

n We have already covered how to deal with complex designspaces by decompositionn in other words, by subdividing the problem into manageable units

n We will see a new one here – the morphological chart – whichwill help us to:n decompose the overall problem into sub-problems

n identify a means to solve each sub-problem

n synthesise the parts back into a coherent whole


Expanding the Design Space

n When we talked about creative thinking, we were effectivelydeveloping techniques for expanding the design space

n Using existing informationn benchmarking competitors’ products

n reverse engineering

n patents

n Team activitiesn brainstorming

n convergent and divergent thinking (explorer and detective)

n statement restatement

n Kepner-Tregoe

n In the same way we had metaphors for thinking – explorer,engineer, artist judge etc – we can have metaphors for ways toexpand the design space


Design by Accident

The story of Teflon® began April 6, 1938, at DuPont's Jackson Laboratory in NewJersey. DuPont chemist, Dr. Roy J. Plunkett, was working with gases related to Freon®refrigerants, another DuPont product. Upon checking a frozen, compressed sample oftetrafluoroethylene, he and his associates discovered that the sample had polymerizedspontaneously into a white, waxy solid to form polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).

PTFE is inert to virtually all chemicals and is considered the most slippery material inexistence. These properties have made it one of the most valuable and versatiletechnologies ever invented, contributing to significant advancements in areas such asaerospace, communications, electronics, industrial processes and architecture. AsDuPont registered trademark Teflon®, it has become a familiar household name,recognized worldwide for the superior non-stick properties associated with its use as acoating on cookware and as a soil and stain repellant for fabrics and textile products.

The Teflon® trademark was coined by DuPont and registered in 1945; the first productswere sold commercially under the trademark beginning in 1946. Applications andproduct innovations snowballed quickly.

http://www.dupont.com/teflon/newsroom/history.html


Synectics

n “A method of problem-solving, esp. by groups, which seeks toilluminate and utilize the factors involved in creative thinking”(OED)n it is designed as an aid to overcoming the barriers to creativity we

explored in Chapter 3

n The principal exponent of synectics is W.J.J. Gordonn see “Synectics: the Development if Creative Capacity”, W.J.J. Gordon,

Harper & Row 1961 (YUL BF 408 G64)

n Synectic theory is based on three assumptionsn creative efficiency in people can be markedly increased if they

understand the psychological process by which they operate

n in creative processes, the emotional component is more important thanthe intellectual, the irrational more important than the rational

n it is these emotional, irrational elements which can and must beunderstood in order to increase the probability of success in a problem-solving situation


n Synectics aims to promote creative thinking by two principaltechniquesn making the strange familiar

n making the familiar strange

n The root of this idea is the recognition that creative thinking isimpaired in two potential waysn the problem is so far beyond our everyday experience that we cannot

imagine how it could be solved

n or that the situation is so familiar that we cannot conceive of a betterway of solving the problem, e.g. a paperclip

n [see Petroski’s books for discussions on the ‘perfection’ of paperclips]

n To download a ‘lite’ version of the software Axon ‘ideaprocessor’, which incorporates elements of synectic thought:n http://web.singnet.com.sg/~axon2000/index.htm


Making the Strange Familiar

n The mind tends to analyse a new situation by forcing theproblem to fit existing preconceptionsn the strangeness is compared with data previously known to eliminate

as much of the strangeness as possible

n this is the whole point of the paradigm and the paradigm shift

n it is a reflection of the fact that human thought tends to be conservative

n In engineering terms, one obstacle in this process is thequantity of analysis required for the translation

n Equally, translating everything to the mundane also riskslosing the innovation inherent in the strange idea


Making the Familiar Strange

n “Genius . . . means little more than the faculty of perceiving inan unhabitual way” William James, The Principles ofPsychology

n This action is very tough to perform because strangeness anduncertainty are uncomfortable

n To overcome this, synectics makes extensive use of analogiesn personal analogy

n direct analogy

n symbolic analogy

n fantasy analogy


Post-It Notesn Making the familiar – adhesive – strange by Art Fry from 3MMy work has always been in new product development. Post-it note had its start in 3M's Central ResearchDepartment when Dr. Spence Silver was looking for ways to improve the acrylate adhesives we use in many ofour tapes and in the medical, industrial and office markets. He was really trying to make them stronger byexperimenting with new materials in the molecule and by changing the way they were made. What followed wasa classic case of serendipity, where you find something you are not looking for.

He had discovered an adhesive that formed itself into tiny spheres the diameter of a paper fiber. The sphereswould not dissolve, could not be melted, were very sticky individually. When they were coated onto tape backing,they would not stick very strongly, because the little spheres made intermittent contact between the tapebacking and whatever you tried to stick them to, as compared to normal adhesives with smooth surfaces thatmake complete contact. He tried it again, and got the same result. It is always exciting for scientists to be ableto duplicate their work.

Spence had discovered a new adhesive, but had no good idea of how to use it. If he had thrown it away, we allwould have been the losers. Instead, he diligently told about his discovery to others in 3M that used adhesives. Iwent to one of his seminars and scratched my head, thinking that it was interesting, but I, too did not know howto use this new adhesive.

This was a long introduction to your question about how I felt when I invented the notes and how I feel inretirement. I can remember the aggravation when it was time to stand up and sing in my church choir, only tofind that the little piece of paper that I used to mark the music had fallen out, making me fumble about, trying tofind the right page. This was followed by a dull sermon and my mind was wandering back to the music problemwhen I had one of those "flashes of insight": Eureka! I think I could make a bookmark, using Dr. Silver'sadhesive, that would stick and remove without damaging the book.


The next day at work, I gathered paper and adhesive and prepared samples of the bookmark. I gave samples tomy secretary, my supervisor, and to other colleagues. They were pleased to get them, but after two weeks whenI asked them if they wanted more, they said the bookmarks were working well, but they had not used all of thesamples I had given them.

A short time later, I was writing a report and had a question about a piece of information, so I attached a sampleof my bookmark to the report with an arrow pointing to the information and my question on the note. BobMolenda, my manager at the time, wrote his answer on the bottom of the note and attached it to an item he wasreturning to me. It was during a coffee break the afternoon when we both realized that what we had was not justa bookmark, but a new way to communicate or organize information.

Self-attaching Notes!

Wow! we were very excited. My colleagues started using their bookmark samples as notes and soon were at mydesk saying that they were instant addicts and demanding more samples. As the circle of addiction quicklyspread within our product development laboratory, I came to the very exciting and satisfying realization thatthose little, self-attaching notes were a very useful product.

This of course, was just the beginning of the innovation process. Samples had to be tested for every conceivedand inconceivable application that we could think of. Many people thought they were frivolous or too expensiveas compared to scratch-paper, but management still gave our small team the chance to continue. Our team soonwas enlarged by others who recognized the merit of the notes and we set off on the tough task of building abusiness structure.

I remember the reaction of engineering and production people who said, "What you are asking us to do is verydifficult! None of our coating processes is suitable for your product. We do not have a good means of measuringthe minute amounts of adhesive you need, and we can find no one that knows how to put sticky sheets of paperinto the precise pads that you ask for!" I said, "Really. That is great news! If it were easy, then anyone could do it.If it really is as tough as you say, then we are the ones who can do it." People like a challenge that measuresthem. They like to contribute their time to something that they feel will succeed. We had many tough problems tosolve in manufacturing, quality, packaging, and sales. It took a lot of us to solve those problems, and we all feelgood about what we did.

quoted from http://mustang.coled.umn.edu/inventing/Postit.html


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Analogies

n In the early 1940's, Swiss inventor George de Mestral went on a walkwith his dog... Upon his return home, he noticed that his dog's coat andhis pants were covered with cockleburrs. His inventor's curiosity ledhim to study the burrs under a their natural hook-like shape.

n This was to become the basis for a unique, two-sided fastener - oneside with stiff "hooks" like the burrs and the other side with the soft"loops" like the fabric of his pants.

n The result was VELCRO® brand hook and loop fasteners, named forthe French words "velour" and "crochet.” www.velcro.com


Direct Analogy

n Analogy:n inference that if two or more things agree with one another in some

respects they will probably agree in others

n resemblance in some particulars between things otherwise unlike

n The direct analogy makes links between the present problemand similar problems that have already been solvedn Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” is used for business strategy

n Lego is analogous to real building bricks

n “rip-stop” fabrics are derived from parachutes

n to miniaturise an MP3 player, see how digital cameras are miniaturised

n if you want to make a lightweight, strong laptop, look to see how otherlight and strong objects are made (e.g. planes)


Fantasy Analogy

n ‘Fantasy” in this case is interpreted as ‘beyond belief’

n Many of today’s commonplace technologies were imagined byearlier science fiction/fantasy writersn escalator moving staircases (Arthur C. Clarke)

n the laws of robotics (Isaac Asimov)

n submarines (Jules Verne)

n Fantasy analogies can be used to remove a block in thedesign processn “imagine the solution to this exists, and let’s carry on”

n Or can be used to approach a practical solution from thereverse

n “When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I cometo the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more tome than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.” AlbertEinstein

solution fantasy analogydirect analogy


Symbolic Analogy

n The symbolic analogy sums up the objective in a way that isnot technically accurate but captures the essence of thesituationn we want a car that moves like ‘greased lightning’

n a seal that is tighter than a ‘clam shell’

n a solution that is ‘outside the box’

n a basketball shoe that sticks to the floor ‘like glue’

n Many of these subconscious similes can suggest ways inwhich the problem can actually be solved

n This can also involve ‘pictorial’ thinkingn e.g. imagining electrons in an atom to orbit the nucleus like planets

around a sun

n electrons in a semiconductor to act like balls (see below)


Personal Analogy

n In the personal analogy, the designer imagines being part ofthe systemn when I teach how transistors work, I encourage students to “think like

an electron”

n electrons move in response to voltage gradients like a ball does tophysical hills and valleys (a symbolic analogy!)

n so you can imagine how you would respond to the electricalenvironment as if you were the electron

n I used to think that this pictorial thinking was rather simplistic until Idiscovered that the famous physicist Richard Ferynman did the samething for quantum mechanics

n This requires a certain empathy with the problem at handn i.e expertise and familiarity with the situation


Bionics – Biological Analogies

n In many situations, particularly inmechanical and civil engineering,nature has solved the problem alreadyn Velcro being a good example

n animal backbones are similar to bridges

n bamboo is similar to (and in somecountries used for) scaffolding

n tubes are used for mechanical stiffness inmany applications e.g. truck crank shaft,spider legs, many plants, pipes, bones

n artificial neural networks are based onmodels of the brain

n radar and sonar are similar to the echolocation of bats, whales and other seamammals

www.batworld.org


n Many medicines are derived from naturally occurringsubstancesn a famous example is aspirin

The effects of aspirin-like substances have been known since the ancientRomans recorded the use of the willow bark as a fever fighter. The leaves andbark of the willow tree contain a substance called salicin, a naturally occurringcompound similar to acetylsalicylic acid, the chemical name for aspirin.

In 1897, a German chemist with Friedrich Bayer and Company was searchingfor a treatment for his father's arthritic pain and began to researchacetylsalicylic acid, which worked well. As a result, he developed a productintroduced as Aspirin. By 1899, The Bayer Company was providing aspirin tophysicians to give to their patients.

www.bayeraspirin.com


Checklisting

n Asking the appropriate questions can often hasten thedetermination of a solution

n Checklisting is one approach to this which combines elementsof Kepner-Tregoe and statement re-statementn what is wrong with it?

n what doesn’t it do?

n what is similar to it?

n why is it necessary?

n what can be eliminated?

n how can its assembly be improved?

n what new materials could be used?

n in what way is it costly?

n are there any other applications?

n in what way is it inefficient?

n can it be improved ergonomically?


Limiting the Design Space

n All the previous examples were intended to expand the designspacen but instead we sometimes need to limit the design space so we can

reach a manageable solution

n Here we can use some of the tools already introduced forstructuring the search for a solutionn general constraints (safety etc)

n objectives and specific constraints (design goals)

n order and structure our objectives (trees and Kepner-Tregoe)

n eliminate impossible solutions


Morphological Charts

n Morph charts are a widely used technique for getting an idea ofthe size of the design space and for synthesising partialsolutions to the problemn morphology is the study of structure or form (Webster)

n again, the start of the process is similar to the objectives tree, exceptwe are primarily interested in features and functions rather thanobjectives

n The morph chart is a means to select ideas that really work

n The list of functions and/or features should be at the samelevel of detail in the objectives treen and now we include all the possible ways of achieving these

functions/features

n we will return to our beverage container example from Chapter 2 …


Beverage Container Objectives Tree

n Features and functions of thecontainer might includen contain beverage

n material for container

n access to juice

n display product information

n sequence manufacture of juiceand container

n These are identified with thegeneral objective to “promotesales”

n How might we implement eachitem on the list?

C.L. Dym & P. Little, "Engineering Design: A Project-BasedApproach", Wiley, 2000


serial, concurrentSequence of manufacture

shape of container, labels, colour ofmaterial

Display product information

pull-tab, inserted straw, pop-up straw,twist-top, tear corner, unfold container,zipper

Provide access to juice

aluminum, plastic, glass, waxedcardboard, lined cardboard, mylar film

Material for container

can, bottle, bag, boxContain beverage

Implementation


Beverage Container Morph Chart

n The morph chart shows this information in a visually usefulway

n All we need to do is choose one option (1,2,3 …) for eachfeature, as above

654321

zipper

mylar

unfold

linedcard

tearcorner

waxedcard

box

colour

twisttop

glass

bag

serial

labels

insertedstraw

plastic

bottle

concurrent

shape

pull tab

aluminum

can

Sequence ofmanufacture

Display productinformation

Provide access tojuice

Material forcontainer

Contain beverage

means

feature/function


Design Space and Morph Charts

n How many potential design options are there?n 4 x 6 x 6 x 3 x 2 =864!

n Of course, not all of these 864 solutions are feasiblen e.g. glass can with a tear-off corner

n Hence the morph chart can be used to highlight impossiblesolutions and hence to limit the design spacen constraints etc. can also be employed in the same way

n also incompatible pairs can be eliminated (e.g. card and zipper)

n this is effectively the activity of synthesis

n Note that the functions and features were all identified with afairly high (less detailed) level in the objectives treen means of achieving shock and temperature resistance would be

included on a separate morph chart because they were considered tobe at much more detailed


Example:AnalogComputer

C.L. Dym & P. Little, "EngineeringDesign: A Project-Based Approach",Wiley, 2000


Prototypes

n The next stage of the design process might be to build aprototype of the outcome of the morph chartn or to perform modelling or simulation of several of the options

n A prototype is a working example of the finished design, orpart of a designn it should resemble the final design as far as possible in its functioning

n although the method of manufacture may be different (e.g. individuallycrafted rather than moulded or stamped – hand produced instead ofmass-produced)

n Extensive testing of the prototype identifies behaviours thatwere not anticipated in the original design and provides anopportunity to fix themn prototypes may also be used to obtain data for improved modellingm

theory and simulation

n Pre-production models (equivalents of beta versions ofsoftware) may also be tested on eventual users of the product


Proof of Concept

n Proofs of concept are similar to prototypes but are usuallycloser to the ‘R’ end of R&D

n They are typically versions of a final object that are restrictedin some wayn they are used to prove that an idea works and is worth exploring further

n the idea should, in principle at least, be expandable or scaleable to thefinal object

n For examplen Marconi’s first transatlantic radio transmission

n Bell’s first telephone call

n Bardeen, Brattain, and Shockley’s first transistor


Summary

n In this chapter, we have explored the concept of design spaceand how synthesis fits within the design process

n We looked again at how the design space could be expandedto increase the number of new design optionsn synectics is one technique for expanding the design space

n we also considered analogies as a means to understand and solveproblems

n Morphological charts provide a good way to reorganise designpossibilitiesn to help identify new combinations and to eliminate impossible

combinations

n Prototypes and proofs of concept are often essential ways ofdemonstrating and evaluating new designs


Homework

n Read Chapter 7 of textbookn there are some sections we didn’t cover here

n Read case studies 7.1 to 7.9 – they’re interesting!

n Do problems 7.1 to 7.10


Exercise – Forklift Truck

n Use the morphological chart technique to design a forklifttruckn used for lifting and carrying heavy loads in factories and warehouses

Documents

Engineering 1000 Chapter 7: Synthesis - York University... R. Hornsey Synthesis 8 Synectics n “A method of problem-solving, esp. by groups, which seeks to illuminate and utilize