Design is the essence of engineering.

Broadly defined, design is the creative

process by which our understanding
of logic and science is joined with our
understanding of human needs and
wants to conceive and refine artifacts
that serve specific human purposes.
As a profession, therefore,
engineering is concerned primarily
with design-- the design of processes,
structures, machines, circuits, and
software

--and with the purposeful

combinations of these elements to
result in what we call systems.
• This gives the detail of the structure of
the system including the size, shape,
materials, and quantities of components
and the interrelationships among these
design elements together.
• Achieving this result means bridging
the gap between the realm of human
needs (tangible and intangible) and
the realm of concrete expression.

• The concept of the design is

understood to involve
– thespecification of measurable goals,
objectives, and constraints for the design
– the conceptualization and
parameterization of alternative candidate
designs that meet or surpass
specifications;
– the analysis and ranking of design
alternatives; and,
– finally, the selection, implementation, and
testing of the most preferred alternative
• It should be noted that, no single
realization of the design process is
just the fight style for all.

• It is assumed that, translation from

human needs to final design invariably
involves the experience, intuition,
skill, and creativity of the designer or
design team.
• Design is universally understood to be a
creative, iterative, decision-making process since
there is no unique solution to a given
design problem.
• The design process begins with the
identification of a human need and
the reduction of this need to a precise
set of specifications for the system to
be built.
The definition of system specifications for a
given design problem usually requires
considerable interaction with the client or
sponsor in order to:
 ensure that the design problem is well
understood,
 that goals and objectives of the design are
explicit,
 and that the success of alternate designs can
be measured quantitatively.
• Gibson (1991) recommends seven steps for
the systematic development of goals. These
are:
1. Generalize the question in order to provide a
correct problem statement placing the problem
in its proper context.
2. Develop a descriptive scenario, honestly assessing
where you are now.
3. Develop a normative scenario describing where you
want to be at some time in the future.
4. Develop the axiological component, setting out the
values of the sponsor.
5. Prepare an objectives tree that contains
the most general goals at the top, and
successively more specific and
measurable objectives in the branches
below.
6. Validate the goals and objectives
developed in the preceding steps.
7. Iterate through several passes to refine
and perfect the objectives tree.
• This involves generating alternative
designs, or design options, that might
reasonably satisfy system specifications.
• Systems engineers typically think of
alternative designs as points in an options or
design space.
– Theoptions space is the set of possible system
configurations and decisions, and represents
the full range of choices available to the
designer.
• For complex problems, defining the
options space can be a very difficult
task.
– Need to decompose it into two
component subtasks--design synthesis and
parameterization-- which can be addressed
sequentially, but iteratively.
How to Develop Design Options
 Readabout design options on page 6-8 (460- 462)
System Design
The result of design synthesis is the
selection of a promising set of
preliminary or conceptual designs for the
system.

These design concepts need to be

converted into detailed designs for all
components and subsystems.
This requires the identification of system
parameters and selection of parameter values.
Hazelrigg (1996) defines this as the task of
design parameterization:
 Parameterization consists of identifying the
numerical quantities that specify each element in
the system and their permissible ranges.
 A system specification consists of a set of values
for the system parameters together with the
system configuration.
The ranking of design alternatives
and the ultimate selection of the most
preferred design involves the selection
of the best parameterization of the
best conceptual design.
 The ultimate step in the design process involves the
fabrication and testing of a prototype or system.
Computer-aided design (CAD) refers to the
use of modem computing hardware and
software in converting the initial idea for a
product into a detailed engineering design.

Read more on
 computer-aidedengineering (CAE).
 Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM)
 Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM)
Thank you!!!