Information Sharing Within a Distributed, Collaborative Design Process: A Case Study

Computer graphics and computer aided design in mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota

Este artículo centra su atención en la manera como las instituciones de formación en diseño de la ciudad de Medellín hacen un abordaje epistemológico del término ‘concepto’, el cual termina por definir las maneras de la enseñanza del proceso creativo en estas áreas del saber proyectual. Para tal fin, se hizo un estudio de caso en siete instituciones que cuentan con los programas de Diseño Industrial, Gráfico, Moda, Vestuario, Arquitectura e Ingeniería de Diseño, basándonos en el estudio de productos académicos del tipo: tesis de grado, artículos de revista, libros, resultados de investigaciones, programas académicos, folletos y ponencias, escritos entre enero del 2006 y diciembre del 2012. Se complementó dicha investigación con entrevistas a docentes, investigadores y directivas de estas instituciones. Esto con el objetivo de comprender las diferencias operativas en el quehacer del diseñador, las cuales tienen su origen en los procesos de formación conceptual que cada centro de enseñanza propone a sus estudiantes.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of the most prestigious institutions in technological innovation, incorporates art and creativity as a distinctive element of its research, technological degrees, humanities and creative subjects. Unfortunately, art and creativity do not have the same consideration. This study intends to present a work line corresponding to the art-science integration, which is part of a renovation-didactic-project developed in the study-area of industrial design at the Higher Technical School of Engineering and Industrial Design (EscuelaTecnica Superior de Ingenieria y Diseno Industrial, ETSIDI of the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain). The benefits of rubric use in order to facilitate a creative-aspects-evaluation guide in the double degree of Engineering in Industrial Design and in Mechanical Engineering will be analysed precisely.

Proper risk assessment and management are considered important issues in designimprovement. This tendency has been due to the continuing uncertainty of the globaleconomy and the advancement of information technology. Despite the most importantand valuable benefits, developed design topics are more vulnerable and can expose theorganization to higher levels of risk. Achieving sustainability is recognized as agrowing and effective strategy to meet today's global design challenges. Design in theoil, gas and petrochemical industry is important due to its characteristics and high riskin different countries, especially Iran, due to its different effects on the environmentaldimension. The issue of identifying and evaluating design risks has also been neglectedin recent research. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify and evaluate designrisks in Iran’s oil, gas and petrochemical industry. The present research is descriptivesurveyand is qualitative and quantitative in terms of technique and data used. Based onthe literature review, 13 risk factors affecting the design were identified, in two stages,in-depth interviews were conducted with the opinions of experts, and by collectingopinions through a questionnaire, and 10 key risk factors were finally confirmed. In thefirst stage, the validity of the questionnaire was finally confirmed based on the opinionsof 5 experts and in the second stage, using the opinions of 8 experts in this industry.Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the risk questionnaire is higher than 0.7, which indicatesthe reliability of the research tool. According to the research findings, two factors suchas weak technology / knowledge sustainability and environmental pollution, comparedto other risk factors, have a higher priority in design projects in Iran's oil, gas andpetrochemical industry. It is suggested that industry owners take serious and continuous measures in the field of "improving the level of process knowledge".

[EN] Students of the Degree in Industrial Design and Product Development Engineering of the University\nJaume I of Castellón (Spain) received an integrated training in the subject of Technical Drawing and\nGraphics (TDG) and Computer Aided Design (CAD) through 4 one-semester courses: Technical\nDrawing and Graphics I & II of 1st year and Computer Aided Design I and II (CADI and CADII),\ncompleted in 2nd and 3rd year respectively.\nWhile the first subject (TDGI) focuses on the fundamentals of representation systems and on the\nknowledge of volumetric forms and elementary surfaces, the following three subjects (TDGII, CADI\nand CADII) are focused on developing the abilities needed to sketch (TDGII) and create engineering\ntechnical drawings with CAD applications. TDGII deepens the sketch, focusing on proportionality,\nlanguage and graphic representation techniques for engineering technical drawings, being these skills\nextended in CADI and CADII through the use of 2D and 3D CAD systems.\nConsidering this framework, TDGII, CADI and CADII courses have been coordinating for several\nyears, sharing a general structure of the common teaching-learning process. The original structure of\nthese classes included a standard lecture format and practical sessions where students worked\ndifferent types of exercises, including the development of a graphic project.\nTeachers¿ experience over the years and students¿ opinion have allowed authors to recognize main\ndrawbacks of the standard class structure. Firstly, standard lecture format is not attractive for students.\nSecondly, due to the differences in the previous training of students (some have already used some\nCAD software) the levels with which they start the classes may not be homogeneous, which means\nthat some of them may arrive to get bored in class while others take more effort to understand\ncontents.\nFlipped learning is a methodology used in teaching that helps teachers to prioritize active learning\nduring class by using that time for group activities and individual attention. This model allows\nmodifying the standard class structure of sessions where the content of the subject is presented by the\nteacher in the classroom. In this new model the content of the subject is viewed at home or outside the\nclassroom through the use of tools and resources classified within the Information and Communication\nTechnologies (ICT).\nAs a first step in the analysis of experiences in learning Technical Drawing and Graphics and CAD,\nthis study shows the results of an academic experience that compares the classic methodology of\nstandard lecture format versus flipped classroom in teaching Technical Drawing and Graphics (TDGII).\nStudents from standard lecture format received the lesson in the traditional way, while students from\nthe flipped classroom had to prepare themselves before attending the class, by using this time to\ncomplete questionnaires and team activities. Both groups filled a knowledge assessment test before\nand after class. Student involved in flipped classroom had to complete as well a survey on their\nperception of the method.\nThe results obtained show that the level of knowledge after the class is slightly higher for those\nstudents involved in the flipped classroom. In addition, the students' opinion on the methodology is\nquite positive. They consider that it is a more effective method than the standard lecture format, since\nit has allowed them to better understand the content and to significantly increased their knowledge.

The learning and acquisition of industrial design skills and, in particular, methods and design process, are implemented in the scope of Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Design and Product Development Engineering at the University of Zaragoza, Spain. This publication presents contents related to the methodological control of the design process, included in the subject “Design workshop II: methods and design process”, conducted during the first semester of the 2nd year of the degree. From this experience, this contribution shows the tools used in the subject to ensure that students are given the necessary knowledge to be able to apply a methodology and propose a clear and structured design process. The experience is based on the use of detailed scripts that structure practice sessions, showing and exemplifying their application through the projects developed during the course. This material can serve as a guide for its use and implementation in future teaching activities and academic projects in the field of engineering, in which a methodological basis and control of the design process is required, linking these aspects with the development of different analyses focused on the provision of essential information for the project. The result of these teaching practices is to facilitate a meaningful learning for the student, the interdisciplinary integration of knowledge for its application to the design process, the improvement of academic goals as well as an efficient coordination among teachers that improves communication among all the members of the university community involved in the degree.

Comparative Analysis between Training Tools in Spatial Skills for Engineering Graphics Students based in Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and PDF3D Technologies

This article highlights about the fact that many speculate on the outcomes of design, but how many consider the process by which designs are executed. The seed for many of these emerging interdisciplinary programs in design is not new either—cutting-edge research and advancements invariably lie at the boundaries of departmental silos. The product-architecture program at Stevens has successfully integrated architecture, engineering, computation, and product development, attracting students with wide-ranging interests and diverse backgrounds in architecture, visual arts, industrial design, mathematics, computer science, and mechanical, aerospace, and biomedical engineering. By focusing on the product or system being designed, the program is dissolving boundaries in design education and launching students along trajectories of design leadership and social entrepreneurialism. As globalization moves engineering, business, and design closer together, many argued that interdisciplinary graduate design programs are the future for the United States to maintain its position in product leadership.

Some important trends in geometric modeling are the reliance on solid models rather than surface-based models and the enhancement of the expressive power of models, by using free-form objects in addition to the usual geometric primitives and by incorporating physical principles. An additional trend is the emphasis on interactive performance. In this paper, we integrate all of these requirements into a single geometric primitive by endowing the tri-variate tensor-product free-form solid with several important physical properties, including volume and internal deformation energy. Volume preservation is of benefit in several application areas of geometric modeling, including computer animation, industrial design and mechanical engineering. However, previous physics-based methods, which have usually used some form of "energy", have neglected the issue of volume (or area) preservation. We present a novel method for modeling an object composed of several tensor-product solids while preserving the desired volume of each primitive and ensuring high-order continuity constraints between the primitives. The method utilizes the Uzawa algorithm for non-linear optimization, with objective functions based on deformation energy or least squares. We show how the algorithm can be used in an interactive environment by relaxing exactness requirements while the user interactively manipulates free-form solid primitives. On current workstations, the algorithm runs in real-time for tri-quadratic volumes and close to real-time for tri-cubic volumes.

“Descriptive geometry and engineering drawings” is the theoretical teaching and the engineering practice ability training combination of courses. It is to cultivate students’ space imagination, creativity, drawing skills for the purpose. And the first class for environment art design, industrial design, landscape and other professional engineering design; It is inseparable from the students’ subsequent specialty courses of study and work in the professional and technical jobs. Therefore, we strengthen the curriculum construction because it is particularly important to enhance the art students’ knowledge structure and characteristic.

Recent studies corroborate the progressive implementation of Additive Manufacturing technologies (commonly known as 3D printing) in education, demonstrating several advantages. In the field of industrial design, the development of models during the design phase of product design helps designers in training to visualize their proposals. Today, 3D printing and traditional model-making techniques coexist in classrooms. With both techniques it is possible to achieve good results, but when it comes to evaluating them it is not so simple, since both ways of working are different and apparently the same evaluation criteria cannot be used in both cases, which could lead to comparative grievances. This work presents a series of rubrics that can help to evaluate the student's models in an objective way and under equal conditions, independently of the technique used: traditional o 3D printing. In order to do this, we started from a rubric made to evaluate traditional models, which was tested during a couple of academic years in other subject. This rubric was adapted to create a new rubric, which allowed to evaluate models made by 3D printing, looking for equivalent criteria with the previous rubric to guarantee a fair evaluation of both ways of working. The rubrics were tested experimentally in the subject ‘Prototypes: experimental workshop’, taught during the 4th year of the Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Design and Product Development Engineering at the Universitat Jaume I (Spain). Two groups of users assessed each work using these rubrics. The results showed, on the one hand, that both groups found it easy to evaluate the works using these rubrics, and on the other hand, that these rubrics allow for a fairly objective evaluation of the works, since the score obtained by both groups of users was very similar.

Schools of engineering in established universities such as Purdue offer courses in engineering design which, ‘… allows (students) to apply the fundamentals of engineering and science to solve open-ended design problems’ and to learn a structured problem-solving process in the broad context of product design, considering marketing, problem definition, conceptual design, design evaluation, detailed design, manufacturability, and economic feasibility. To anyone teaching in a design school, it sounds like industrial design taught in a school of design. If both the schools proclaim that they teach ‘design’, then what are they teaching? Where is the difference? Where do they overlap? Where are the commonalities? This paper sets about mapping the typical courses taught at schools of design and schools of engineering offering undergraduate degrees in industrial design and mechanical engineering respectively. Through this the author highlights the possibility of a hybrid programme, which may represent the real world nature of design in the built environment today.

This paper intends to show some urban design case studies developed during a two year master graduate research conducted by the first author, directed by the second author, in the research line of design and materials selection of the REDEMAT-UFOP/CETEC/UEMG. In dealing with street furniture design the research was faced basically with urban design matters, but the theme requires knowledge developed in other areas, such as industrial design and materials engineering. Because of the interdisciplinarity naturally present in this case the researchers came to ergonomics as the best organizing methodology to approach the issue established. Some of the conclusions in the main research work showed that in spite of the many complexities faced in such cases, the interdisciplinarity necessarily present and the whole complex issue of street furniture can best be dealt with if and when the ergonomic methodologies are employed. Because that's a simple methodology that can be easily understood and well employed by design professionals from different areas.

Realization of high-tech designs in gas and oil industry contributes to more efficient functioning of production. Development of quality minerals is not a scientific and technical progress, but a stable level indicator based on the general economic aspect.Therefore, the introduction of high quality updated technologies and additions to production functioning systems always leads to a greater need for their use. To maximize energy efficiency in gas and oil production, it is recommended to use high-quality autonomous power sources. The sets of optimization possibilities on algorithms of systems of distribution of power loads of electric transformer substations taking into account large productivity of producing wells at oil fields are developed. Recommendations on quality utilization, developed on the basis of long algorithms, allow to increase step-by-step nominal level of power loads at pumping units operation. It is proved that to maximize energy efficiency enterprises need to use their own high-quality autonomous power sources. The article considers the efficiency and cost-effective possibilities of production energy-consuming and quality functioning equipment in the oil&gas industry. In addition, taking into account the benefits on the basis of the study was carried out a large-scale analysis of data on the characteristics of relative efficiency and reliability to the technical condition of gas turbine and gas piston power plants.

With the development of science and technology, industrial design industry also in development, and at the same time, the industrial market in the design of the products of industry, the species diversity of interest requirement also become increasingly strict. In order to ensure that the industrial design in terms of quality and quantity can better development, computer aided design of the industry establish human-computer interaction, become the key factors of industry design. This paper puts forward based on computer aided the origin of the industrial design, and then puts forward computer-aided industrial design of man-machine interaction of the concept and characteristic, and human-computer interaction application in industrial design, and finally to the future development of human-computer interaction made planning and prospected.