Basic Engineering Design Process (note+flashcard)

In this note, you will see 5 steps of the Engineering Design Process and what you do in each step. You will then see the definitions of criteria and constraints.

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Steps:

• There are at least 12 steps to the engineering design process. But in this note will only go over 5.
  • First step - Define the problem
  • Developing a specific problem statement that identifies the what, who, when, and how the problem should be addressed
  • Second step - Brainstorm ideas
  • Brainstorming solutions and evaluating all ideas to determine the best possible solution
  • Third step - Explore solutions
  • Researching the problem and identifying technology that could be used to resolve the problem
  • Fourth step - Generate solutions
  • Synthesize your design into a tangible, working product by developing models or prototypes
  • Fifth step - Testing and evaluation
  • Testing and evaluating your project against the problem statement as well as the criteria and constraints
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Criteria and Constraints

• Criteria are the goals that must be met in order to $successfully$ solve the problem
• Constraints are the factors that $limit$ the design or $limit$ how the problem can be solved
  • Safety, time, budget, materials, etc.
• Balancing criteria and constraints may result in a trade-off or an exchange of one thing in return for another