Lectures
Lectures are listed on this page. Click on the lecture heading or the "Continue ..." link to get the full content for the lecture.
- Week 1 - Introduction
- Week 2 - Introduction to Conceptual Design
- Week 3 - External Search and Project Planning
- Week 4 - Project Planning and Concept Evaluation
- Week 7 - Project Selection and Design Competition Update
- Week 8 - Market Needs and Engineering Requirements
- Week 9 - Project Review and Engineering Requirements
Week 9 - Project Review and Engineering Requirements
Activities for Lecture 9
- Discussion of final rules for the design competition
- Discuss requirements for project plans and proposals
- Presentation by Dr. Steingrimmson
Reading
Read Chapter 4 in the textbook by Mattson and Sorenson. Focus on these key aspects of Opportunity Development
- Project Objective statement
- Requirements matrix
The following sections from part 2 of the textbook describe tools for connecting market requirements to performance measures
- Project Objective Statement, pp. 272-273, 4th ed.
- Quality function deployment, pp. 276-277, 4th ed.
- Requirements matrix, pp. 284-287, 4th ed.
Week 8 - Market Needs and Engineering Requirements
Activities for Lecture 8
- Review and discussion of projects for ME 492 and ME 493
- Defining engineering specifications for a design project.
Reading
Read Chapter 4 in the textbook by Mattson and Sorenson. Focus on two key aspects of Opportunity Development
- Developing market requirements (previous lecture)
- Performance Measures (this lecture)
The following sections from part 2 of the textbook describe tools for relating performance measures to market requirements
- Quality function deployment, pp. 276-277
- Requirements matrix, pp. 284-287
Additional reference materials
- Lecture slides
- Excel sheet list of Customer needs developed during class
Week 7 - Project Selection and Design Competition Update
Activities for Lecture 7
- Review and discussion of projects for ME 492 and ME 493
- Demonstration of joystick input control for DC motors
- Defining customer requirements for a design project.
Reading
Review Chapter 4 in the textbook by Mattson and Sorenson. In addition, the following sections from part 2 of the textbook will be useful.
- Competitive Benchmarking
- Interviews
- Literature search
- Observational studies
- Patent searches
- Quality function deployment
- Requirements matrix
- Surveys
Week 4 - Project Planning and Concept Evaluation
In week 4 we focus on project planning and concept evaluation, which is part of the conceptual design stage
In the model used by Mattson and Soreson, Concept Development is the second phase
- Opportunity development
- Concept development
- Subsystem engineering
- System refinement
- Producibility refinement
- Post-release refinement
The primary goal of concept development is to create a viable conceptual design that solves the given problem.
Documents presented during class
Reading
Review Chapter 5 in the textbook by Mattson and Sorenson. Read sections from Part 2
- Catalog search
- Controlled convergence
- Multivoting
- Prototyping
- Scoring Matrix
- Screening Matrix
Week 3 - External Search and Project Planning
In week 3 we continue our discussion conceptual design and apply it to the Lego rescue design project. We also begin discussion of tools for project planning
In the model used by Mattson and Soreson, Concept Development is the second phase
- Opportunity development
- Concept development
- Subsystem engineering
- System refinement
- Producibility refinement
- Post-release refinement
The primary goal of concept development is to creating a viable conceptual design that solves the given problem.
Reading
Review Chapter 2 and read Chapter 3 in the textbook by Mattson and Sorenson. Skim ahead in Chapter 5.
- Chapter 2 gives an overview of the design process, with a focus on Activity Maps as a tool for describing sequences of design activities by the team.
- Chapter 3 describes the skills and attributes of successful designers
- Chapter 5 presents a more detailed look at Concept Development
There is a lot of information in those chapters. You will need to re-read them as you work on this class and on your project in Winter and Spring terms. On this first reading, try to get the big picture, and learn where to find information about specific aspects of the design process.
Remember that the textbook by Mattson and Sorenson are heavily oriented about the "what-to-do" during each design phase. In the second half of the book they provide may tools that help with the "how-to-do" each phase. Nonetheless, Mattson and Sorenson focus more on the "what" than the "how". Other design textbooks provide more information on the "how", but those books also tend to be thick, ponderous and expensive. I can recommend other resources.
Week 2 - Introduction to Conceptual Design
In week 2 we discuss conceptual design and apply it to the Lego rescue design project.
In the model used by Mattson and Soreson, Concept Development is the second phase
- Opportunity development
- Concept development
- Subsystem engineering
- System refinement
- Producibility refinement
- Post-release refinement
The primary goal of concept development is to creating a viable conceptual design that solves the given problem.
NOTE: In order to gain practice in the team-based design activity, we are temporarily skipping over the process of determining the customer requirements. The goal of the design competition is to win a game. The rules of the game substitute for the customer requirements in this example.
Reading
Review Chapter 2 and read Chapter 5 in the textbook by Mattson and Sorenson.
There is a lot of information in those chapters. You will need to re-read them as you work on this class and on your project in Winter and Spring terms. On this first reading, try to get the big picture, especially these ideas
- Design network representation of sequential, parallel and coupled (interdependent) activities represented in Figure 2.6, 2.7, 2.8 and 2.9
- Stages of development in Section 2.5 and represented in Figure 2.10
Also note that the textbook by Mattson and Sorenson are heavily oriented about the "what-to-do" during each design phase. In the second half of the book they provide may tools that help with the "how-to-do" each phase. Nonetheless, Mattson and Sorenson focus more on the "what" than the "how". Other design textbooks provide more information on the "how", but those books also tend to be thick, ponderous and expensive. I can recommend other resources.
Week 1 - Introduction
Reading
Before the first class, please read
- Big ideas for Capstone design
- Chapters 1 and 2 in the textbook by Mattson and Sorenson
Learning Objectives
At the end of this class you should be able to
- Describe the relationship of ME 491 to the entire capstone sequence
- Explain the basic ideas of team formation in ME 491 and how it differs for team formation for ME 492 and ME 493
- Describe the goal of the design competition for ME 491
- Know where find a description of the big ideas in Capstone
- Describe the purpose of making sketches for the first homework assignment
- Describe the different roles and goals of the public web site and D2L sites for ME 491.