Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation

 

An empirical study on the process of mechanical design Public Deposited

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/qf85nf82k

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  • An information processing model of the problem-solving performance of mechanical designers is presented for four design tasks: conceptual assembly design, layout component design, detail component design, and catalog selection. These tasks are organized into six kinds of segments called episodes, which describe the goal structure of the designer while performing the task. The episodes are identified as plan, assimilation, specification, verification, repair, and documentation. The basic building blocks that designers apply during these episodes are known as operators, of which ten have been identified: select, create, simulate, compare, calculate, accept, reject, suspend, refine, and patch. These operators are applied in groups which comprise four local methods, identified as generate-and-test, generate-and-improve, deductive thinking, and means -end-analysis. These operators applied according to these methods constitute local design performance. Identifying these processes isolates which functions need to be performed by intelligent computer-aided design tools for assisting mechanical designers. Observations of global design performance, independent of task type, are also presented under nine topics. For example, designers often pursue a single conceptual design, and designers find satisfactory rather than optimal solutions to design problems. These observations provide insight as to the flexibility and level of intelligence actually needed of CAD tools as well as establishing differences between observed design performance and present design methodologies. A comparison of this research to other studies in mechanical design is also presented to solidify what is known or not known about mechanical design. This information has never previously been assimilated into coordinated and specific statements. These descriptions of the mechanical design process are based on the case studies of five mechanical designers, gathered through verbal protocol techniques of cognitive psychology. A data management technique called breakdown analysis was applied to over 36 hours of protocol data to identify the tasks, episodes, and operators that describe the process of mechanical-design performance.
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