Engineering Design Lecture Notes

Flashcards covering various engineering and design topics from the provided lecture notes.

Clamps

Used to apply compressive force to hold objects together.

Spring Clamp

Force from torsion spring; simple and quick.

Bar Clamp (F Style)

Sliding arm and screw mechanism; strong grip.

Irwin Quick Grip

One-handed trigger operation; fast application.

Hand Screw Clamp

Adjustable screws, ideal for woodworking; large surface area minimizes damage.

Pliers

Used for gripping, pulling, twisting, and cutting.

Needle-Nose Pliers

Long, narrow jaws; great for tight spaces and small parts.

Slip-Joint Pliers

Adjustable jaw width; versatile general-purpose tool.

Water Pump Pliers

Multiple jaw positions; ideal for plumbing.

Locking Pliers

Clamp tightly and hold position; adjustable jaws.

Lineman’s Pliers

Heavy-duty; includes wire cutters and crimpers.

Tap

Used to create internal threads in drilled holes.

Die

Used to cut external threads on rods.

Jigsaw

Reciprocating saw for cutting wood, thin metal, other materials.

Dremel Tool

High-speed rotary tool (5,000–35,000 RPM).

Wrench

Used for tightening bolts/nuts to specific torque values.

Click-style (Torque Wrench)

Click indicates torque reached.

Beam-style (Torque Wrench)

Dial shows applied torque in real-time.

Project Definition

Decide which projects to pursue and plan resource allocation efficiently.

Product Definition

Clearly define what the product is before generating concepts.

Conceptual Design

Generate, explore, and evaluate design concepts.

Product Development

Turn selected concepts into a manufacturable product.

Coexistence

Respect humanity and nature’s right to coexist in a healthy environment.

Interdependence

Acknowledge connections between human designs and natural systems.

Responsibility

Accept consequences of design decisions on people and ecosystems.

Long-Term Safety

Create safe, lasting products; avoid passing risk to future generations.

Eliminate Waste

Mimic natural systems by minimizing or eliminating waste.

Natural Energy

Use solar and natural energy flows efficiently and safely.

Limitations of Design

Be humble; nature should guide design, not be controlled.

Knowledge Sharing

Encourage open communication and continuous improvement.

Spirit and Matter

Respect the link between community, culture, and environment.

Development (Product Life Cycle)

Design phase: defines the product concept, specs, and manufacturability.

Production & Delivery (Product Life Cycle)

Manufacture, assembly, distribution, and installation of the product.

Use (Product Life Cycle)

Operation, cleaning, and maintenance of the product.

End-of-Life (Product Life Cycle)

Retirement, disassembly, reuse, and recycling of the product.

General Knowledge

Basic, universal facts everyone knows.

Domain-Specific Knowledge

Specialized knowledge about certain fields or products.

Procedural/Process Knowledge

Knowing what to do next in a problem-solving process.

Internal (Energy Source)

Reflective, think before speaking, prefer working alone.

External (Energy Source)

Outgoing, speak to think, energized by group discussion.

Fact-oriented (Information Management Style)

Focus on details, practical, realistic.

Visual (Information Language)

Prefer images, sketches, diagrams.

Objective (Deliberation Style)

Logical, data-driven decisions.

Closure-focused (Action Style)

Prefer quick decisions and action.

New Technologies

Advances in science/tech enable entirely new products or significant upgrades.

Increase in Potential Market

Market growth opens opportunities for existing products in new regions or demographics.

Need for Product Change

customer feedback, competition, reliability issues, manufacturing cost, regulations.

Design Reviews

Formal checkpoints at major decision points in the design process.

Critical Design Review (CDR)

Occurs late in the design process, just before release for production.

Product Life Cycle Management (PLM)

Managing product info from cradle to grave (entire lifecycle).

ISO 9000

A family of international standards for quality management systems (QMS).

ISO 9001

The specific standard within ISO 9000 that outlines requirements for certification.

SWOT Analysis

A strategic tool used to support design project decisions.

Pro-Con Analysis

A structured method to weigh positive (Pro) and negative (Con) aspects of a decision.

Decision Matrix

A structured tool to compare multiple alternatives against multiple criteria.

Gantt Chart

A project scheduling tool that visually maps tasks over time.

Engineering Specifications

Translate customer needs into measurable parameters with units.

Customer Needs/Requirements

Define what customers want from the product — the “voice of the customer.”

QFD (Quality Function Deployment)

A structured method for translating customer requirements into engineering specs.

Basic (Must-Have) (Kano Model)

Expected features; customers don’t mention them—unless they’re missing.

Performance (Linear) (Kano Model)

Satisfaction increases with better performance.

Excitement (Delighters) (Kano Model)

Unexpected features that impress customers.

Function

What the product must do—its intended behavior.

Concept

A developed idea of how to fulfill one or more functions.

Reverse Engineering

Process of disassembling and analyzing a product to understand how it works.

Functional Decomposition

Breaks down the overall function into subfunctions.

Contradictions (Evaporating Cloud)

Frame trade-offs: improving one spec worsens another.

TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving)

Uses 40 inventive principles to solve contradictions.

Morphology

A structured technique for generating and combining ideas based on a product’s functions.

Design Structure Matrix (DSM)

A compact, visual tool for organizing and analyzing dependencies between system elements.

Intellectual Property (IP)

Legal protection for original ideas and creative work that have commercial value.

Utility Patents

Protect how an invention works (functionality).

Design Patents

Protect appearance/form only (not function).

Provisional Patent Applications

A temporary placeholder for a utility patent.

Feasibility Evaluation

A quick, early judgment of whether a concept can realistically work.

Technology Readiness

Assesses how mature a technology is—whether it’s ready for design use or still in research.

Decision Matrix (Pugh’s Method)

A structured tool to compare multiple design concepts using set criteria to guide selection.

Product Liability

Legal responsibility for injury or damage caused by a defective product.

Robust Decision Making

Making good decisions even when information is uncertain, incomplete, or evolving.

Belief Map

A visual tool used in Robust Decision Making to show how confident you are that a design concept meets a specific criterion.

Bill of Materials (BOM)

A structured list of all parts in a product—like an index for assemblies and components.

Performance Evaluation

Ensure the product’s actual behavior matches its intended function as defined in the engineering specifications.

Trade Studies

A structured process to compare alternative design options based on multiple conflicting criteria.

Sensitivity Analysis

A method to quantify how variation in design parameters affects a product’s performance or quality.

Accuracy

How close a product’s performance is to the target value.

Variation

Spread or inconsistency in performance between units.

Noise

Uncontrollable sources of variation.

Tolerance

The acceptable range of variation for a dimension or parameter, specified by the designer.

Robust Design

A design approach that aims to make a product insensitive to variation (noise) while still meeting its performance targets.

Factor of Safety (FoS)

A measure of how much stronger a system is than it needs to be for its intended load or use.

Model Fidelity

The level of detail and accuracy in a simulation or prototype used to evaluate a design

Additive Tolerance Stack-Up

A method to evaluate how individual part tolerances combine to affect an overall assembly dimension.

Design For Cost

Minimize the total cost to manufacture and sell a product while maintaining performance.

Direct Costs

Costs that can be directly traced to the product.

Indirect Costs

Costs that support production but aren’t directly tied to a specific unit.

Fixed Costs

Do not change with the number of units produced.

Variable Costs

Change with production volume.

Design for Manufacture (DFM)

Simplify part design to reduce production cost, time, and errors.

Design for Assembly (DFA)

Aim to make products easier and faster to assemble.

Design for Reliability (DFR)

Ensure the product performs over time without failure.