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DESIGN

METHODOLOGY : (Pierre LAMBERT)



Chapter 1 : Introduction

Product design is concerned with the efficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a
process that leads to new products. Their role is to combine art, science and technology to create tangible
three-dimensional goods.

Industrial design is a combination of applied art and applied science, whereby the aesthetics, ergonomics
and usability of products may be improved for marketability and production. Their role is to create and
execute design solutions towards problems of form, usability, physical ergonomics, marketing, brand
development and sales.

Mechanical Engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials
science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of
engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the design,
production, and operation of machines and tools. It is one of the oldest and broadest engineering disciplines.

Mechanical design includes design theory and methodology (including creativity in design and decision
analysis), design automation (including risk and reliability- based optimization, design sensitivity analysis,
geometric design, and integration of engineering design with market, economic, and aesthetic
considerations), design for manufacturing, design of direct contact systems (including cams, gears and
power trans- mission systems), design of mechanisms, design of macro-, micro- and nano-scaled mechanical
systems, machine component and system design, and design education

Engineering design has a central role, between science and production on the one hand, and between art
and politics on the other hand.

The methodology : the exact determination of the customers requirements or of the problem posed,
ascertaining possible solutions and choosing the best one, methodical working out of the overall design,
production design of assemblies and components and finally, production of all necessary works drawings. In
this process, the designer has to handle the constraints originating from the customer and those imposed by
problems of manufacture in the shops.

Product design involves many actors. The basic team always involves at least marketing (identification of a
need), industrial design (shapes, forms, ergonomics, concepts) and engineering design (conceptual design,
embodiment design, detailed design). They are usually in contact with customers, sales department,
production workshop, maintenance department...

Design methodology :
1. Identification of the need and clarifying the objectives of the design project a requirements list
(technical specifications);
2. Generation of alternative concepts during a preliminary creative phase, from which one or a few will
be selected by a rigorous evaluation one or a few concepts which are thought to be feasible
3. Further development of the concept into a technical description. This includes the selection of
materials, processes, form, taking into account the constraints of manufacturing This phase is called
embodiment design
4. Detail design. It consists in fixing final arrangement, form, dimensions and surface properties of all the
individual parts. Materials are specified, technical and economic feasibility are re-checked. All drawings and
other production document are produced, including the part and assembly drawings, and the bill of
materials.

Design should be achieved both in an iterative and integrated way. By iterative, we mean that design process
is usually made of successive concepts that are iteratively tested and improved. Additionally, it is also
important to integrate all the actors in the process, as soon as the preliminary phase.

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The basic premise for concurrent engineering revolves around two concepts.
The first is the idea that all elements of a products life-cycle, from functionality, producibility, assembly,
testability, maintenance issues, environmental impact and finally disposal and recycling, should be taken
into careful consideration in the early design phases.
The second concept is that the preceding design activities should all be occurring at the same time, or
concurrently. The overall goal being that the concurrent nature of these processes significantly increases
productivity and product quality, aspects that are obviously important in todays fast-paced market.
It is essential to integrate all constraints as soon as possible in the design process. Changes made in early
stages have reduced cost and huge impact on the final cost of the product.

It is important to note that products will only be successful when they:
Satisfy the customer needs (requirements);
Reach the market at the right time;
Are sold at the right price.
To this aim, scheduling is important because the project or product must be finished at a certain point in
time, and intermediate results are required on specific dates. Moreover, not every task can be executed by
every member of the team, i.e. there is a resource constraint.

Chapter 2 : Product Planning and Clarifying the Task

From the Identification of a Need to the Requirements List (Design Specifications)



Before starting to design a solution, it is important to clarify the needs: what are the objectives that the
intended solution is expected to satisfy? What properties must it have? What properties must it not have?
The starting point is the identification of a client or market need. Then, the functions expected by the client
must be identify (functional analysis).
A distinction is usually made between the functional requirements list and the technical requirements list.
The general flow towards the requirements list : clarification of basic market demands (marketing
department), specification of the technical requirements, clarification of demands and wishes (design
department).
We see that the clarification of the task involve the customer, the marketing department, the engineering
design department.

Requirement list :

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1. PRODUCT PLANNING
Product planning is the systematic search for, the selection and development of promising products ideas.
New products can be driven by the market driven or the company. (Current, development, innovation
product / technology & market)

2. FUNCTION ANALYSIS
Function analysis is a methodology targeting the identification of the products functions required to satisfy
the needs of a customer. Indeed, in order to satisfy a customer, a product must offer several functions.

The functions are usually searched intuitively, which leads to the correct identification of only 50-60% of the
functions.
The main reasons for a lack of quality rely on:
Non or bad identification of some functions;
Incorrect assessment of the importance of the identified functions;
Incorrect materials selection;
Manufacturing defaults.
To summary the justification of functional analysis, let us say that it is necessary to know (identify) the
need in order to satisfy it, express it in terms of functions in order to understand it, and that the
identification of these functions requires analysis methods.

The goal of function analysis is to transpose the customers needs into products functions. It is important to
consider or identify objective needs: Performances, characteristics, ergonomy, security, availability,
sustainability, maintainability, weight, ...

But also subjective needs, which are much more difficult to quantify, such as: Comfort, lifestyle, fashion,
relaxation, aesthetics, classicism, originality, mood and atmosphere, scarcity (rarete), smartness, distinction,
luxury, appearance, ...

To this aim, a basic step consists in answering three questions:
1. What is the products utility? Who can take benefit from it (A qui rend-il service)?
2. What or who does the product interfere with (Sur quoi ou sur qui agit-il)?
3. To which purpose this product has to be developed (Dans quel but le systme existe-t-il, quel besoin
rpond-il)?

There are different categories of functions:
The external functions, identified before the conceptual design: these functions are directly useful to the
customer;
principal functions: for which the product is designed, which satisfy the primary need of the
customer.

complementary functions: which satisfy a complementary need of the customer.
Complementary functions must be satisfied too, they are not secondary functions.

The constraints, imposed by the normative environment, the environment, the technology, the non
satisfied customer

The internal or technical functions, which are not directly useful to the user, but are induced by the chosen
design.

An indicator of design quality is the ratio of external functions (required by the customer need) over the
internal functions (required by the designer or the manufacturer):
Design Quality = Number of external functions



Number of internal functions

Functions can also be sorted according to their nature:
Active functions: move a load, cool a room, ensure a motion...
Passive functions: be nice-looking, corrosion-proof...

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One more time, it is important to note that the function describes an expected result, and not the solution
leading to this result. Each function must be written accurately. The functions list will be presented in a
table, which includes for each function:
A ranking number;
A description;
K, a coefficient describing the importance of this function;
If possible, criteria which can be used to assess the product relatively to this function;
For each criterion, a range of admissible values;
F, a coefficient describing the flexibility

One single function may correspond to different criteria (holding size). Levels will be associated to these
criteria, which can vary or not among a given range: this range of acceptable levels corresponds to the
flexibility. The flexibility is not always for free.

Functional specification


Methods for external functions identification :
Intuitive Search or brainstorming
1. Clarify the objectives;
2. Gather documentation;
3. Search for functions;
4. Define more clearly each function;
5. Define characteristics, expected values and flexibility

Product Life Cycle : The functions to be fulfilled by the product can also be found by considering the
product life-cycle

FMEA: The study of the possible failure modes is also a good way to identify the functions of a product.

Environment : The environment of a product is made of human beings, physical effects, intangible elements.
The environment can be:
internal / external





changing / unchanging





usual / exceptional
It is important to clearly set the boundaries of the environment in order to focus on the essential functions,
and also to consider how the product can interact with its environment.

Sequential Analysis of Functional Elements (SAFE) : This method consists in thinking to a typical
sequence operated by the future user of the product, in order to identify the required functions.

Study of Efforts and Motions : Mechanical strength is an important property for many products: cars, tools,
buildings, machines... It can be useful to analyse the force flows and motions in the product to identify
functions, both in normal or exceptional use.

Reverse Engineering : Reverse engineering consists in studying an existing product, either from your
company or from the competitors. Before studying which functions this product does really fulfil, it is useful
to apply the previously presented techniques to find the functions that this product should fulfil and
therefore compare with what it really does.

Normative Documentation : Norms also define functions to respect, usually with characteristics and
associated levels. This norm specifies the minimum requirements and describes the corresponding method
of test.

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Methods for internal functions identification :


Beside external functions which provide direct added value to the product, and constraints which must be
fulfil in any case, there is a third category of functions, which do not contribute directly to the added value
but which are important from the design point of view. This third category includes technical functions.
Technical functions can be identified by studying the inter-components relationships, the flows from and to
the product (flows of energy, flows of material, flows of signals), the role of the components constituting the
product. This allows to understand how the product works, and therefore to identify the technical function.


3. REQUIREMENT LIST (DESIGN SPECIFICATION)
The detailed requirements list is essential and must clearly elaborate the goals of the design, resulting in a
list of requirements which must be identified as demands (must be met under all circumstances) or wishes
(could be taken into consideration when it is possible).

The requirement list contains adequate quantitative and qualitative information:
Quantity: all data involving numbers and magnitudes, such as number of items required, maximum weight,
power output, throughput, volume flow rate...
Quality: all data involving permissible variations or special requirements, such as waterproof, corrosion
proof, shockproof...

Requirements should if possible be quantified, or at least defined in the clearest possible terms. Special
indications of important influences, intentions or procedures may also be included in the requirements list,
which is thus an internal digest of all the demands and wishes expresses in the language of the various
departments involved in the design process. As a result the requirements list not only reflect the initial
position but, since it is continually reviewed, also serves as an up-to-date working document.

Layout of a requirement list :

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QFD - Quality Function Deployment


In determining a product specification, conflict and misunderstanding can sometimes arise between the
marketing and the engineering members of the design team: indeed, the customer is usually focused on
attributes while design engineers are focused on products engineering characteristics. The relationship
between attributes and characteristics is a very close one, but confusion can be avoided if this relationship is
clearly understood. The Quality Function Deployment (QFD) method clarify the relationship between
attributes and characteristics. The output of this method graphically represents a house, hence the name
of House of Quality

In this figure we can show
who is the customer (who),
what are the requirements in terms of attributes (what),
the relative importance of these attributes (who vs what),
the engineering characteristics (how),
the relationships among the characteristics (how vs how) and
the relationships between the characteristics and the attributes
(what vs how).

The competing products are listed (now) together with a customers assessment of these existing products
on each attribute (now vs what).

This typical House of quality can be completed with indications of objectives on the characteristics and with
additional consideration such as the cost.

Chapter 3 : Conceptual Design



Conceptual design specifies the principle solution: establish
function structures; search for suitable solution principles;
combine into concept variants. Conceptual design can be helped
from methods already established, study of kinematics and
machine elements, historical development, patent specifications,
technical and scientific journals and lectures, exhibitions, physical
characteristics, experiments.

Definition of conceptual design as the succession of the following
steps :
1. Abstracting to identify the essential problems;
2. Establishing functions structures
3. Developing working structure
4. Developing concepts

Ideally, if the function analysis (technical specifications -
requirement list) has been led optimally, there is no need for
further abstraction and research of functions structures.
Practically, the client, customer or product planning group might
have included specific proposals for a solution in this requirements
list. It is also possible that during the discussion of individual
requirements, ideas and suggestions for a particular solution have
been included.

1. ABSTRACTING THE ESSENTIAL PROBLEMS
Abstracting the essential problems can be achieved by broadening (largissement) the problem formulation.
An improved method of filling, each statement represents a higher level of abstraction than the last. This
approaches allows the identification of the crux of the task, obviously, how far this process of abstraction is
continued depends on the constraints.

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2. ESTABLISHING FUNCTION STRUCTURES: FROM OVERALL FUNCTION TO SUBFUNCTIONS


As a complement to function analysis, the goal here is to identify technical or internal subfunctions in which
the overall function can be split. The overall function of a technical product may be usually described based
on the flow of energy, material and signals, expressing the solution-neutral relationship between inputs and
outputs. Later on, each of these subfunctions will be addressed technically by proposing a related working
principle. In this approach, original designs require subfunctions identification from scratch, while
adaptative designs can be studied from existing solution.

3. DEVELOPING WORKING STRUCTURES / MORPHOLOGICAL CHART METHOD
As an attempt to propose a systematic conceptual design, morphological chart method, consisting in:
1. Listing the features and functions that are essential to the product;
2. Listing the means by which each function can be achieved;
3. Drawing up a chart containing all the possible sub-solutions;
4. Identifying feasible combinations of sub-solutions.
developing working structures (for each subfunctions, many solutions )

4. DEVELOPING CONCEPTS: FIRMING UP INTO PRINCIPLE SOLUTION VARIANTS
Usually, the subfunctions are not concrete enough to lead to a definite concept (or many definite concepts
called variants). Before concept variants can be evaluated and selected, they must be firmed up. This means
that important characteristics of the working principle must all be known, at least approximately.
Generally, the necessary data are essentially obtained based on the following actions:
1. Rough calculations based on simplified assumptions;
2. Rough sketches or rough scale-drawings of possible layouts, forms, space requirements, compatibility...;
3. Preliminary experiments or model tests used to determine the main properties or to obtain approximate
quantitative statements about the performance and scope for optimization;
4. Construction of models in order to aid analysis and visualization (e.g. kinematic models);
5. Analogue modelling and systems simulation;
6. Further searches of patents and the literature with narrower objectives;
7. Market research of proposed technologies, materials...

5. EVALUATING PRINCIPLE SOLUTION VARIANTS
A formal distinction is usually made between selection and evaluation. Selection is a pass/fail process, while
evaluation outputs a ranking of the variants.
To this aim:
1. identify evaluation criteria, usually based on the requirements list.
2. weight the evaluation criteria, i.e. define their relative importance;
3. assign a performance to each variant on each criterion, for example using a 0-4 scale;
4. determine overall performance, possibly with the help of a technical indicator Rt and an economical
indicator Re.
5. compare concepts variants, using radar or spider charts or plotting technical vs economical rating...



Checklist with main
headings for design
evaluation during the
conceptual phase:




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Chapter 4 : Embodiment Design


Embodiment design: starting from the concept, the


designer determines the layout and forms and develops a
technical product or system in accordance with technical
and economic considerations

1. CHECKLIST FOR EMBODIMENT DESIGN
Embodiment step consists in proposing detailed
solutions and components for each function to be
satisfied.






2. THREE BASIC RULES OF EMBODIMENT DESIGN
The general objectives of design lead to three basic rules of embodiment design: clarity, simplicity and
safety.

Clarity
Clarity requires that the chosen design guarantees an orderly flow of energy, materials and signals.
Otherwise, undesirable and unpredictable effects such as excessive forces, deformations or wear may ensue.
The embodiment must be such that the loads can be defined and calculated under all operating conditions.
(bearing pairs, double fits, double arrangement, , recycling, maintenance).
Simplicity
The fulfilment of a function always demands a certain minimum number of components. Cost efficiency
often necessitates a decision between numerous components with simple shapes but with larger overall
production effort and for example a single but more complex component. Simplicity must be assessed from a
holistic perspective: what constitutes simpler in individual cases depends on the problem and constraints.
Safety
Safety considerations affect the reliable fulfilment of technical functions, the protection of humans and the
protection of the environment (norm ISO 31000 related to risk management). (Direct and indirect safety,
warning)

Safety: is a state in which the risk is smaller than the risk limit;
Risk limit: is the largest but still acceptable system-specific risk
relating to a particular technical process or situation;
Risk: is described by the frequency (probability) and the expected
extent of the dam- age (scope);
Protection: is the reduction of risk by suitable means in order to
reduce the frequency of occurrence and/or the extent of damage;
Reliability: is the ability of a technical system to satisfy its
operational requirements within the specified limits and for the
required life;
Availability: is the percentage of time the system is available for
operation compared to the maximum possible time or compared to a particular target time;
Operational safety: is the limitation of danger (reducing risk) during the operation of technical systems in
order to prevent damage to the systems themselves and their immediate environment, such as the
workplace, neighbouring systems...;
Operator safety: is the limitation of danger to persons using technical systems either at their workplace or
outside, for example for sport or leisure;
Environmental safety: is the limitation of damage to the environment in which technical systems are used;
Protective measure: is the use of protective systems or devices to limit existing dangers and reduce risks to
acceptable levels where these cannot be achieved through direct safety measures.

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Measures for Direct Safety


1. The safe-life principle demands that all components and their connections be constructed in such a way to
allow to operate without breakdown.
2. The fail-safe principle allows for the failure ensuring that grave consequences do not ensue, for example
by designing in such a way that a partial function can be preserved to prevent dangerous conditions or that
the failure can be identified.
3. Redundancy

Measures for Indirect Safety
Indirect safety measures include:
1. Protective systems that include an input that captures the danger, processes the information and react by
achieving an output that removes the danger (kind of closed-loop intervention);
2. Protective devices that fulfil protective functions without transforming signal, such as for example a safety
valve...
3. Protective barriers that keep persons and equipment at a distance from a danger, using physical barriers,
covers, fences...

General principles to design protective systems and devices include two-step action (an initial warning
followed by a shutdown action), self-monitoring (the energy required to active the safety device is stored
within the system itself), redundancy, bi-stability (two stable states clearly separated by the triggering
value), preventing the system restart.

3. PRINCIPLES OF EMBODIMENT DESIGN
General principles for embodiment design.

Force Transmission
1. Flowlines: force transmission can be visualized through flow lines of forces, analogous to flowlines in
fluid mechanics. Sharp deflections of these flowlines and changes in their density resulting from
sudden changes in cross-section must be avoided; (round notch, not sudden change of section,
notch/tapper outside the main section,
2. Uniform strength ensures that each component is of uniform strength and contributes equally to the
overall strength of a device.
3. Direct and short force transmission path: ensures minimum volume, weight and deformation, and
should be applied particularly if a rigid component is needed. Direct and short transmission path can
also be understood as preferring tensile (traction) or compression stress to bending (flexion) stress.
4. Matched deformations of related components, the stress concentrations are avoided. (deformations in
overlapping joints: the stress is always larger in joints deformed in opposite sense, hence standard
nuts are sometimes replaced by modified nuts (crou))
5. Balanced forces: beside those forces and moments which serve the main function directly, there are
many forces or moments that do not serve the function, but that cannot be ignored (the axial force
produced by a helical gear, the force resulting from a pressure difference, ...) By balancing elements
and choosing symmetrical layout, these associated forces can be reduced.

Division of Tasks
It is important to determine to what extent several functions can be fulfilled with one function carrier only
or at the contrary with the help of several, distinct carriers. More carriers (i.e. more components or work
pieces) mean larger complexity, but this can be justified if it enhances the required function.

Self-Help
The principle of self-help consists in proposing designs that enhance fulfilling the function requirement in
normal conditions and that are able to provide safety in emergency situations.
In normal conditions, the idea is to fulfil the function using an initial effect and a supplementary effect. For
an identical general design idea, the difference between self-helping and self-damaging layouts may be small.
A characteristic of self-reinforcing design is to ensure larger service life, less wear...because the components
are only loaded to an extent needed to fulfil the function at any particular moment.
In case of overload, it is useful to have a design which will self-protect, i.e. prevents the components from
being destroyed.

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Stability and Bi-Stability


In mechanics, stability is the characteristic allowing a system to move back to equilibrium when it is
submitted to a perturbation. In design, when elaborating solutions, designers must always consider the
effect of disturbances and try to keep the system stable. Conversely, if disturbances are self-reinforcing, we
have an unstable or bi-stable behaviour, which can be desirable in some cases.
Bi-stability can be of interest (ex : the emergency quick shut-off device)

Fault-Free Design
In high precision products, in particular, but also for other technical systems, an embodiment should
minimize the number of potential faults. This can be achieved by:
limiting the number of components with close tolerances;
preferring the working principles which are largely independent of any disturbing effect.
adopting specific design measures to minimise the causes of faults.

4. MATERIALS SELECTION
The Classes of Engineering Materials
Solids fall into different classes: metals, polymers, elastomers, ceramics, glasses, and additionally
composites.
These materials are characterized by their properties, and there is a strong relation- ship between materials,
work piece shape and manufacturing process. These aspects are taken into account in materials selection
software such as the so-called CES software.
As it will be explained in the following, the performance of a design depends on materials, shape and
requirements. Materials usually combination of materials properties, but let us first recall the main
properties of materials.

The Fundamental Properties of Materials






isotropic mat
1. The elastic modulus is defined as the slope of the linear-elastic part of the stress-strain
curve. - Youngs modulus E describes tension or compression

- Shear modulus G describes shear loading

- Bulk modulus K describes the effect of hydrostatic pressure.

- Poissons ratio n is dimensionless: it is the negative of the ratio of the lateral strain
to the axial strain.

2. The strength f of a solid requires careful definition.


- For metals, f is defined as the 0.2% offset yield strength, that is, the stress at which the stress-strain
curve for axial loading deviates by a strain of 0.2% from the linear-elastic line.

- For polymers, f is the stress at which the stress-strain curve becomes markedly non-linear.
- Strength for ceramics and glasses depends strongly on the mode of loading: in tension, strength
means the fracture strength while in compression, it means the crushing strength which is typically
much larger.
The ultimate strength is the nominal stress at which a round bar of the material, loaded in tension, separates.
For brittle solids (ceramics, polymers and brittle polymers) : same as the failure strength in tension. For
ductile materials however (metals, ductile polymers) it is larger that the strength f .

3. The resilience R measures the maximum energy stored elastically without any damage to the material,
and which is released again on unloading. It is the area under the elastic part of the stress-strain curve;

4. The toughness and the fracture toughness measure the resistance of the material to the propagation of a
crack

5. The loss coefficient h measures the degree to which a material dissipates vibrational energy.

6. The thermal conductivity measures the rate at which heat is conducted through a solid.

7. The thermal diffusivity a describes heat flow in transient regimes, and depends on thermal
conductivity ! , density ! and specific heat Cp. The thermal diffusivity can be measured by measuring
the decay of a temperature pulse when a heat source initially applied to the material is switched off.

8. The linear thermal expansion coefficient ! measures the strain per degree changed induced by
temperature change

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Towards Engineering Properties: Performance Indices


Usually, in an engineering, the performance of a design depends on: (these contributions can be separated)
1. Functional requirements, F
2. Geometric parameters, G
3. Material properties, M

Other Selection Charts
The Modulus-Density Chart (1)
The velocity of elastic waves in a material and the natural vibration frequencies of a component made of it
are proportional to (E/!)(1/2) (this quantity itself is the velocity of longitudinal waves in a thin rod of the
material). Contours of constant (E/ !)(1/2) are plotted on the chart, labelled with longitudinal wave speed
This chart (1) helps in the common problem of material selection for applications in which weight must
be minimized.

The Strength-Density Chart (2)
The chart (2) plots the strength against the density. For metals and polymers, the strength is the yield
strength. For brittle ceramics, the strength is considered the crushing strength in compression (that in
tension is usually 10 to 15 times smaller). For elastomers, strength means tear strength, for composites, it is
the tensile failure strength. This chart is used for materials selection in the minimum weight design of
ties, columns, beams and plates, and for yield-limited design of moving components in which inertial forces
are important.

The Fracture Toughness-Density Chart (3)
Increasing the plastic strength of a material is useful only as long as it remains plastic and does not fail by
fast fracture. The resistance to the propagation of a crack is measured by the fracture toughness Klc, plotted
against density in chart (3).

The Modulus-Strength Chart (4)
This chart (4) helps with the selection of materials for springs, pivots, knife- edges, diaphragms and hinges.

The Specific Stiffness-Specific Strength Chart (5)
This chart (5) helps with the selection of materials for lightweight springs and energy-storage systems.
Ceramics (high stiffness and compressive strengths, small tensile strengths), composites (most attractive
specific properties aerospace), metals (high densities not good), polymers (low densities good).

The Fracture Toughness- Modulus Chart (6)
As a general rule, the fracture toughness of polymers is less than that of ceramics. Yet polymers are widely
used in engineering structures; ceramics, because they are brittle, are treated with much more caution.
chart (6) helps resolve this apparent contradiction. It shows the fracture toughness plotted against the
Youngs modulus

The Fracture Toughness- Strength Chart (7)
This chart (7) helps with the selection of materials for damage-tolerant design.

The Loss Coefficient-Modulus Chart (8)
Shakers are devices which can apply a spectrum of vibration frequencies to the test- object (space probe, car,
aircraft component) and therefore be stiff. The generated power must be dissipated; therefore the material
must also show high losses. The chart (8) shows that best materials are magnesium, cast iron, various
composites and concrete.

The Thermal Conductivity-Thermal Diffusivity Chart (9)
Thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity are both parameters driving thermal exchanges:
the heat flux through a layer will be minimized by choosing a wall material with the smallest value of the
thermal conductivity;
if however the optimum is not to minimize the flux through a wall but for example to maximize the time
before the temperature inside an isothermal container changes after the outside temperature has suddenly
changed, thermal equations show that the thermal diffusivity must be minimized.

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The Thermal Expansion-Thermal Conductivity Chart (10)


Thermal expansion may affect the performances in precision engineering. For example, a precision
measuring device like a sub-micrometer displacement gauge is limited by its stiffness and by the
dimensional change caused by temperature gradients. It can be shown that for a given geometry and heat
flow, the distortion is minimized by selecting materials with large values of the index: ! = !/! with ! the
thermal conductivity and ! the linear expansion coefficient.

The Normalized Strength - Thermal Expansion Chart (12)
Dripping taps are due to a wear of the rubber washer or corroded brass seat. (Robinets qui fuient sont dues
une usure de la rondelle en caoutchouc ou un sige en laiton corrod). Alternatively, ceramic valve and
seat can be used. As cold-water taps they perform well, but as hot-water taps, the discs sometimes crack. The
cracking appear to be caused by thermal shock or by thermal mismatch between the disc and tap body when
the temperature suddenly changes In the chart (12), we see materials which are well suited to
withstand thermal shocks and also the worst material which is ice: this is the reason why you can hear some
cracks when dipping a ice block in a glass water.

The Thermal Expansion-Modulus Chart (11) // The Strength - Temperature Chart (13)
The Modulus - Relative Cost Chart (14) // The Strength - Relative Cost Chart (15)
The Environmental Attack Chart (16)

Other Considerations
The materials selection methodology which has been presented here above is very useful, but the designer
should keep in mind that other aspects usually play a role:
previous experience and knowledge of a given material;
local conditions such as suppliers;
other design considerations which can hardly be put in such diagrams (biocompatible materials, gripping
properties, )

5. DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURING
Design for production means designing for the minimization of production costs and times while
maintaining the required quality of the product very good knowledge of the manufacturing processes.
In this section, we will only present guidelines for machining (milling and turning).

Guidelines for Machining
First of all, you must know how the parts will be produced. Typical machines from a mechanical workshop
are milling and turning machines, whether manual or CNC ones. It is necessary to know how the parts will be
clamped on the machine, which operations are possible, what are the tolerances of the process...

Guidelines for Machining Basic Component Shapes
1. Think how the part will be hold.
2. Try to avoid regripping or repositioning
3. Intersecting surfaces: when machined surfaces intersect to form an edge, the edge is square; when
surfaces intersect to form an internal corner, however, the edge is rounded to the shape of the tool corner.
Thus the designer should always specify radii for internal corners. When the two intersecting faces are to
form seating for another component in the final assembly, the matching corner on the second component
should be chamfered to provide clearance.
4. Try to design components to be machined on one machine tool only
5. Rigidity and aspect ratio, to ensure that the workpiece is stiff enough to be manufactured: try to avoid
very thin walls or long flexible cylinders. Conversely, ensure that the tool will be rigid enough: as a rule of
thumb, the depth of a hole should not exceed 4 times its diameter;
6. Accessibility: surfaces to be machined must be accessible when the workpiece is gripped in the work-
holding device. To thread a hole, you need a special tool called screw tap: such operation requires a
preliminary hole with a diameter smaller than the external diameter of the thread indicated on the drawing.
Additionally, the thread can not be machined on the whole depth: below the thread, it is necessary to have a
non threaded hole whose depth is about 3 times the diameter.
7. Interferences: when the surface of workpiece is being machined, the tool and tool holding device must
not interfere with the remaining surfaces of the workpiece.
8. Holes: keep in mind that drilling is made with a conical drill, leading to a conical bottom.

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Guidelines for Assembly of Components


Some aspects of DFA (Design for Assembly (6) are related to machining:
Each operating machined surface on a component should have a corresponding machine surface on the
mating component;
Internal corners should not interfere with external corners on the mating component;
Incorrect specification of tolerances can make assembly difficult or even impossible.

Guidelines for Accuracy and Surface Finish
It is recommended to avoid non necessary requirements on accuracy and surface finish, because machining
time and cost increase with these requirements. As a rule of thumb:
Tolerances down to 0.25 mm are readily obtained;
Tolerances down to 0.01 mm require good equipment and skilled operators and add significantly to
production costs.

Guidelines Summary
1. Standardization

(a) Utilize standard components as much as possible;

(b) Preshape the workpiece (by casting, forging, welding...)
2. Raw (brut) materials

(a) Choose raw materials that will result in minimal component cost;

(b) Utilize raw materials in the standard forms supplied;
3. Component Design

(a) General guidelines
Try to design the component so that it can be machined on one machine tool only;
Try to design the component so that machining is not needed on the unexposed surfaces of the
workpiece when the component is gripped in the holding device;
Avoid machined features the company is not equipped to handle;
Design the component so that the workpiece, when gripped in the holding device, is sufficiently
rigid to withstand the machining forces;
Check that there wont be any interference between the tool, the toolholder, the workpiece, the
holding device...
Ensure that auxiliary holes are parallel or normal to the workpiece axis or reference surface, and
related by a drilling pattern (for CFC programs)

Ensure that auxiliary holes or main bores are cylindrical and have length to diameter ratios that
make it possible to machine them with standard drills or boring tools;
Ensure that the ends of blind holes are conical and that in a tapped blind hole the thread does
not continue to the bottom of the hole;
Avoid bent holes.

(b) Rotational components
Try to ensure that cylindrical surfaces are concentric, and plane surfaces are normal to the
component axis;
Try to ensure that the diameters of external features increase from the exposed face of the
workpiece;
Try to ensure that the diameters of internal features decrease from the exposed face of the
workpiece;
For internal corners on the component, specify radii equal to the radius of a standard rounded
tool corner;
Avoid internal feature for long components;
Avoid components with very large or very small length to diameter ratios.

(c) Non-rotational components
Provide a base for work holding and reference;
Preferably, ensure that the exposed surfaces of the component consist of a series of mutually
perpendicular plane surfaces parallel to and normal to the base;
Ensure that internal corners normal to the base have a radius equal to a standard tool radius;
If possible, restrict plane-surface machining (slots, grooves...) to one surface of the component;
Avoid extremely long or extremely thin components.

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4. Assembly

(a) Ensure that assembly is possible;
(b) Ensure that each operating machined surface on a component has a corresponding machined
surface on the mating component;

(c) Avoid interferences
5. Accuracy and Surface Finish

(a) Specifythewidesttolerancesandroughestsurfacethatwillgivetherequire performance for operating
surfaces;

(b) Ensure that surfaces to be finish-ground never intersect to form internal corners

Case studies (Exercices p 118-120 !!!)

6. DESIGN FOR ASSEMBLY
Guidelines for Manual Assembly
Design Guidelines for Part Handling
The designer should attempt to
1. Design parts that have end-to-end symmetry and rotational symmetry about the axis of insertion. If this
cannot be achieved, try to design parts having the maxi- mum possible symmetry.
2. Design parts that, in those instances where the part cannot be made symmetric, are obviously asymmetric.
3. Provide features that will prevent jamming of parts that tend to nest or stack when stored in bulk.
4. Avoid features that will allow tangling of parts when stored in bulk.
5. Avoid parts that stick together or are slippery, delicate, flexible, very small.

Design Guidelines for Insertion and Fastening
The designer should attempt to:
1. Design so that there is little or no resistance to insertion and provide chamfers to guide insertion of two
mating parts. Generous clearance should be provided, but care must be taken to avoid clearances that will
result in a tendency for parts to jam or hang-up during insertion.
2. Standardize by using common parts, processes and methods (Figure 4.85);
3. Use pyramid assembly - provide for progressive assembly about one axis of reference. In general it is best
to assemble from above.
4. Avoid, the necessity of holding parts down to maintain their orientation during manipulation of the
subassembly or during the placement of another part. If holding down is required, then try to design so that
the part is secured as soon as possible after it has been inserted.
5. Design so that a part is located before it is released. A potential source of problems arises from a part
being placed where, due to design constraints, it must be released before it is positively located in the
assembly. Under these circumstances, reliance is placed on the trajectory of the part being sufficiently
repeat- able to locate it consistently.
6. When common mechanical fasteners are used the following sequence indicates the relative cost of
different fastening processes, listed in order of increasing manual assembly cost: (a) snap fitting, (b) plastic
bending, (c) riveting, (d) screw fastening.
7. Avoid the need to reposition the partially completed assembly in the fixture.

Additional Guidelines
1. Avoid connections
2. Design so that access for assembly operations is not restricted
3. Avoid adjustments
4. Use kinematic design principles

Conclusions
These qualitative guidelines are useful but do not provide any quantification of assembly ease. A more
structured methodology would be welcome: this will be described in the next Section.

Systematic Methodology for DFA (Boothroyd)
A proposed classification of assembly tasks and related standard durations, based on an exhaustive study of
many assembly processes, taking into account the following parameters of the parts: symmetry, size, weight,
thickness, flexibility, geometry, use of chamfers.

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Assembly Efficiency
From this study he could identify that the efficiency of a design for assembly usually depend on the number
of parts and their ease of handling, insertion and fixturing. A measure of this efficiency is provided by the
following ratio:


Ema the assembly efficiency
!!"# . !!
Nmin the theoretical minimum number of parts
!!" =

ta the assembly time of the most simple part
!!"
tma the current assembly time of the design.

The minimum number of parts (Nmin) is identified thanks to a functional analysis of the assembly. Actually, a
part should be suppressed if
1. It does not undergo any relative motion with respect to the existing assembly;
2. Different materials is not required (heterogeneity);
3. It does not ease the assembly of already existing parts.

Classification system for manual handling
This classification system is based on the following characteristics: size, thickness, weight, nesting, tangling,
fragility, flexibility, slipperiness, stickiness, necessity for using two hands, necessity for using grasping tools,
necessity for optical magnification, necessity for mechanical assistance (FIGURE 4.98 page 131)
First number (rows):
Between 0 and 3: for parts that can be grasped and manipulated with one hand without the aid of
grasping tools;
Between 4 and 7: for parts that require handling tools;
8: for parts that tend to nest or tangle;
9: for parts which require two hands, two persons, a mechanical assistance
Second number (columns):
1. If the first number is between 0 and 3, the second number depends on size and thickness;
2. If the first number is between 4 and 7, the second number depends on thickness, tool or necessity for
optical magnification;
3. If the first number is equal to 8, the second number is related to size and symmetry;
4. If the first number is equal to 9, the second number is related to symmetry, weight and parameters ruling
interferences.

The symmetry is evaluated through and b
symmetry depends on the angle through which a part must be rotated about an
axis perpendicular to the axis of the axis of insertion to repeat its orientation;
b symmetry depends on the angle through which a part must be rotated about
the axis of insertion to repeat its orientation;

Classification system for manual insertion
This classification system is based on the following characteristics: accessibility, ease of handling the tool,
insertion depth, ease of alignment and positioning (FIGURE 4.100 page 134)
First number (rows):
Between 0 and 2: the part is only fixed after insertion;
Between 3 and 5: the part is self-fixed or help fixing another part just after insertion ;
9: process involving parts which are already positioned.
Second number (columns):
1. If the first number is between 0 and 2, the second number depends on size and thickness;
2. If the first number is between 3 and 5, the second number is related to the ease of insertion and fixturing;
3. If the first number is equal to 9, the second number indicates the assembly process: mechanical, chemical.

easy to align and position means that the insertion is facilitated by well designed chamfers or similar
features;
obstructed access means that the space available for the assembly operation causes a significant increase in
the assembly time;
restricted vision means that the operator has to rely mainly on tactile sensing during the assembly process

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7. DESIGN TO STANDARDS
Standards and norms concern all aspects of product design. ISO norms are sorted according to International
Classification Standards (ICS). Some of these ICS have subcategories, which may include several norms.

8. DESIGN FOR COST ( Page 137 ) see the slides (lecture n8)

9. ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES (Page 138-155 but not in the slides .)


Chapter 5 : Detail Design (Page 157 194 but not in the slides .)

Recycling-related tasks allocated to the phases of the design process

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Chapter 8 : Failure Mode and Effects Analysis



FMEA is a methodology to systematically identify the failure modes and their consequences leading to the
estimation of the related risk. A failure mode must be understood as any deviation from the normal work-
ing of the device, which prevents the function to be satisfied. More particularly, potential failure modes
include:
1. Absence of the function;
2. Partial, excessive or insufficient function;
3. Intermittent function;
4. Unexpected function

It is therefore necessary to analyse first the possible failure modes of the external functions of the product.
This will probably lead to a detailed level, including the internal functions and the associated technical
components.
The designer must consider:

1. The risk analysis of each component and function, regarding the potential failures, the failures
consequences, the failure causes, the planned measures to avoid failures, the planned measures to detect
failure;

2. The risk assessment leads to the determination of three figures between 1 and 10, corresponding to the
probability of occurrence (O), the estimation of the effects of the failure on the customer (S) and the
estimation of the probability that the failure can be detected before delivery (D). We give now additional
guidelines to estimate S, but the reader should keep in mind that this assessment of the gravity of the effects
is either defined in norms (INES, International Nuclear Event Scale for example) or is to be defined according
to the companys policy:
- Dangerous or catastrophic effect (S = 9 10), corresponding to the non-respect of norm, lack of security for
the client, consequences on the product;
- Major effect (S=68), corresponding to the loss of the primary functions of the product;
- Moderate effect (S=45), corresponding to a partial loss of the functions of the product, a claim of the client
leading to the necessity to consider this failure;
- Minor effect (S = 2 3), corresponding to a slight loss of the functions of the product, a minor claim of the
client;
- Lack of effect (S = 0), no effect.

3. The risk number (RN) calculation: RN = OSD

This analysis leads to the identification of critical functions and components, and to- ward their risk
minimization, i.e. the development of measures to improve the design of the product or its production
process.

Overview of the Implied Actors
As for the Value Analysis, FMEA team should include staff from design, development, production planning,
quality control, purchasing, sales and customer service. Consequently, apart from evaluating possible
malfunctions of the product, FEMA also encourages early cooperation between the departments involved in
the product development.

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