The modules are available as PDF and AVI files.

Module 1
From 2D Sketches to 3D Objects
• PDF module
• AVI movie
Module 2
Advanced Basics with NX4
• PDF module
• AVI movie
Module 3
More Mating with NX4
• PDF module
• AVI movie

Module 4
A Pump Project
• PDF module
• AVI movie
Module 5
A Vice Grip Project
• PDF module
• AVI movie, part 1
• AVI movie, part 2
Module 6
A Toy Train Project
• PDF module
• AVI movie, part 1
• AVI movie, part 2

Supporting Papers
• R. Pop-Iliev and S. Nokleby. 2007. Digitally enhancing the project-based approach to engineering education. Proc Intl Conf on Engineering Design, Paris. (PDF)

• R. Pop-Iliev and G. Platanitis. 2007. Just-in-time implementation of open-ended take-home miniature design engineering projects. Proc PACE Conference. (PDF paper) (PDF presentation) (AVI movie 1) (AVI movie 2) (AVI movie 3)

[Description and screenshot taken from the wiki page for this module. Materials are used under the terms of a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license.]

This module systematically introduces the fundamentals of project management, widely used tools and methods, and management processes that actually occurs in the industrial process. The contents of the module include: essential concepts-, time management-, quality management-, cost management-, risk management-, and maintenance management of project management. Six real cases are presented in Chapter 7 as case study materials. The reasons of the successes and failures of these cases are presented.

The whole module can be downloaded as a zip file (about 3.5MB). It contains 11 PDF files that are live-linked to each other. These should be kept in the same directory.

[Description and screenshot taken from the wiki page for this module. Materials are used under the terms of a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license.]

This CDEN module consists of a collection of design management, analysis and communication tools that can be applied individually or in conjunction with others during the execution of a design project. Following the analogy of a toolbox that contains wrenches and screwdrivers, not all tools are necessary for every project nor are tools always used to their full potential. The key to using the toolbox effectively is to be familiar with the capabilities and limitations of each tool, then apply the tools appropriate to the project to the degree with they offer benefit. The focus of this module is to provide a selection of design tools suitable for use by a first year engineering design class.

The module is provided as a series of PDF files:
1. Introduction to the module
2. Introduction to engineering design
3. Documenting the design process
4. Design criteria checklist
5. Work breakdown and scheduling
6. Failure modes and effects analysis and a sample FMEA chart
7. Prioritization matrices
8. Evaluation matrices

[Description and screenshot taken from the wiki page for this module. Materials are used under the terms of a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license.]

Teaching concept evaluation in engineering often utilises engineering based problems. Unfortunately, first year students typically lack the experience and familiarity with the range of engineering methods and topics that are a prerequisite for the introduction of the traditional design process. To compensate for this, many problems tend to be comprised of clear, theoretically based textbook problems centered on formulaic manipulation. As such, these “tame” problems rely on will traveled solution paths that always end up with the same answer providing little value in highlighting the benefit of the traditional design process.

To appreciate the design process it is necessary for students to attack problems where there is no identifiable solution path or where they have no concept of what the answer might be. The problems need to encourage students to nurture their synthesis skills (i.e. their ability to bring together different points of view) rather than their analysis skills, which are already nurtured in the rest of their curriculum. These “wicked” problems are difficult to introduce at the first year level as the students typically lack adequate engineering experience. However, “wicked” problems can still be explored by utilizing the knowledge students have already developed simply to function in the world around them.

Problems that require the understanding of consumer behaviour or moral judgment can easily form “wicked” problems that first-year students can tackle. Therefore, this module consists of two non-engineering problems that provide a solid foundation for concept evaluation. The first is a marketing problem that deals with the survival of small drug stores in the 21st century. The second is a legal problem that requires students to make a moral judgment. To extend concept evaluation further into the traditional models, a new method of introducing design reviews and traditional engineering concept evaluation tools are included. To introduce traditional engineering concept evaluation tools, questions that relate the drug store and legal cases to these tools are introduced.

[Description and screenshot taken from the wiki page for this module. Materials are used under the terms of a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license.]

The first module introduces the value of successful design to the company, the notion that product design is a risk-management process, the formation of an effective design team and an introduction to the five stages of design.

The second module presents the idea generation stage of the design process. This stage is largely an introduction to marketing, but it is essential to the design engineer because it connects the customer to the engineer’s design process.

Techniques and procedures for identifying, quantifying and assessing market needs and wants, determining the attributes required and desired, estimating market size and the impact of attributes on size, determining necessary functions, and establishing the engineering characteristics of any product that addresses identified needs are introduced. Attribute sensitivity functions and the House of Quality in QFD are presented with practical exercises. The notions of wants, needs, attributes, characteristics, requirements, constraints and specifications are defined. The latter part of idea generation is concerned with finding individual concepts that provide the attributes necessary to meet the needs of the identified market segment. No attempt is made to integrate these concepts into a product because in this stage, possible solutions and not best solutions, are sought. At the end of this stage, concepts are screened using Pugh’s concept screening tool. The module is intended for two weeks of classroom instruction in conjunction with two laboratory sessions, two assignments and a two-week project. The module is intended for 2nd year engineering students. While this material has been taught to 2nd year E&CE students, this module is intended for students in all disciplines.

The third module is presents conceptual design, the second stage of the design process. In this stage, the previously defined concepts are combined, modified, refined and integrated into a sensible, concept-level design or configuration of the product. The module presents various tools for conceptual design including morphological charts, concept sketching, process flow diagrams and others. The conceptual design stage culminates in concept scoring to find the best combination of concepts to take forward to the next design stage.

The three modules are accompanied by selected cases for case-based teaching, assignment problems and laboratory sessions. The modules have numerous examples throughout.

[Description and screenshot taken from the wiki page for this module. Materials are used under the terms of a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license.]

The systems perspective is that everything interacts with other things. Yet we tend to design our products in isolation from the environment in which they will operate. This module introduces students to one method of performing systems design; that is, designing so as to take into account the interactions of a product with its environments and the interactions between its elements. Systems designing is an important technique especially in large and complex engineering projects, and in trying to develop sustainable technologies.

The module also looks at how to design systems, covering the topics:

• Define the overall system
• Identify inputs and outputs
• Conceptualize solution systems
• Identify subsystems
• Define subsystem flows
• Systems recursion and iteration

[Description and screenshot taken from the wiki page for this module. Materials are used under the terms of a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license.]

It offers an entry-level note-style treatment of the main topics in an engineering design syllabus. The material is presented concisely using predominantly bullet-points and short statements, and is particularly useful in providing many explanatory images, including system and process diagrams and drawings.

Topics covered includes basic design, product design, specifications, design methods, conceptual design, human factors/ergonomics, management, design teams, administration, concurrent engineering, design for x (DFX), computer aided design (CAD), geometrical modelling of parts, geometrical modelling for design, and computer aided engineering (CAE).

The target audience of this module includes students taking introductory courses in design, and students interested in a summary overview of the PDP. The module provides a very general introduction to product development processes and the role of engineering design therein. It is meant to lead into more detailed modules on specific topics. Topics introduced in this module include: definitions of design, stages and gates, concurrent engineering, teamwork and collaboration, technical communications, usability and user-centred design, product lifecycle, end of product life. Furthermore, the process of designing as part of product development is introduced, including: project initialisation, problem analysis, ideation, conceptual design and evaluation, systems design, recursion to subsystems, and detailed design.

[Description and screenshot taken from the wiki page for this module. Materials are used under the terms of a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license.]

The paper explores a view of research on creativity in design not based on traditional cognitive science models. Research from the creative cognition standpoint is reviewed with an example and the problem of applying it to the design case is explained. Creative techniques used in design lack a scientific base and lack an evaluation of their effectiveness. They emphasise the generation of ideas and not the generation of tangible solutions. The argument states that design research should be looking neither to the act of idea generation nor to the act of form generation and reinterpretation but to the enacted use environment in which designers operate and from which functions emerge. Departing from new models in cognitive science two hypotheses are formed. The first claims that the creative outcome in design may be based on an enacted experience of use and not on a rationalisation of imagery or represented forms. The second claims that diagrams created during the design process, mainly in its first stages, may serve the purpose of problem finding and not of problem solving.

[Description taken from the abstract for this paper. Paper made available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 2.5 license.]

Listening to the voice of the customer is made complicated when the roles of the customer are carried out by more than one individual or stakeholder (a stakeholder performs one or more of the decision-making roles normally enacted by a single customer). The issues surrounding multiple stakeholder requirements are examined with particular reference to small to medium enterprises (SMEs) and the rehabilitation industry; this industry is concerned with products that enable the elderly and disabled to live more independently. A series of case studies has been conducted to identify the current practices of rehabilitation companies and the suitability of accepted design methods for incorporating the voice of the customer into the design process. The results of the study indicate that smaller companies within the rehabilitation industry do not use formal methods of design or market research; this is partly attributable to their limited resources and experience. An outline is given of a method developed by the CACTUS Project to enable resource-limited companies in the rehabilitation industry to incorporate the voice of the customer into their design. The method is currently being tested. It is hoped that the CACTUS approach will be applicable to other industries with similar characteristics and multiple stakeholders.

[Description taken from the abstract for this paper. Paper made available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 2.5 license.]

The electronics industry is continually under pressure to maximise profits. To do this, an organisation will strive to reduce development and manufacturing costs and time, produce the best quality products and, therefore, satisfy the customer.

Implementing tools and philosophies to be used during NPI can fulfil these requirements within the NPI process. For the purposes of this study, we will consider three areas that the tools affect:

Quality Engineering Tools. These work throughout various stages to ensure the product is of the best quality.

Product Design Tools. These would be used predominantly during the design functions, to ensure that the right product is specified and designed and to reduce design time and costs.

Manufacturing Tools. These would be used during the manufacturing phases, including process design and prototyping, to reduce manufacturing costs and times.

[Description and screenshot taken from The University of Bolton's website for this topic. This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Licence.]

Some of the tools and theories that will be explored here to understand the potential links and interactions with C-K theory are: Web 2.0 collaboration tools, computer supported cooperative work (CSCW), knowledge management and Henry W Chesbrough’s Open Innovation model.

[Description taken from the abstract for this paper. Paper made available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.]

C-K design theory or concept-knowledge theory is both a design theory and a theory of reasoning in design. It defines design reasoning as a logic of expansion processes, i.e. a logic that organises the generation of unknown objects. The theory builds on several traditions of design theory, including systematic design, axiomatic design, creativity theories, general design theories, and artificial intelligence-based design models.
Claims made for C-K design theory include that it is the first design theory that:
1. Offers a comprehensive formalisation of design that is independent of any design domain or object
2. Explains invention, creation, and discovery within the same framework and as design processes.

The name of the theory is based on its central premises: the distinction between two spaces:
• a space of concepts C
• a space of knowledge K.

The process of design is defined as a double expansion of the C and K spaces through the application of four types of operators: C→C, C→K, K→C, K→K

[Description and screenshot taken from the Wikipedia page for this article. Text is available under a CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported License.]

The site contains the book chapters as pdf files as they are completed and revised and are divided into the following 7 chapters.

Table of contents:

[1] Introduction to Design
[2] Exploration
[3] Users, Experts, and Institutions
[4] The Architecture of Artifacts
[5] Aesthetics in Design
[6] Variety
[7] Problem Solving and Design

The course covers the theory, tools and techniques of problem analysis for software systems development, covering both information systems and control systems.

Topics include: requirements specification, object-oriented analysis, business process modeling, analysis of non-functional requirements, lifecycle of engineering projects, project management, waterfall and V-models.

Architects, landscape designers, interior designers and product designers are typical designer jobs. They often develop visual themes, to position themselves and their designs in the market. Many clients purchase products of or engage these designers because their products match with the sense of their identity. For example urban planners expect the landscape designers to develop landmarks, to improve the attractiveness of the city, neighbourhood or region. In addition to the visual requirements the design should improve the liveability of the community, preserve the environment and protect sensitive areas. Requirements usually not met by the visual themes of the designer. Most design teams are not composed of visual designers only but also include marketing people, design engineers, manufacturing- and O&M specialists. The design engineers, manufacturing- and O&M specialists ensure that the product meet the criteria of professional correctness, which may be specified in professional codes and standards.

For those interested in ABET accreditation and reaccreditation, it touches on the themes of
(1) professional and ethical responsibility, (2) integrating ethics into design projects, and (3) generating awareness of the social and global impacts of engineering. Students and faculty consulting this module will find the capstone course presentation, background information pertinent to engineering ethics in Puerto Rico, and exercises that help students develop an active and practical understanding of how ethics fits into engineering practice.

The module is available to download as a pdf file and as an EPUB file for viewing in handheld devices. A presentation of this module given in March 2008 at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez is also provided.

Caution: This module is incomplete. Authors plan to add more content shortly.

[Description and screenshot taken from the Connexions page for this module. This work is licensed by William Frey under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 3.0), and is an Open Educational Resource.]

Structural integrity is the study of the safe design and assessment of components and structures under load, and has become increasingly important in engineering design. It integrates aspects of stress analysis, materials behaviour and the mechanics of failure into the engineering design process.
After you have completed this unit you should be able to:
• differentiate between and describe dissolution, degredation and corrosion as they affect the deterioration of structural materials;
• predict electrochemical behaviour between dissimilar metals;
• explain galvanic corrosion in terms of the electrochemical series;
• distinguish between the hoop and longitudinal stresses in a pressure-vessel wall, and specify them in terms of the pressure, wall thickness and diameter of the vessel;
• describe the loads in the various parts of a structure and the most likely load path;
• indicate the procedures needed in practical failure analysis;
• specify the failure mechanisms possible when a nominally ductile material fails in a brittle fashion;
• relate crack formation to the loads on a component, bearing in mind the importance of stress concentrations in the component concerned;
• provide a likely sequence of events involved in the failure of a part made from several different components;
• describe the problem of fretting wear at a bearing joint;
• describe the key circumstances of a particular accident or disaster, and relate the sequence of events to specific causes supported by the relevant evidence.

The unit is split into 3 parts:
[1] Engineering for purpose
[2] Environmental deterioration
[3] Case study: The Silver Bridge

The unit takes on average 20 hours to complete.

[Description and screenshot taken from the OU page for this course. (c) Open University used under the terms of their CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.]

Complex systems have many components – hardware, software, people, machinery, buildings, all of which interact – and many stakeholders with requirements to be met. The essence of systems engineering is that it combines technical, interpersonal and managerial knowledge and skills. By studying this course, practitioners and anyone responsible for or working in the systems engineering environment will gain an understanding of the principles, tools and techniques of a multi-functional approach to increasingly complex systems planning.

The aim of this unit is to answer five questions:
Why is systems engineering important?
What is modern engineering?
What is systems?
What is systems engineering?
What approach to systems engineering does the course adopt?

The unit takes on average 25 hours to complete.

[Description and screenshot taken from the OU page for this course. (c) Open University used under the terms of their CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.]

One example that is investigated in this unit concerns how to devise lighter bicycle frames, and the way to assess the merits of alternative materials from which to make them. There is no single way to move from a problem like this to possible solutions. In fact there are often several ways to set about finding several solutions, but there are a few general factors that are important to the search. First it is important to appreciate the needs from which a problem arises. For the bicycle frame it’s not just a lighter material that is required, but rather it is one that can be deployed to bear specific loads imposed on a fully functional frame. Next it is valuable to understand the challenge well enough to be able to specify the nature of solutions, perhaps using the formal languages of engineering, mathematics, science and problem solving. For example, it is unwise to take part in a discussion on ‘the best materials for bike frames’ without a technical appreciation of both the job a frame has to do and the relevant attributes of the candidate materials. Establishing what you don’t yet know usually starts by recognising how effectively you can tell someone else where the challenges arise. You must be able to communicate with a wide range of people, sometimes ‘calling a spade a spade’, and at other times describing precisely what the word ‘spade’ actually means.

After studying this unit you should be able to:

View solutions as belonging to particular categories, broadly classified as:
innovation by context
innovation by practice
routine

See how external factors affect engineering projects, and appreciate the range of engineering involved in meeting the basic needs of our society.

Recognise and apply a range of problem-solving techniques from each stage of the engineering design cycle, to include the following:
physical modelling
mathematical modelling
iteration
use of reference data
refining an engineering specification.

Identify when models are likely to be useful and when they are no longer valid.

Recognise and distinguish between the following technical terms:
differential equation
simultaneous equation
boundary condition
constraint
finite element analysis (FEA)
mathematical model
physical model
prototype
demonstrator
anthropometric
ergonomic
product specification
functional specification

The unit takes on average 40 hours to complete.

[Description and screenshot taken from the OU page for this course. (c) Open University used under the terms of their CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.]

In order to get the most out of this unit, you need to be familiar with, or at least not worried by, simple mathematics, and recognise some related concepts such as chance and probability. Working through the first self-assessment question (SAQ) will give you an indication of the skills and attitudes involved. If you find you are having a lot of difficulty with SAQ 1, put this unit aside and select a more appropriate unit from the topic list. As well as providing an introduction to models, the unit looks at systems modelling in practice.

After working through these materials you should be able to:
• describe and use a general classification of models
• outline and discuss the process of systems modelling, where models are used as part of a systemic approach to a range of different situations
• recognise that systems models may be used in different ways as part of a process for: improving understanding of a situation; identifying problems or formulating opportunities; supporting decision making

The unit takes on average 4 hours to complete.

[Description and screenshot taken from the OU page for this course. (c) Open University used under the terms of their CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.]

Having studied this unit you should be able to: recognise that functional artefacts have had input from a designer, with greater and lesser degrees of engineering input; identify that engineering designers work within constraints of finance, materials properties, desired functionality, human factors, etc.; understand that design exploits models of the product being designed, whether those models are physical mock-ups, computer-based models, or mathematical models which explore an element of the product’s performance; understand how models of the design process are formulated, and how they can be applied to understand the development of a particular product or product family; understand design-related terminology such as innovation, context, uncertainty and style.

The learning unit is divided into 7 parts and takes on average 28 hours to complete.

[1] Design and designing
[2] Design and innovation 1: the plastic kettle
[3] Models of the design process
[4] Conceptual design
[5] Concept to prototype
[6] Design and innovation 3: the Brompton folding bicycle
[7] Conclusions

It also helps to understand the effects of material and loading parameters on fatigue; to appreciate the statistical nature of fatigue and its importance in data analysis, evaluation and use; shows how to estimate fatigue life under service conditions of time-dependent, variable amplitude loading; how to estimate stresses acting in notches and welds with conceptual approaches other than nominal stress; and provides qualitative and quantitative information on the classification of welded details and allow for more sophisticated design procedures. Background knowledge in materials engineering, design and fatigue is required.

[Description and screenshot taken from TALAT page for this material. (c) European Aluminium Association used under the terms of their CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.]

It also introduces the design analysis process with methods of verification and partial safety factors; describes the characteristic of loads and load combinations on structures; introduces the subject of load and resistance factors in the verification methods; and describes the basic structural design properties of aluminium alloys versus steel. Some background and experience in structural engineering and design calculations; basic understanding of the physical and mechanical properties of aluminium is assumed.

[Description and screenshot taken from TALAT page for this material. (c) European Aluminium Association used under the terms of their CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.]

It aims at generating interest in and a common understanding of the product development process; informing about the basic principles and terminology used in connection with systematic design in order to facilitate the use of the four product design examples presented in this course (see TALAT lectures 2102.01, .02, .03 and .04). The lecture is recommended for those situations, where a brief, general background information about aluminium is needed as an introduction of other subject areas of aluminium application technologies. This lecture is part of the self- contained course “Aluminium in Product Development”, which is treated under TALAT lectures 2100.

[Description and screenshot taken from TALAT page for this material. (c) European Aluminium Association used under the terms of their CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.]

The resources here include the lecture hand out (zip file) which includes embedded tutorial questions, some powerpoints for structuring lectures , flash animations to step through modelling process for electrical circuits and a large data base of CAA developed on webct (here provided in zip files for quiz 1 and quiz 2). The files import into webct and self extracts. The lecture notes also contains a brief overview on usage for lecturing staff.

The main focus is on electrical and mechanical systems, but there is also some discussion of dc motors, fluids and heat as well as an introduction to time series modelling. The main emphasis is on why modelling is important and how to go about doing this from first principles (e.g. Kirchhoff’s laws, Newton’s Laws, etc.). Given the focus is on new students arriving at University, there is no attempt to develop models beyond second order.

These were developed at the University of Sheffield and authored by J. A. Rossiter from the Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering.

[Description and screenshot taken from the Open Engineering Resources Project page for this resource. (c) The University of Sheffield used under the terms of their CC BY 2.0 license.]

This guide explains what product design specifications (PDS) are, why they are important, and how to write one. The guide includes links to examples from a PDS written by a group of students who were specifying the design of a lawn-edge trimmer. This is a typical first-time PDS, not an ideal model. The students missed out several sections, and did not put figures on as many of their specifications as they should have done. This guide was commissioned by the SEED Curriculum Development Editorial Board.

[Description and screenshot taken from the SEED Curriculum for Engineering Design page for this guide. (c) The Design Society used under the terms of their (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) license.]

The manufacturing phase follows the detail design phase, within the ‘Design Activity Model’ (reference 1) shown in Figure 1. However, manufacturing considerations need to be addressed from the outset of the project and it is essential that students be made aware of this distinction. Design educators must include manufacturing considerations as an essential part of the curriculum, and emphasise the need to integrate design and manufacture. Students should be asked to consider manufacture as well as form, fit and function, and be able to compare costs (reference 2) of alternative manufacturing methods, including assembly. These are too often considered later in the product development stage when expensive modifications may be required to alleviate quality or production problems.

Students should also understand that, in practice, many companies have traditionally had separate lines of management, at operational level, for product design and process or manufacturing system design. More progressive companies are implementing project teams which include design, manufacturing and other disciplines from the outset of the project.

The report provides an introduction, topic definition, educational objectives and chapters on when taught and how, manufacturing considerations, manufacturing processes, manufacturing costs, manufacturing information, and influence of automated manufacturing systems. Also provided are references, suggested further reading and figures.

[Description and screenshot taken from the SEED Curriculum for Engineering Design page for this report. (c) The Design Society used under the terms of their (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) license.]

During the SEED ’83 Design Seminar, held at Southampton University, delegates proposed, unanimously supported and set up a Working Party to make recommendations on the content of a curriculum for engineering design in undergraduate courses. Although the importance of design was being increasingly acknowledged nationally, it was realised that definitive guidelines in regard to a recognised core curriculum for design teaching were conspicuous by their absence. The delegates to the SEED ’83 seminar considered it essential to respond to this challenge and meet the need. The Working Party subsequently submitted two reports which were discussed in detail.and accepted respectively by the SEED ’84 Seminar held at Lanchester (Coventry) Polytechnic and the SEED ’85 Seminar held at Liverpool Polytechnic. A synopsis of the first report (1) is given in this document in the ‘Introduction‘, whilst the second report is included in its entirety together with suggestions arising from the SEED ’85 Seminar.

Design is central to engineering and hence the majority of engineering graduates are likely to have contact with it during their subsequent careers, whilst others will become professional designers. Consequently, and because of its importance to the economy, a well founded ‘appreciation’ of design is essential for all engineering undergraduates and is the theme of this paper. This view is reflected in the more recent demands by the Engineering Council for the mandatory inclusion of both ‘Engineering Applications’ (2) and ‘Design Studies’ (3) for accreditation of engineering undergraduate courses. This development has brought in its train increased demands for design teaching. Whilst every encouragement must be given to such developments, a cautionary note must be sounded in that damage will be done to the understanding and practice of design unless it is taught in a balanced and comprehensive way.

The proposals in this report represent the views of a large percentage of those who teach design at tertiary level, the majority being Chartered Engineers, many of whom continue to practice as consultants. They therefore see the proposals as being directly relevant both to teaching and practice and not the untried exhortations of non-practitioners. Furthermore, the proposed curriculum is itself designed to provide a sound basis for many of the needs of EA2 and of the Engineering Council’s request for design studies.

This report includes the following sections:

• Preface
• Working Party Members
• Introduction
• View of Design
• Requirements for a Design Curriculum
• Definition of Terms
• Proposed Teaching Strategy
• Teaching and Practice
• Time Requirements
• Current Reports
• Concluding Comments
• References
• Appendix A – Description Of The Design Activity Model
• Appendix B – Definition Of Topics

[Description and screenshot taken from the SEED Curriculum for Engineering Design page for this report. (c) The Design Society used under the terms of their (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) license.]

This document forms part of the SEED curriculum development series of publications and is principally intended for use by teachers and lecturers in engineering design in the preparation of teaching material for the topic of conceptual design. Conceptual design is a key phase of the design process. It is during this stage that the product concept which will eventually be taken forward to manufacture is formulated and selected. The thoroughness with which this activity is carried out significantly influences the quality of the final product and, as a consequence, its eventual success or failure. In practice, the resources put into conceptual design are often inadequate. It is necessary, therefore, to impress upon students not only the importance of the phase but also the approach required to achieve a robust concept.

This document addresses a strategy for the teaching of conceptual design rather than the specific procedures involved in the conceptual design of a product. The message it aims to present is equally applicable to mechanical, electrical, civil and other engineering disciplines. Consequently, the term “product” as used though out the document should be interpreted as referring to buildings, processes, systems, circuits etc. as well as consumer and industrial artefacts. Similarly, “manufacturing” should be interpreted as also referring to construction.

The report provides an introduction, topic definition, rationale, educational aims and objectives and chapters on the conceptual design curriculum, teaching and assessment of conceptual design and a bibliography and references.

[Description and screenshot taken from the SEED Curriculum for Engineering Design page for this report. (c) The Design Society used under the terms of their (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) license.]

The Market Phase is the first major phase in the total design activity and is followed by the Specification Phase. Indeed, the Product Design Specification (PDS) produced during the Specification Phase may be described as a statement of market needs. It forms the essential foundation for competitive design and greatly influences the probability of a successful outcome. The PDS must itself be soundly based and this necessitates a thorough market investigation. The market phase and PDS formulation are therefore closely related, which is the justification for the title of this document. Whilst there appears to be a growing awareness of the importance of the PDS in some areas of industry and academia, the approach by which they are formulated in practice is frequently lacking in breadth and thoroughness. It is necessary to impart to students not only the importance of the PDS but also the modus operandi for creating a reliable document. The key is information and its processing.

This booklet identifies the information areas requiring exploration, and a structured, albeit flexible, approach to processing information in order to formulate a PDS. It also provides guidance on the compilation of the PDS itself. The booklet may be used as a text upon which to base lectures, for exercises in market information processing and specification formulation, and as an aid at the commencement of design projects. The approach is applicable irrespective of engineering discipline although the terminology used may vary. For example, the term ‘brief’ in civil engineering is synonymous with ‘specification’ in electrical and mechanical engineering. Hence the term ‘product’, used throughout this document, may refer to any outcome from a design project be it a civil engineering structure, chemical engineering process, mechanical engineering system, electronic circuit, on an industrial or consumer product.

The report provides an introduction, topic definition, rationale, educational aims and objectives and chapters on the market and specification phases in total design, the market phase, the specification phase, when and how taught, a demonstration exercise and references.

[Description and screenshot taken from the SEED Curriculum for Engineering Design page for this report. (c) The Design Society used under the terms of their (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) license.]

This document forms part of the SEED curriculum development series of publications and is principally intended for use by teachers and lecturers of engineering design in the preparation of teaching material for the topic of detail design. It addresses a strategy for the teaching of detail design rather than the specific procedures involved in the detail design of a product. The message it aims to present is equally applicable to mechanical, electrical, civil and other engineering disciplines. Consequently the term ‘product’ as used throughout the document should be interpreted as referring to buildings, processes, systems, circuits etc. as well as consumer and industrial artefacts. Similarly, ‘manufacturing’ should be interpreted as also referring to construction.

The report provides an introduction, topic definition, rationale, educational objectives and chapters on when taught, detail design curriculum, teaching and assessment and a bibliography and references.

[Description and screenshot taken from the SEED Curriculum for Engineering Design page for this report. (c) The Design Society used under the terms of their (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) license.]

The printed version of the class notes was a book of over 400 pages long. The notes were derived in part from course notes developed by Fred Martin for a class at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but a considerable amount of new material has been added, and every subject area has undergone major revision for use at Rice. The many people who contributed to the book are listed in the acknowledgements. The majority of the 1998 printed book is available here, largely in its original form. It should be considered a work in progress. In particular, web navigation within the book is, to put it kindly, inconvenient, primarily because some of the sections are quite long. Sections covered by the book includes:

• Assembly Manual – The Assembly Manual is still printed, and is included here as a pdf file. Information on wiring sensors, motors, and cables used for an ELEC 201 robot is included on this web page.
• Basic Mechanics – Describes basic mechanics, friction, and the simple machines that comprise the building blocks of more complex machines, like robots.
• Basic Electronics – Introduces the concepts of charge, current, voltage, and electronic components to the uninitiated.
• Hardware – Describes the functionality and architecture of the ELEC 201 RoboBoard, assuming minimal prior background in electronics.
• Motors – A brief primer on the dc motors used in the course.
• Batteries – Discusses battery technology in general, the battey used in ELEC 201, and the battery charger operation.
• LEGO Construction – The secrets of using LEGO Technics building materials to construct robust machines, including gear trains.
• Sensors – Explains the principles of operation and applications of various robotics sensors in the ELEC 201 kit; specific wiring diagrams are in the Assembly Manual.
• Interactive C – A reference manual for the C language dialect that has been developed for the ELEC 201 course. Students new to programming or the C language will find the the new IC Tutorial worthwhile.
• Control – Investigates how to program a mobile robot to face up to the uncertainties and challenges of practical operation.
• Assembly Language Programming – How to program the Motorola 68HC11 microprocessor using assembly language; for enthusiasts only, not something ELEC 201 students need to know.
• Circuit Board Data – Schematics and printed circuit board layouts.

A glossary and a short bibiliography to other sources of information are also provided.

Note:
• The instructions for assembling the circuit boards is still printed so that students can check off the steps as they proceed. To avoid confusion, the possibly incorrect assembly instructions have been removed from the online book, but are available as Postscript and pdf files.
• The presentation of Interactive C in the book is still valid, but the student may find the new IC tutorial more helpful initially.
• Material that changes yearly, such as dates, the game, registration details, etc., has been moved to the web pages under the tabs at the left. Some additional non-essential, dated information has been removed pending its revision.

[Description and screenshot taken from the Rice University page for these course notes. This work is licensed by Jim Young under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 2.0), and is an Open Educational Resource.]

The course offers a holistic view of the aircraft as a system, covering: basic systems engineering; cost and weight estimation; basic aircraft performance; safety and reliability; lifecycle topics; aircraft subsystems; risk analysis and management; and system realization. Small student teams retrospectively analyze an existing aircraft covering: key design drivers and decisions; aircraft attributes and subsystems; and operational experience. Oral and written versions of the case study are delivered. For the Fall 2005 term, the class focuses on a systems engineering analysis of the Space Shuttle. It offers study of both design and operations of the shuttle, with frequent lectures by outside experts. Students choose specific shuttle systems for detailed analysis and develop new subsystem designs using state of the art technology.

Guest lecturers include Aaron Cohen, Dale Myers, John Logsdon, Tom Moser, J. R. Thompson, Bass Redd, Allen Louviere, Henry Pohl, Robert Seamans, Bob Ried, Walter Guy, Robert Sieck, Sheila Widnall, Philip Hattis, Christopher Kraft, Wayne Hale, Anthony Lavoie, Peter Young, and Gordon Fullerton. This course was administrated by shuttle astronaut and MIT Professor Jeff Hoffman and Professor Aaron Cohen, who was the Space Shuttle Orbiter Project Manager. Guest speakers provide the majority of the content in video lectures, discussing topics such as system design, accident investigation, and the future of NASA’s space mission.

[Description and screenshot taken from MIT OCW page for this course. (c) MIT used under the terms of their CC-NC-SA license.]

This course is a core requirement for the Masters in Engineering program, designed to teach students about the roles of today’s professional engineer and expose them to team-building skills through lectures, team workshops, and seminars. Topics include: written and oral communication, job placement skills, trends in the engineering and construction industry, risk analysis and risk management, managing public information, proposal preparation, project evaluation, project management, liability, professional ethics, and negotiation. The course draws on relevant large-scale projects to illustrate each component of the subject. Outside professionals will give seminars relating their experiences and knowledge. Topics discussed will include getting work, responding to requests for proposals, project evaluation, management conflict resolution and negotiation. There will be a presentation and discussion on professional ethics for engineers, with a corresponding class exercise. Other assignments in this section are the “Chase an Engineer” exercise and profiling an industry company.

Special software is required to use some of the files in this course: .xls.

[Description and screenshot taken from MIT OCW page for this course. (c) MIT used under the terms of their CC-NC-SA license.]

According to the United States Agency for International Development, 20 million people in developing countries require wheelchairs, and the United Nations Development Programme estimates below 1% of their need is being met in Africa by local production. This course gives students the chance to better the lives of others by improving wheelchairs and tricycles made in the developing world. Lectures will focus on understanding local factors, such as operating environments, social stigmas against the disabled, and manufacturing constraints, and then applying sound scientific/engineering knowledge to develop appropriate technical solutions. Multidisciplinary student teams will conduct term-long projects on topics such as hardware design, manufacturing optimization, biomechanics modeling, and business plan development. Theory will further be connected to real-world implementation during guest lectures by MIT faculty, Third-World community partners, and U.S. wheelchair organisations.

Topics covered during the course includes wheelchair biomechanics and ergonomics, design for human use, manufacturing processes and strategies, product design, material science, mechanics of materials and welding, human-powered machines, hand-cycle designs and racing.

Special software is required to use some of the files in this course: .xls, .mp4 and .rm.

[Description and screenshot taken from MIT OCW page for this course.
(c) MIT used under the terms of their CC-NC-SA license.]

This class is jointly sponsored by the MIT Museum, Massachusetts Bay Maritime Artisans, the Department of Mechanical Engineering’s Center for Ocean Engineering, and the Department of Architecture. The course teaches the fundamental steps in traditional boat design and demonstrates connections between craft and modern methods. Instructors provide vessel design orientation and then students carve their own shape ideas in the form of a wooden half-hull model. Experts teach the traditional skills of visualizing and carving your model in this phase of the class. After the models are completed, a practicing naval architect guides students in translating shape from models into a lines plan. The final phase of the class is a comparative analysis of the designs generated by the group.

Special software is required to use the video lectures in this course: .rm. These videos are also available from VideoLectures.net.

[Description and screenshot taken from MIT OCW page for this course. (c) MIT used under the terms of their CC-NC-SA license.]

The unit contains text, images and videos and aims to provide an understanding of invention, design, innovation and diffusion as ongoing processes with a range of factors affecting success at each stage. You will gain an understanding of the factors that motivate individuals and organisations to invent, and the creative process by which individuals come up with ideas for new inventions and designs, and you will gain an understanding of the obstacles that have to be overcome to bring an invention to market and the factors that influence the successful diffusion of an innovation into widespread use. A bibliography is also provided.

The unit is divided into three parts. (1) looks at the technological products in your home or at work and considers their development history and their impact on the lives of the users, then the key concepts associated with the process of invention, design, innovation and diffusion are defined. (2) considers what motivates individuals and organisations to invent in the first place and how individuals come up with ideas for new designs and inventions. (3) examines how technical, financial and organisational obstacles have to be overcome in order to bring an invention to the market. Once on the market a number of factors influence how well an innovation will sell.

The unit takes on average 55 hours to complete.

This course explores the basic questions of architecture through several short design exercises. Working with many different media, students will discover the interrelationship of architecture and its related disciplines, such as structures, sustainability, architectural history and the visual arts. Each problem will focus on one of these disciplines and one exploration and presentation technique. Students will create additions to modernist structures, guest houses that operate off the grid in remote locations, places to experience art, and finally a project that will combine aspects of these projects into a community project in the Boston Seaport Area.

[Description and screenshot taken from MIT OCW page for this course. (c) MIT used under the terms of their CC-NC-SA license.]

The course introduces the principles of user interface development, focusing on three key areas. (1) Design: how to design good user interfaces, starting with human capabilities (including the human information processor model, perception, motor skills, colour, attention, and errors) and using those capabilities to drive design techniques: task analysis, user-centered design, iterative design, usability guidelines, interaction styles, and graphic design principles. (2) Implementation: techniques for building user interfaces, including low-fidelity prototypes, Wizard of Oz, and other prototyping tools; input models, output models, model-view-controller, layout, constraints, and toolkits. (3) Evaluation: techniques for evaluating and measuring interface usability, including heuristic evaluation, predictive evaluation, and user testing.

Any number of Java® development tools, such as the Java® Development Kit or Eclipse®, can be used to compile and run the .java files in this course.

[Description and screenshot taken from MIT OCW page for this course. (c) MIT used under the terms of their CC-NC-SA license.]

The guide comes in 3 parts: approaches to product design in Delft, design methods, and competences in design. Each part is available to download in .pdf format: Introduction, Overview, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 or viewable as a SlideShare presentation.

Topics covered by the guide includes the product innovation process, the design cycle, engineering models of product design, the Fish Trap Model, creating product ideas and concepts, planning and design, and concept development.

The Guide presents an overview; short descriptions of approaches and methods. For beginner designers it is necessary to study more detail using the references mentioned in the guide.

It aims to inform consumers of design (i.e., all of us) about this crucial characteristic of design. The unit is derived from the OU course T211 on Design and Designing, but as well as stimulating interest in areas of concern for producers of design it might also provide an introduction to engineering, manufacturing and business studies.

The unit contains text, images, exercises and videos covering the principles of user-centred designing, inclusive design, ergonomics and human factors, user research techniques, interaction design or making usable products, and looking at users interaction with products. A bibliography and further reading list is also provided.

The unit takes an average of 12 hours to complete.

This class provides an introduction to quantitative models and qualitative frameworks for studying complex engineering systems. Also taught is the art of abstracting a complex system into a model for purposes of analysis and design while dealing with complexity, emergent behavior, stochasticity, non-linearities and the requirements of many stakeholders with divergent objectives.

The class project for Spring 2007 is concerned with designing a system for transporting and storing spent nuclear fuel (SNF). This is an important problem in contemporary society. Nuclear power plants and research facilities around the United States have been producing SNF – as a byproduct of the production of electric power – a quite toxic substance, for some years. Until now, most SNF has been “temporarily” stored on site at the nuclear facilities. The nuclear power plant operators want that material removed. The current plan is to relocate it from about 130 sites around the country to a below-ground repository, thought to be geologically stable, at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The course will address the many complex system design questions, moving towards developing design alternatives using systems thinking principles, which are critical for understanding and approaching complex sociotechnical systems of the type described here.

Special software is required to use some of the files in this course: .xls.

[Description and screenshot taken from MIT OCW page for this course. (c) MIT used under the terms of their CC-NC-SA license.]

This course teaches creative design based on the scientific method through the design, engineering, and manufacture of a detailed inlaid tile. This is an introductory lecture/studio course designed to teach students the basic principles of design and expose them to the design process. Throughout the course, students will be introduced to the terminology and concepts that underlie all forms of visual art; which – in many ways – forms the basis for the design of all physical objects. Along with learning mechanical skills, thinking both critically and visually, and working with different media, the students will consider how the arts grow out of and respond to particular cultural contexts and ideas; and how these thinking patterns can be applied to virtually all types of design.

The focus of this course is to learn the Peer Review Evaluation Process (PREP) by creating inlaid tiles that are of deep significant meaning to the team members that create them. The homework projects will help teams of three students to design and build their tile projects whose elements are manufactured by students on an abrasive waterjet machining centre from digital solid models of the tiles that the teams create. At the end of the course, the tiles will be exhibited in the student art gallery.

Students will also be introduced to a number of different solid modeling and design tools. In addition to commercial professional design tools such as SolidWorks® and CorelDRAW®, the students will be introduced to a new design environment where the objects in the design can be parameterized algorithmically.

[Description and screenshot taken from MIT OCW page for this course. (c) MIT used under the terms of their CC-NC-SA license.]

The course contains intensive coverage of precision engineering theory, heuristics, and applications pertaining to the design of systems ranging from consumer products to machine tools. Topics covered include: economics, project management, and design philosophy; principles of accuracy, repeatability, and resolution; error budgeting; sensors; sensor mounting; systems design; bearings; actuators and transmissions; system integration driven by functional requirements, and operating physics. There is an emphasis on developing creative designs, which are optimized by analytical techniques applied via spreadsheets. This is a projects course with lectures consisting of design teams presenting their work and the class helping to develop solutions; thereby everyone learning from everyone’s projects.

Special software is required to use some of the files in this course: .xls.

[Description and screenshot taken from MIT OCW page for this course. (c) MIT used under the terms of their CC-NC-SA license.]

For students and teams who have started a sustainable-development project in D-Lab (SP.776), Product Engineering Processes (2.009), or elsewhere, this class provides a setting to continue developing projects for field implementation. Topics covered include prototyping techniques, materials selection, design-for-manufacturing, field-testing, and project management. All classwork will directly relate to the students’ projects, and the instructor will consult on the projects during the weekly lab time. There are no exams and teams are encouraged to enroll together.

Special software is required to use some of the files in this course: .rm.

[Description and screenshot taken from MIT OCW page for this course. (c) MIT used under the terms of their CC-NC-SA license.]

In this course, students work in small teams of 5-6 members to design and prototype new toys. Students work closely with a local sponsor, an elementary school, and experienced mentors on a themed toy design project. Students will be introduced to the product development process, including determining customer needs; brainstorming; estimation; sketching; sketch modeling; concept development; design aesthetics; detailed design; prototyping; and written, visual, and oral communication. At the end of the course, students present their toy products at the Playsentations to toy designers, engineers, elementary school children and the MIT community.

For more information about this course, see the 2.00B website.

Special software is required to use some of the files in this course: .mov, and .mp4.

[Description and screenshot taken from MIT OCW page for this course. (c) MIT used under the terms of their CC-NC-SA license.]

This course is a first subject in engineering design. A major element of the course is design of a robot to participate in a challenge that changes from year to year. This year, the theme is cleaning up the planet as inspired by the movie Wall-E.

From its beginnings in 1970, the 2.007 final project competition has grown into an Olympics of engineering. See this MIT News story for more background, a photo gallery, and videos about this course.

After taking this course students should be able to: generate, analyze, and refine the design of electro-mechanical devices making use of physics and mathematics; describe and list uses in mechanical systems of common machine elements including fasteners, joints, springs, bearings, gearing, clutches, couplings, belts, chains, and shafts; apply experimentation and data analytic principles relevant to mechanical design; and communicate a design and its analysis (written, oral, and graphical forms).

Special software is required to use some of the files in this course: .zip, .sldprt, .xls, .swj, .sldasm, .rpt, .xlo, .igs, .rm, .ord, and .dxf.

[Description and screenshot taken from MIT OCW page for this course. (c) MIT used under the terms of their CC-NC-SA license.]

Product Design and Development is a project-based course that covers modern tools and methods for product design and development. The cornerstone is a project in which teams of management, engineering, and industrial design students conceive, design and prototype a physical product. Class sessions are conducted in workshop mode and employ cases and hands-on exercises to reinforce the key ideas. Topics include identifying customer needs, concept generation, product architecture, industrial design, and design-for-manufacturing.

[Description and screenshot taken from MIT OCW page for this course. (c) MIT used under the terms of their CC-NC-SA license.]

The course aims to introduce students to the creative design process, based on the scientific method and peer review, by application of fundamental principles and learning to complete projects according to schedule and within budget. The subject relies on active learning through a major team-based design-and-build project focused on the need for a new consumer product identified by each team. Topics to be learned while teams create, design, build, and test their product ideas include formulating strategies, concepts and modules, and estimation, concept selection, machine elements, design for manufacturing, visual thinking, communication, teamwork, and professional responsibilities.

[Description and screenshot taken from MIT OCW page for this course. (c) MIT used under the terms of their CC-NC-SA license.]