ENGINEERING TRIPOS PART IIB - 2012/2013

Module 4C4 - Design Methods

AIMS

This module aims to present useful tools for designers of all disciplines and illustrate the practical application of systems engineering and risk management techniques.

LECTURE SYLLABUS

• Design Tools (7L)
  Introduction to the design process; problem formulation; methods of searching for solutions; techniques for design evaluation; guidelines for embodiment design.
  
  
• Systems Engineering (3L)
  Introduction to systems engineering; system decomposition, integration and evaluation; Dependency Structure Matrices.
  
  
• Risk Management (4L)
  Introduction to risk management; rework; risk analysis; probabilistic design.
  
  

OBJECTIVES

On completion of the module students should:

• Be able to formulate a design problem, allowing the widest range of valid solutions;
• Be able to evaluate competing design concepts systematically;
• Be able to use techniques such as quality function deployment, and various creative methods;
• Know how to search for ways in which a design can fail, and assess likelihood of failure;
• Appreciate how basic evaluation techniques can be applied to a complex design;
• Appreciate how decisions regarding product architecture influence performance.

REFERENCES

Please see the Booklist for Group C Courses for references for this module.

Last updated: July 2012