What is industrial design? A lot of fields include designing as the vital foundation of their work. According to Britannica design in engineering means applying the different design theories from fields such as hydraulics, thermodynamics, and even nuclear physics. The demanding fast-paced development of technology requires new structures. It is believed that design is the essence of engineering. It has paved the way for the improvement of engineering design to create new design concepts. The field of research has been involved in engineering to further analyze the structural design and incorporate them in new and better technology of the material. These structural designs we are using have been through a lot of systematic testing and stress analysis. Designers in the modern era have these processes and theories of structural design stored in computers. Also, the engineering design process has four main goals: proper function, optimum performance, adequate reliability, and low cost. In a time where modern technology rules, computers have been a powerful tool for designers, especially engineering designers. We have developed the use of Computer-Aided Design or CAD.
Important Steps in Engineering Design
One of the most important processes in engineering design is identifying the proper steps in the design process. Professionals recognize the importance of this process in improving and creating new designs for their products. The designing process requires very little cost compared to the overall effectiveness or cost of the product. The quality of the product is highly dependent on the engineering design because it has to consider the customer's needs and requirements in the design phase. The design process also reduces the cycle time of the product while increasing marketability. It enhances the product into a cost-competitive one through the aid of computer-aided engineering and rapid prototyping.
So what are these steps in the engineering design process? Here are the activities in Pahl and Beitz Design Process.
Step 1. Planning and Clarifying the Task
Formulating a design team, product development plans, knowing design problems, developing customer requirements, evaluating competition, creating engineering requirements and engineering targets.
Step 2. Conceptual Design
Creating function structures, looking for working principles and structures, developing concept variants, evaluating the concepts against technical and economic criteria.
Step 3. Embodiment Design
Prototype, primary form design, the conduct of design analysis, materials and process selection, selection of best preliminary layout, refining and improving, production of preliminary parts.
Step 4. Detail Design
Concise detail drawing and parts list, complete production, assembly transport, operating instructions, documentation of the product. Considering the steps together with the use of appropriate software tools in computer-aided design, you are now ready to do engineering design. But what are these tools used in engineering design?
Tools in Industrial Engineering Design
Computer-aided design (CAD) helps industrial engineering design achieve the desired product with less cost and higher precision to the customer needs. This led to Computer-Aided Engineering, (CAE) where compilations of the calculations of temperature, actress, and other variables of the material are coded on the internet with the help of analytical tools to create a competitive product. There are two major components of computer-aided engineering. One major component is mathematical analysis and simulation of design, where engineers use spreadsheet programs for quicker results. Multiple computations are now faster to be done using MathCAD, TK Solver, Engineering Equation Solver, Mathematica, MATLAB.
The second major component of CAE is computer graphics and modeling, where engineers manipulate and create 3-D or 3-dimensional modeling. Engineers are using CAD, Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), simulation, layouts of a printed circuit board, and coding. The most frequent computer modeling package software used by engineers are Altium, AutoCAD, CAM software and 3D printing, Power Designer, Autodesk Eagle, Wyliodrin, CATIA, ProE, and SolidWorks.
Generally speaking, engineering design plays a vital role in creating the best product that will meet our customers' demands and requirements. A skilled engineer is very fluent with the steps and tools to be used in every step of the design phase. We ensure that in every process, we create the best and most efficient product for our customers through the finest technology based and computer-aided design and engineering.
