Lecture

Fostering Creativity in Mechanical Design

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In course

ME-403: Applied mechanical design

Students will be exposed to hands-on design problems throughout the term. They will acquire methodologies to (1) address open ended engineering problems, (2) cultivate creativity, (3) support decision making and (4) develop problem solving abilities. ...

Description

This lecture explores the conceptual design phase, ideation techniques, and tools to enhance creativity in mechanical design. It covers the terminology of ideation, methods like brainstorming and TRIZ, and the application of creativity in idea generation.

Instructor

Jürg Alexander Schiffmann

Teaching & PhD PhD Students Hendrik Dietmar Schillinger, Gabriele Iovanna, Husam Jubran, Selahittin Atilay Zervent, Harshita Ravindra Agarwal, Anupam Jena, Issam Soukhmane, Tristan Wolff Schwab, Aman Jain, Masato Omotsubo, Konstantin Andreas Jacoby, Andrii Artomov, Arnau Catala I Rams, Elize Alwash, Emanuele Pallaoro, Anna Abramishvili Past EPFL PhD Students Violette Mounier, Karim Magdi Zakaria Abdelrahman Shalash, Patrick Hubert Wagner, Markus Diehl, Philipp Kaspar Bättig, Kévin Rosset, Eliott Philippe

Official source

Related concepts (12)

Engineering design process

The engineering design process, also known as the engineering method, is a common series of steps that engineers use in creating functional products and processes. The process is highly iterative - parts of the process often need to be repeated many times before another can be entered - though the part(s) that get iterated and the number of such cycles in any given project may vary. It is a decision making process (often iterative) in which the basic sciences, mathematics, and engineering sciences are applied to convert resources optimally to meet a stated objective.

Mechanical engineering

Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and maintain mechanical systems. It is one of the oldest and broadest of the engineering branches. Mechanical engineering requires an understanding of core areas including mechanics, dynamics, thermodynamics, materials science, design, structural analysis, and electricity.

Mechanical calculator

A mechanical calculator, or calculating machine, is a mechanical device used to perform the basic operations of arithmetic automatically, or (historically) a simulation such as an analog computer or a slide rule. Most mechanical calculators were comparable in size to small desktop computers and have been rendered obsolete by the advent of the electronic calculator and the digital computer. Surviving notes from Wilhelm Schickard in 1623 reveal that he designed and had built the earliest of the modern attempts at mechanizing calculation.

Mechanical computer

A mechanical computer is a computer built from mechanical components such as levers and gears rather than electronic components. The most common examples are adding machines and mechanical counters, which use the turning of gears to increment output displays. More complex examples could carry out multiplication and division—Friden used a moving head which paused at each column—and even differential analysis. One model, the Ascota 170 accounting machine sold in the 1960s calculated square roots.

TRIZ

TRIZ (ˈtriːz; теория решения изобретательских задач, ALA, literally theory of inventive problem solving) is an approach that combines an organized and systematic method for problem solving with analysis and forecasting techniques derived from the study of patterns of invention in the global patent literature. The development and improvement of products and technologies in accordance with TRIZ are guided by the objective laws of technical systems evolution, forming the basis for TRIZ problem solving tools and methods.

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