Mechanical Engineering Design Processes
Mechanical Engineering Design Processes
Mechanical engineering design processes is the science responsible for manufacturing and building all those mechanical systems that allow various machinery to function properly. For this reason, those who are dedicated to mechanical engineering have a great responsibility, since this correct operation ensures an optimal process with no margin for error.
Mechanical Design Introduction
Design can be defined as the formulation of a plan that serves to satisfy a specific need or to solve a problem. If the plan results in the creation of a physical object, it must be functional, secure, reliable, competitive, useful, fabricable and, of course, marketable. But above all, it is a decision-making process.
Decisions that must be made, in most cases, with great uncertainty, either due to lack of information or due to an excess of contradictory information. Other times decisions are made tentatively, requiring numerous adjustments as more data becomes available. Therefore, it is important for the mechanical engineer to be able to make decisions and solve problems that arise during the process.
In addition, design is an activity of intense oral and written communication with professionals from other disciplines and, increasingly, with professionals from other cultures, even working remotely.
Mechanical Engineering Design Processes
Step 1
Identification of needs, which consists of making sure that the problems need solving and the options acceptable to the user have been identified.
Step 2
Preliminary investigation consists of searching for information and performing a benchmarking, which allows knowing the best options to solve the need exposed in the previous step.
Step 3
Setting objectives. It is clear that a design cannot cover all the possible user needs. Therefore, it is important to set clear and realistic objectives that the design must meet.
Step 4
Performance specifications, which define what the design must be capable of doing, defining numerical values that are capable of being measured and verified. They can serve as contractual specifications.
Step 5
Ideation and invention, is the creative phase of the process, in which the mechanical engineer will create the solution, based on the preliminary research and ensuring that it meets the project objectives and specifications defined in the contract and, above all, solving the user problem.
Step 6
Analysis. consisting of analyzing the problem and proposing possible solutions, using physical theories, chemical processes and mathematical calculations, to propose preliminary solutions that may be able to meet the stated objectives.
Step 7
Selection, consisting of applying decision criteria that allow selecting the best option to meet the performance specifications and the project objectives.
Step 8
Detailed design, it is about continuing with the analysis of the chosen solution until reaching the necessary level of detail that allows its manufacture and use.
Step 9
Creation of prototypes and tests, although the modeling that can be carried out in the analysis and detailed design phases gives satisfactory results, it is important to build prototypes and carry out the necessary tests to ensure that the result complies, in working conditions, with the defined performance specifications.
Step 10
Production, once it has been verified that the design satisfactorily solves the need raised by the user, the necessary units are produced, whether these are unique products or mass produce.