ENS 491 PROJECT

WORKSHOP I
ENS 491/2
 Projects
 Workshops
 Case Studies
 Proposal
 Progress Report
 Meeting minutes
 ENS 491/2 OBJECTIVES
- Engineering applications of course knowledge
- Interdisiciplinary team work
- Project planning and management
- Complex problem solving
- Real life constraints
- Managing complexities
- Adapt changes, develop Plan B
- Financial considerations and budgeting
- Implementation
 ENS 491/2 PROJECTS
- Solves a problem
- Develop
-solution, system, method, software, hardware
- Applied or fundamental problem
- Industry involvement possible (SOP)

- May continue Proj 302 project Integrated

Intership Project)
- Continuous progress required !
 ENS 491PROPOSAL: INTRODUCTION
- Problem/project definition
- Proposed solutions and methodology
- Realistic constraints of the project
- Legal/ethical consequences of the solutions
- Why is this a complex problem?
- Potential risks and solutions
- How to manage requirement/specification changes?
- Project schedule
 ENS 491PROJECT PROPOSAL
- What do you suggest to solve exactly ?
- Clear description of the problem and the required solution
- Scope (what is covered and not covered)?
- Limits of the solution boundaries
- Methods you will use (analytical, simulation, experimental etc...)
- List of project tasks with their objectives.
- Define the success criterion for each task.
- Make a list of all resources you will need in the project.
- Propose an alternative for the solution you proposed for each task (Plan
B) in case the original one cannot be realized.
BEFORE WORKING ON SOLUTIONS FOR THE CASE

 Quick patent search to understand the existing solutions

 (which is called existing “State-of-Art”)
 Patent Search

 Identify key words.

 Use www.google.com/patents

 Run patent search using the identified key words

REALISTIC CONSTRAINTS
 Economic: Available resources
 Resources are limited for all projects
 if no budget is available existing resources is the constraint; maintenance cost
 prices of current similar products on market: Competition
 Time Frame
 Initial investigation, feasibility
 Development time
 Prototyping
 Production ramp-up
 Revisions etc.
 Environmental:
 Pollution (air, noise, water etc.), global warming; energy saving; waste etc.
REALISTIC CONSTRAINTS
 Social: Government codes to protect society; workers rights; discrimination
etc.
 Health and Safety:
 Safety of workers; consumers and public; noise; hazardous materials and
environment for workers; toxic materials; systems for increased equipment
safety etc.
 Ethical:
 Patent protected designs/concepts; materials that have better appearance
but are toxic; under design for profit; products for secret survey of
personal private life etc.
 REALISTIC CONSTRAINTS
 Manufacturability:
 Designs with an impossibly small manufacturing tolerance, surface quality or
mass; availability of chosen material; production of very hard materials;
extremely small or thin sections etc.
 Sustainability: Can the business survive?
 A well defined life span under the assumed normal operation conditions;
consideration of actual environmental factors (extreme working temperature,
corrosive fluid, abrasive air, etc.) in design etc.
 Inspectability:
 Can the systems be inspected during maintenance or service?
In this part of your report you should explain how you plan to address realistic
constraints in your project.
 REALISTIC CONSTRAINTS: EXAMPLE
Design a low cost flashlight with a long charge life.
 General:
 Low weight, needs to work under rain, easy and fast charging, battery should be
replaceble etc.
 Economic: No target price mentioned. However,:
- Low cost: Benchmarking; evaluate cost of the flashlights in the market
 Environmental
 Needs to be rechargeable
 Body material and battery selection: To be considered for recycling
 Social
 Codes for powered devices (e.g. CE)
 Regulations for children usage
 REALISTIC CONSTRAINTS: EXAMPLE
 Health and Safety
 Eliminate potential leaks, battery fire risk etc.
 Child proof
 Manufacturability
 Material selection makes a big change for manufacturing of the
body. Polymer: Plastic injection, Metal : Sheet metal forming
 Sustainability
 Wear, corrosion, battery life
COMPLEX PROBLEM
 Wide-ranging or conflicting technical and engineering issues
 multiple realistic constraints: Physical, environmental, social..
 No obvious solution and requires abstract thinking
 originality in analysis to formulate suitable models.
 Apply/Adapt known methods to the problem

 Requires research-based knowledge

 allows a fundamentals-based, first principles analytical approach.
COMPLEX PROBLEM
 Involves infrequently encountered issues.
 Involves diverse groups of stakeholders with widely varying
needs.
 Has significant consequences in a range of contexts
 environmental, social, manufacturability, safety, sustainability etc.
 High level one involving many components.
In this part you should clearly explain why this is a complex problem by
giving references to the possible sources of complexity listed above.
 COMPLEX PROBLEM - EXAMPLE
Flash light design
 Wide-ranging or conflicting technical and engineering issues
 multiple realistic constraints: Physical, environmental, social..
 Low weight and low cost but long charge life
 Low cost but durable
 Low impact on environment, but long life batteries, recycleable materials etc.
 Low cost but long life: Material selection, battery selection
 COMPLEX PROBLEM - EXAMPLE
 No obvious solution and requires abstract thinking
 Needs electrical, material, mechanical ... engineering knowledge
 Many potential solutions, need to select the best one

 Requires research-based knowledge

 Need knowledge of modeling, simulation, testing etc. methods
 Investigate better batteries (long life, low environmental impact)
 Better materials for durability, water resistance, reduced wear etc.
 COMPLEX PROBLEM - EXAMPLE
 Involves diverse groups of stakeholders with widely varying
needs.
 Manufacturers: Body, battery, bulbs etc. : Easy to manufacture
 Users : Better lighting, longer life,
 Service and maintanence
 Society: Low impact on environment
 Has significant consequences in a range of contexts
 Recycling, safety, manufacturability, adaptability etc.
 High level one involving many components.
 PROJECT RISKS
 What happens if you cannot acquire or use a planned resource?
 What happens if you require expertise you do not have in your
team?
 What happens if you find out that one or more components in the
project require longer delivery/development or manufacturing
time?
 What happens if you do not have the support you need from the
project supervisor or one of the team members?
In this part, you should list all potential risks and how you plan to address
them.
 MANAGE CHANGES
 Describe how you would proceed if the requirements for
this project change.

 Explain how you will modify your original plans

 If there are specific requirements that you cannot change,

list them clearly.
 PROJECT SCHEDULE
 Provide a Gantt chart for the project.
 Indicate the starting time and the required time period for
completion of each task.
 Indicate team member(s) responsible for each task.

 Determine the critical path for the project.

 Discuss how delays in various tasks may affect the project
 Propose plans to eliminate or reduce their impact on the
project outcome.