CHAPTER 12

Engineering Design

12.1 What Is Engineering Design?

Engineers create our physical environment through design

and construction of the infrastructure and design and
manufacture of the objects we use in everyday life.
Engineering design ranges from the extraordinarily
complex, such as the smart- phone and associated wireless
networks, to the straightforward, such as a woodscrew.
the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City represents an
extraordinary feat of civil engineering
The making and obstacles of the first commercial
passenger aircraft to have been entirely designed and
tested with computer aided design (CAD) software.
All accredited engineering programs include a major
engineering design experience that builds upon the
fundamental concepts of mathematics, basic sciences, the
human- ities and social sciences, engineering, and
communication skills. The Accreditation Board for
Engineering and Technology (ABET) writes that

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 Engineering design is the process of devising a system,
component, or process to meet desired needs. It is a
decision-making process (often iterative), in which the
basic sciences, mathematics, and the engineering
sciences are applied to convert resources optimally to
meet these stated needs.

Students must be prepared for engineering practice

through a curriculum culminating in a major design
experience based on the knowledge and skills

Among the fundamental elements of the design process

it is
essential to include a variety of realistic constraints

.” Through automatic incorporation of people and the

planet into the process, ABET reminds the profession to
adopt a holistic approach to design in the interests of the
prosperity of the human race.
With appropriate projects, you can easily learn the
engineering design process.
Engineers have to make things work, and not all ideas work.
Communication, through many different types of media, is
another essential com- ponent of the engineering design
process.

12.2 The Engineering Design Process

 From the outset, it is important to realize that there isn’t a
specific recipe or formula for design. Indeed, some would
argue that design itself cannot be taught—rather, we learn the
principles of design through experiences that grow in
complexity.
Straightforward projects may require only a short, simple
process, but more com- plex products need a multistep
approach with several stages.

Concept

Prototype/
Model

Figure 12.1 The

Manufacture/ engineering design
Construct
process (top view)

definition of “problem” is “a difficult or demanding

question;
Irrespective of the physical implementation of the result,
the solution to any problem can generally be found from
three separate iterations of the engineering design process
(Fig. 12.1).
The exact implementation of the process will depend upon
the item and its usage.

The Five-Stage Design Process

Three representations of the engineering design process are
outlined in Table 12.1.

Defin

Tes Imagin
Improv

Creat Evaluat

Figure 12.2 The core

engineering design
process

Stage 1: Define

The first task for the team, with all groups represented, is
the construction of a clear, concise, unambiguous definition
of the problem to be solved.
To approach a definition, the team can first ask “What is
known about the problem?” There may be a multitude of
sources outside as well as within your team that can assist
with writing the problem statement. Many organizations have
a re- search and development unit comprising scientists and
engineers with the training and expertise to assist with
problem evaluation. Critical input is provided by sales and
marketing who, through contact with your customers, provide
valuable input on problem identification and the desired
functionality of the solution. You, as an engi- neer, are
designing something for someone else—your project is a
response to an actual request or perceived demand from a
 customer. Too often the real needs of customers are not
assigned a fitting priority when defining the challenge to be
addressed.
“How reliable are the data? Do the data conflict? If so, can
the differences be resolved?” Given an open-ended
challenge, it is likely that available information may appear
inconsistent. However, careful reading of the source often
resolves anomalies. For example, different criteria yield
different conclusions! The team mem- bers active in this
phase of the process must determine what types of
information they require and where they reside. In-person
resources could include marketing departments, technical
salespersons, and reference catalogs.
You will quickly learn how to seek, gather, evaluate, and
organize information through detailed notes, files, pictures,
sketches, and other supporting materials—continuously
updated as new data become available. The assistance of
librarians, trained in the retrieval and evaluation
of factual, accurate, unbiased data with known provenance,

From this, the design process may commence with a

search for what the competition, if any, has accomplished:
1. What information has been published about the problem?
2. Is a solution to the problem already available?
a) If the answer is yes:
i. Who is providing it?
ii. What are the advantages of their solution?
iii. What are the disadvantages of their solution?
iv. How is it made?
v. What is the cost?
vi. Was the solution well received?
 b) Ifthe answer is no:
i. Is there a fundamental reason why no one has worked
on this?
ii. Did someone try and fail?
3. Are there legal issues to consider?
4. Are there environmental concerns to be addressed?
5. What core questions need to be asked and answered before
we write our problem statement?
6. How are we going to evaluate our success or failure as
we proceed through the design process?
Once the problem has been identified, the team should
establish working criteria to validate possible solutions
through each stage of the engineering design process.

■ How much will it cost?

■ Will it be difficult to produce?

■ What will be its size, weight, strength?

■ Does it look good?
■ Is it easy to use?
■ Will it be safe to use?
■ Are there any legal concerns?
■ Is it reliable and durable?
■ What happens at the end-of-life?
■ Is this what the customer truly wanted?
■ Will customers want to purchase it?
■ Will customers purchase this in preference to a competitor’s
product?

Having overall objectives for the project provides a means

of evaluating, monitor- ing and, if necessary, adjusting the
problem statement as the design process evolves.
Stage 2: Imagine
 The basic concept for this stage of the engineering design
process is to creatively develop as many potential solutions
to the problem as possible. A major method of generating
multiple ideas is called Creative Problem Solving and uses a
technique called brainstorming.
In the brainstorming process, every spontaneously
contributed idea is recorded. “Who? What? Why? When?
Where? How? How often?”

Stage 3: Evaluate

We now move to evaluate the best ideas imagined in the

brainstorming stage4 with more sophisticated analysis
techniques. Early narrowing of the proposed ideas could
include the following:

■ Eliminating duplicates
■ Allowing clarifying questions
■ Asking for preliminary evaluation by a vote
Potential solutions are now subjected to thorough technical
and financial analysis, the design challenge dictating the
method of evaluation.
Table 12.2 A Decision
Table
Points #1 #2 #3
Working Criteria Available
Cost 10 8 9 10
Production difficulty 15 8 12 14
Size, weight, strength 8 7 7 5
Appearance 10 7 9 8
Convenient to use 5 3 4 4
Safety 15 8 11 10
Legal issues 5 4 4 4
Reliability/durability 15 7 9 13
Recyclability 7 4 3 5
Customer appeal 10 7 8 9
Total 100 63 76 82

Computer analysis techniques

Estimation
Analysis of compatibility
Common sense
Economic analysis
Conservative assumptions
After all possible solutions have been examined and their
behavior has been com- pared to the list of working criteria, a
decision table eliminates those proposals that have not
performed well. The evaluation stage is another critical part
of the engineering design process because poor evaluation
could eliminate the best solution while promoting inferior or
even dangerous ideas.

Stage 4: Create

Building prototypes or models.

Models commonly used by engineers and others include the
following:

■ Full-scale models or prototypes

■ Scale models
■ Diagrams or graphs
 ■ Computer models
■ Mathematical models
Stage 5: Test

In actuality, every idea and model is tested as soon as it

appears . Performing a variety of tests on each of the models
allows for comparison and evaluation against the working
criteria and the overall goals that have been established.
These could include the following:

■ Function
■ Form
■ Safety
■ Ease of manufacture
■ Strength
■ Reliability
■ Durability
■ End-of-Life
■ Quality consistency
■ Consistency of testing
.

A means for the consistent and accurate evaluation of data

acquired from testing all the models and prototypes must be
established. The working criteria developed in the first stage
of the design process are used to evaluate the results from
testing the output of the creation stage using a decision table
to visualize and rank their advantages and disadvantages. The
table typically lists the working criteria in the first column
with a weighted available point total for each of the criteria
in the second; the order of prior- ity is determined by the
team. The third and succeeding columns list the performance
scores for the possible solutions.

Manufacture

The outcome of the five-stage design process is, in essence, a

final design for implementation—input to the manufacturing
or construction stage. While the engineering design process is
still followed, the path is much more clearly defined.
For this to be achieved, there must be complete, thorough,
and transparent communication, reporting, and specification
of all aspects of the design for input to the manufacturing or
construction phase.
Communication is an essential tool throughout the design
process, but especially in this stage. In addition to the
engineers, project manager, and team leaders, many others,
representing a variety of backgrounds and areas of expertise,
now become involved:

■ Management and key supervisory personnel

■ Technical representatives

■ Business representatives

■ Attorneys and legal support staff

When all parties are in agreement that all criteria have been
satisfied and the overall goal has been achieved, the project
moves to implementation and commer- cialization.
The product’s performance is examined, as are the latest
data on production efficiency, quality con- trol reports, sales,
revenues, costs, expenditures, and profits.
5. Examples of Design Projects: The chapter illustrates the
design process with examples such as developing an ATM
security system using iris recognition and designing a college
backpack. These examples demonstrate how the design
process helps address real-world problems by balancing
creativity, practicality, and technical feasibility.