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Conceptual design

Conceptual design is a particular kind of design activity. Its outcome lies in a number of concepts for a system under design (TS) both as a whole and in parts.

A concept for a technical system (TS) can be represented in different ways, depending on the development (specificity) level. It may be:

• physical operating principles – interrelated combinations of physical, chemical, biological, and other natural science effects;
• functional operating principles – interrelated combinations of elementary functional structures;
• technical effects to improve some of TS characteristics by changing materials, composition, construction, operating modes, and interaction with environment;
• contradiction elimination principles to improve a pair of TS characteristics interconnected with each other by changing TS structure;
• a set of optimal parameter values for TS elements.

The main scope of conceptual design challenges has to be solved in the early stages of TS development when the image of future products, devices or technologies is being specified. However, developers also face complicated technical challenges in designing, testing and producing stages. To eliminate the challenges, conceptual design methods are employed.

                                                                                            

Conceptual design is the fundamental component of new product development. It is the number of developed concepts for a future product that defines its novelty and quality and, therefore, its competitiveness and sales.

Practice-proven conceptual design methods are indispensable (apart from development of new products, devices and technologies) in:

• product quality improvement;
• production costs reduction;
• forecast for development trends in proper engineering field;
• patent priority in proper engineering field;
• knowledge and intellectual asset management.

Innovation and Conceptual design

Innovation and conceptual design are related activities, differing in their goals.

Innovation is an individual initiative. The intention of an inventor lies in making an invention – a technical solution which would possess world novelty. Innovation is akin to art in being fortuitous.

The random nature of the invention-making process can retard technological development for millennia! The ancient Greeks were familiar with the basic technical devices Edison used in his phonograph to record and reproduce sound. They knew about wind-induced string and drum membrane vibrations. The Greeks used a lever to increase force and wax-covered plates to write words. They, however, failed to apply all this knowledge to a single device. By the way, Edison invented his phonograph by sheer luck.

As distinct from innovation, conceptual design is a planned project activity aimed at solving technical problems in due time. The problem solving should not necessarily result in world-novelty technical solutions, that is, inventions.

If a technical solution is overdue, then, as a rule, its practical implementation is highly improbable. Utilizing such a solution in a current project is impossible because of the time lost. Any future project is unlikely to apply the solution due to new demands.

The main goal of conceptual design is to make technical problem solving sustainable by using modern information technologies. Unlike innovation with its human creative grounding, conceptual design is a technology that ensures desired results in due time.

TRIZ and Conceptual design

TRIZ – the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving – was created by Genrich Altshuller and his disciples in the former Soviet Union from the 1950s to the 1980s. The TRIZ methodology is successfully developing nowadays. Both individual inventors and consulting companies apply TRIZ in practice all over the world.

TRIZ and Conceptual design are cognate methodologies aimed at purposeful and planned technical problem solving. They, however, use different methods to achieve desired results.

TRIZ mainly employs heuristic methods as special human-oriented algorithms, instructions, and guidelines. The TRIZ methodology helps an inventor analyze a technical problem, come up with a solution, and expand the application area for that solution.

More extensive use of the TRIZ methodology in engineering is limited by the need for in-advance training. Mastering TRIZ at a proper level implies special long-term courses and highly skilled teachers.

A line of TRIZ-based software was developed as a reaction to the necessity of prior training. The software, however, has failed to avoid training completely, as the computer is used as an auxiliary means for a user to record results of a technical problem solving and find suitable heuristic methods and technical examples. Working with the TRIZ-based software, a user has to perform all creative operations him/herself.

To solve a technical problem, conceptual design applies formal methods and extensive bases of technical and scientific knowledge, which are realizable exclusively as computer programs. A user doesn’t need to know what methods (algorithms) these programs employ. A user just specifies a technical problem, presses the Solve button and chooses the most suitable of the solutions found. Therefore, conceptual design methods allow an engineer to purposefully solve a technical problem with no prior training.

In spite of all the differences, TRIZ and conceptual design complement each other rather than exclude one another. TRIZ methods are essential in analyzing a technical problem and revealing contradictions. They guide an engineer from a complex technical problem to a typical inventive problem. Once a problem is formulated, conceptual design methods can be applied. Today, the innovation programs based on conceptual design methods can solve inventive problems of average complexity by using extensive bases of specific engineering knowledge and complex formal algorithms these programs include.

Our experience shows that the most successful innovation software user is a TRIZ-skilled engineer.