Design Projects Guidelines 2013.23 September
Design Projects Guidelines 2013.23 September
L. Chidzuu
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1. Introduction:
This document provides you with guidelines about the expectations and requirements for
projects and final reports. As an engineering student, you should know everything you need to
satisfy design and research projects requirements. In order to come up with a good project you
should refer to notes and textbooks from your previous courses.
2. Design Project
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 natural sciences, mathematics, and
engineering sciences are applied to convert resources, optimally, to meet a stated objective.
Among the fundamental elements of the design process are the establishment of objectives and
criteria to meet objectives, synthesis, analysis, construction, testing, and evaluation.
Design often includes analysis, mathematical modelling, simulation, experimental studies and
testing, but those activities by themselves do not constitute design. Engineering research or
investigative projects are allowable only if they contain significant design content. For example,
developing a theoretical model for an engineering phenomenon, and comparing it to
experimental results, is not engineering design. To be accepted, such a project must include
the design of the experimental apparatus and software.
Chapter 1
I. Definition of the problem
User requirements, Background of problem (A story about the project. The When,
How, who, how much, what), Statement of the problem, aims, objectives (SMART),
justifications, constraints, plan of action or project timeline.
include environmental, ethical, health and safety, and economic related objectives
Chapter 2
II. Information gathering/ Market Research/literature review
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Look for literature on current development and how other people managed to solve
the problem at hand.
Good sources of information include: trade magazines, journals, patent search, the web (Google,
yahoo, … …), interviews, government gazette, patent search, literature search, assessment of
previous solutions, experts who are in the industry, catalogues, websites
Chapter 3
Methodology
Gives a summary of how the design process was used to solve the problem at
hand.
Chapter 4
III. Generation of alternatives/ possible solutions
Brainstorming and The 'Gordon' Method
reverse brain storming TRIZ
Brain Writing/ mapping The 'Hypothetical
Imagination-Underdeveloped- Situation' method
Resource Morphological method
Mind mapping
TRIZ?
TRIZ is a methodology, tool set, knowledge base, and model-based technology for
generating innovative ideas and solutions for problem solving. TRIZ provides tools and
methods for use in problem formulation, system analysis, failure analysis, and patterns of
system evolution (both 'as-is' and 'could be'). TRIZ, in contrast to techniques such as
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brainstorming (which is based on random idea generation), aims to create an algorithmic
approach to the invention of new systems, and the refinement of old systems.
During the IDEATION phase, the designer(s) should not generate or develop
solutions using any electronic or mechanical hardware such as computer
(graphics) and even a ruler. Sketches and annotated diagrams must be used
during idea generation. A pen/ pencil and a piece(s) of paper are enough. The
designer should keep a designers notebook to keep records of all activities.
Chapter 5
V. Development of chosen solution/ Detailed design
This section is the backbone of the project. The student should try by all means to
demonstrate his or her knowledge of engineering sciences and all technical
expertise. The sections should show:
Design calculations, Bill of Materials(BOM),
stress analysis, Patent where a patent has been
kinematic analysis, approved
CAD modelling, Design Change Notices, etc.
Product Breakdown Structure
(PBS),
Creation of working drawings, (detailed drawings, assembly drawings),
VII. Costing
The total cost of a product to the customer (i.e., the list price) and its constituent parts
should be calculated. The total cost must be reached at after considering both direct and
indirect cost associated with the product.
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Chapter 6
Conclusions and recommendation
The End
ND: remember, the prototype is or may not be the same as the final product
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2.2. Detailed Requirements and Guidelines
This section provides a detailed outline of the project. Read carefully and consult any members
of the department, school or university on areas that you might need assistance.
The report should demonstrate sufficient research into existing and emerging technologies
relevant to the project. If appropriate, innovative solutions based on emerging technologies
should be considered among the design alternatives.
It is not a requirement that your project incorporate emerging technologies, only that you have
considered them. In many cases, emerging technologies will be rejected based on feasibility or
technology readiness assessment. In other cases, there may be no relevant emerging
technologies that are applicable.
It should be noted that relevant emerging technologies are those that could be used today, or in
the very near future. These might be devices, processes or materials that are commercially
available, but are not yet in widespread use. They could also be technologies that have been
demonstrated on a pilot basis, or technologies that are used in other fields of application.
You do not need to consider technologies that are still in the fundamental research stage as viable
design alternatives, but you should recognize the possible future potential of these technologies.
Research must be fully documented with cited references from good sources. (At least fifteen
authors) Research based solely on Goggle or other search engines is insufficient.
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Design Methodology
Your project must demonstrate the use of modern engineering design methodologies and tools.
All of the stages of design should be addressed, including:
Problem definition
Background research
Generation and evaluation of alternatives
Selection of best alternatives
Engineering validation and detail design
Prototype development and testing.
Prototype: This might be the final gadget depending on materials resources constraints or
departmental requirements at a given time.
The relative weight of these various elements will depend on the particular project. Design
tools and methodologies that should be used as appropriate include:
Functional decomposition TRIZ
Morphological analysis Design for X
Decision matrices
FMEA
Quality Function Deployment (QFD)
Qualitative methods like QFD and decision matrices are not sufficient to validate an
engineering design. Design decisions must also be supported by appropriate analysis and
testing as described below.
All mathematical models (equations) must be completely defined. All the variables must be
defined. Sources of the equations must be explained, and any assumptions must be described.
The precision of any numerical result depends on the approximations, simplifications, and
assumptions used in the model. Clearly state the precision of any results, and do not use more
significant figures than are justified.
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If the value of any parameter in your equations is only an estimate, then your result is an
estimate too. When your calculations are estimates only, it is reasonable to use estimates for
other parameters, and to use simplified models.
At the beginning, the values of some parameters may not be known, or need to be estimated. As
the design proceeds, more accurate values can be found by researching references and
handbooks, and by conducting experiments. Better mathematical models may be needed as
well.
Once geometry has been developed in more detail, FEA is a powerful technique. However,
proper methodology must be used to obtain useful and valid results. Specify and justify any
loads and restraints used in your simulation study. Also, provide a detailed discussion of the
results.
coefficient of friction
efficiency drag force
rolling resistance Mass
Do not perform experiments to measure parameters that are well known, like yield stress of
standard steel alloys.
(d) Documentation
Designs and solutions must be fully documented with working drawings, bills of materials, cost
analysis, etc. as appropriate. There should be sufficiently detailed documentation to permit the
project to be duplicated or continued by others. See Appendix A for examples of the drawings.
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Assembly drawings, showing all of the parts in an assembly. Use as many as needed to
clearly document your design. The assembly model should clearly show both fabricated
and purchased parts, and should include an itemized parts list.
NB:
CAD models and working drawings should be completed before prototype construction begins. The
prototype should match the CAD models and working drawings very closely, with only minor
modifications needed during fabrication.
It is acceptable to produce CAD models after the prototype has been built. The level of
documentation depends on the nature of the prototype and might lead to penalization of the
whole project.
For some projects, it may not be feasible to build a fully-functional prototype due to cost or
time constraints. However, a complete set of working drawings should be produced.
AutoCAD, Microsoft Visio, ShowFlow, and Arena are good computer based applications for
creating many of these diagrams.
Original budget
Detailed cost breakdown of actual costs, including:
o cost of purchased parts and components
o material cost
o travel costs
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o cost of testing
General Organization
The final report – project write-up must be formatted as a formal technical report, containing:
A. Preliminaries
A title page: Name of university, name of program, name of student and student
number, and title of the project, year)
Declaration
An executive summary/ abstract
Table of Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Nomenclature defining acronyms, symbols, etc.
NB: pages in this section are numbered using Roman numerals, i, ii, iii, iv......
B. Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 1 is made up of:
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1.3 Aims
1.4 Objectives (Must be SMART. Read literature on developing
objectives)
1.5 Justifications
1.6 Limitations
1.7 Deliminations
1.8 Project management or Time frame: Use a Gantt chart or network
diagram/PERT diagrams
D. Chapter 3: Methodology
The methodology depends on type of project. In all cases, the methodology explains how
the problem solving process was applied to the meet the objectives of the project.
Methodology covers data collection methods and tools, testing and evaluation of solution,
experimental methods, simulation, modelling, and e.t.c
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A conclusion provides a thoughtful end to a piece of writing. Unfortunately many
conclusions in undergraduate projects are little more than summaries of what has already
been said.
After that, continue to relate the results of the dissertation project to the real world by
talking about any recommendations that can be made based on what have been learnt. Do
the results of the research suggest a particular course of action that specific people should
take? If so, are the people aware of the results of the research, and if not are any steps
going to be taken to make them so? Further research to be done in order to broaden our
collective understanding of the research topic that was chosen should Suggested. The reader
should be given a sense of what the future could be like in terms of researching the topic,
and present some beginning ideas for what the next step could be.
Finally, the conclusion of the report should close the thesis by summarizing everything that
has come before, explaining in simple terms the way in which the project ended, relating it
to the greater environment of the world at large, and leaving the reader with the ability to
draw his or her own conclusions from what you have described.
NB: recommendations are very important and are your contribution to the board of
knowledge.
H. Other materials
References
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Appendix. Appendices can be many depending on the project. In this section,
supplementary material can be placed in the appendix. Make sure that key
information is in the main body. It should not be necessary for the reader to refer to
the appendix to understand the report.
Below are mistakes that have been made by some students who did their projects. Read the
mistakes and recommendations made so that you avoid treading down the same path.
Make sure your final design is clearly documented in the main body of the report. If
you have a CAD assembly model or photo of the final prototype, put it in the body; do
not bury it in the appendix. Make it easy for the reader to see what you have
designed.
Include important calculations, test results, QFD, etc. in the main body. The report
should be self contained without the appendix. Only use the appendix for
supplementary detail that is not essential to understanding the report.
Do not design parts in CAD that cannot be made using appropriate manufacturing
methods. Remember that simple CAD feature operations do not correspond to simple
manufacturing methods. In particular:
o You cannot make square holes. All inside corners must have a radius to allow
for the cutting tool diameter.
o You cannot make very deep and small diameter holes.
o You cannot add material using machining, which is a material removal
process. In other words, an extruded feature on your part is difficult to
make.
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gear to a motor shaft. Use mechanical components from component suppliers,
since they are intended to be easy to mount using bolts, etc.
Vendors provide detailed information about shaft and motor mounting.
Avoid special-purpose parts like automotive motors, as they don't use
standard mounting methods. It may be difficult to attach a gear, or mount the
motor to a frame.
o Complex parts should be built up from standard materials (standard metal
extrusions, standard plate or sheet, standard bar stock).
Prepare proper engineering drawings to allow others to construct the design based on
your instructions. All drawings must follow accepted drawing standards and practices.
If your prototype uses a simple steel frame to hold something in place, use rough
hand calculations to confirm that it is more than strong enough. FEA is overkill.
Calculations should appear throughout your report, where they are appropriate.
Make sure the purpose of the calculations is clear. Don't throw all the calculations
into an appendix, or into a separate "calculations" section, unless that is appropriate.
Make sure you don't omit key information or calculations. If you are designing
something that must be light, provide calculations or experiments to determine its
weight. If you are designing a motor-driven device, calculate the amount of power
required.
Do not rely too much on qualitative tools like decision matrices to justify design choices.
These tools can be helpful in identifying strengths and weaknesses of different
alternatives. Rather than selecting the "best" one, try to combine concepts to improve
the strengths and reduce the weaknesses.
In general, remember and apply all the General Science and Engineering Sciences you
have learned since about grade 4. Do not confuse force with acceleration, or mass
with force. Remember that speed can be reduced and torque increased using gearing
or pulleys.
Do not rely too much on results obtained from Pugh Concept Selection and decision
matrices. Be sure to explain how you determined evaluation criteria, criteria weights,
and alternative ratings. Often these are nothing more than guesses.
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Do not use decision matrices or in particular Pugh Concept Selection as a reliable
means to determine the best alternative. Remember, if you have several poor
concepts, the best one is still a poor concept even if it ranks the highest.
References
The department requires that students use the Harvard method for citing references. Check
for what CUT recommends.
In your text, a citation must follow the format author-year of publication. An ‘author’ is the
person or organisation or department who or which created, wrote or produced the work. If
direct quote, is used a page number should be include, where available. There is flexibility in
where citation is put, but not what is put into it. Table 1 gives a brief summary of how to cite
references.
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your reference list.
Haylock & Thangata (2007) define Haylock & Thangata (2007:p.57) Direct quotes should be cited in the
differentiation as “ways in which teachers define differentiation as “ways in text with a page number (if
take into account in their planning and which teachers take into account available) for the page where it
teaching the differences between the in their planning and teaching the appeared, so the reader can locate
pupils in the class”. differences between the pupils in the quote.
the class”.
http://www.autism.org.uk (2010) National Autistic Society (2010) Don not use a website address. You
can use a corporate author, when
there is no named person for the
work you are citing.
ZIE (2011) Zimbabwe Institute of Engineers The first time you use an acronym, it
(ZIE) (2011) is good practice to provide the full
name too.
The use of rods, blocks and coins can be The use of rods, blocks and coins Full stop should be after the citation,
useful in teaching place value to children. can be useful in teaching place otherwise it becomes ‘detached’.
(Haylock 2006) value to children (Haylock, 2006).
Chidzuu, Muzinda and Musasa (2004) Chidzuu et al. (2004) Do not list three or more authors.
Instead include the surname of the
first author, then write ‘et al’.
Remember to list all authors in your
reference list.
Pears, Shields (2010) Pears and Shields (2010) You may use ‘and’ or ‘&’ but do not
Pears + Shields (2011) Pears & Shields (2011) mix them up – pick one method and
be consistent.
Paraphrasing is writing another author's idea or findings in one’s own words. One may
paraphrase a quote or short paragraph into his own words, making it more meaningful within
the context of his work. An author may also summarise the content of a longer passage of text,
such as an article or a report, or write about a seminal piece of work, policy or theory in his
subject area.
This helps to demonstrate that one has understood what he read. Paraphrasing and
summarising enables the writer to include supporting or contrasting evidence in his work in a
more creative, flowing way.
Examples:
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o Pears and Shields (2010) offer tips to help students avoid plagiarism, including good
time management, the use of quotation marks for direct quotes, and making full notes of
all reference details for every source.
o It is important to choose a research topic which you are likely to be interested in for a
long period of time, and think through all the potential difficulties of researching that
topic before you commit to it (Bell 2010).
o The literature on academic skills offers a variety of tips on reading effectively, including:
underlining to focus your attention on the text, questioning what is being read,
summarising chunks of reading, and categorising different sources to give purpose to
what you are reading (Northedge 2005; Creme and Lea 2008; Grix and Watkins 2010).
Direct quote
Direct quote means using an actual quote from a source to back up perspectives, discussions, ideas
or arguments. In this case quotation marks are used.
Direct quoting helps in demonstrating the breadth of one’s reading. Sometimes the author's own
words say it best. In some cases quotes can break the flow of your writing if they are used too often.
Quotes of three lines or more should be started with an indented paragraph.
Examples:
o Collecting and reading through assignment feedback is a valuable and important part of learning,
however Race (2007: p.32) suggests that regular self-assessment is also crucial, so that a student can
“identify in good time those elements that will be the most valuable and important areas to which to
devote additional time and effort”.
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Examples of listing defences
1. Creveling, C. M., Dave Antis, and Jeffrey Lee Slutsky: Design for Six Sigma in Technology and
Product Development, Prentice Hall PTR, 2002. A good book on DFSS
2. lous, S.: The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making, McGraw-Hill, NewYork, 1993.
3. Roberts, V. L.: Products Standards Index, Pergamon, New York, 1986. A sourcebook for
standards.
4. Johnson, Susan Moore, Morgaen L. Donaldson, Mindy Sick Munger, John P. Papay, and Emily
K. Qazilbash. "Leading the Local: Teachers Union Presidents Chart Their Own Course."
Peabody Journal of Education 84.3 (2009): 374-93. Print.
5. Moe, Terry. "The Union Label on the Ballot Box." Education Next 6.3 (2006): 58-66. Print.
7. "Our School Board Choices." Editorial. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 31 Mar. 2001: A12. Print.
8. Bourdieu, Pierre, and Jean-Claude Passeron. Reproduction in Education, Society, and Culture.
Trans. Richard Nice. London: Sage Publications, 1977. Print.
9. Jamjoom, A. A. B., White, S., Walton, S. M., Hardman, J. G., & Moppett, I. K. (2010).
Anaesthetists' and surgeons' attitudes towards informed consent in the UK: An
observational study. BMC Medical Ethics, 11(2). Retrieved from
http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcmedethics
10. Adler, P. (2003) Strategic management. [Online] Sterling: VA Kogan Page. Available
from: http://www.netlibrary.com/Reader/ . [Accessed: 6th May 2012]
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Appendix B.
Example of drawings that are expected for design and make projects.
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