Design-bites - Illustrated product design booklets by Andrew Taylor

Product description

A look at common external factors and the 'Design for X' strategies used to meet them. The guide contains sections on design for manufacture and assembly, design for maintainability, design for reliability, safety and quality standards, and product survivability (design for adverse conditions). Additional sections cover environmental impact and basic materials selection.

77 pages                file size 0.9 MB

Booklet content

"Maintainability is the degree to which a product allows safe, quick and easy replacement of its component parts. It is embodied in the design of the product and cannot be added later".

C1: Design for Maintainability

• Military beginnings and principles of maintainability.
• Modularity, Lines of Repair
• Design for Maintainability
• Rules concerning modules
• Handling and Access rules
• Component considerations

"While we expect our products to fail after some years of useful service, premature failures are particularly undesirable and are almost always the result of bad design or sloppy manufacturing".

C2: Design for Reliability

• Basic reliability concepts
• Component reliability figure
• Serial dependency and Parallel redundancy
• Bathtub curve, product life expectancy
• Product Reliability, MTBF, MTTF
• Causes of component failure
• Fault identification and remedy
• The 10x rule and the 80:20 rule
• Accelerated life testing and Burn-in
• Design for reliability and safety - Safety-critical design
• Reliability Design examples

"To fully exploit the techniques of mass production requires the design of products and components in a way that is sympathetic to the production process".

C3: Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA)

• Origins of Mass Production, Manufacturing Ideals
• Design for Manufacturability (DFM) – process
• Design for manufacturability - DFM design tips
• Design for Assembly (DFA) - DFA design tips

"It is unwise, and usually illegal, to sell a product into home or overseas markets without ensuring that it complies with appropriate standards".

C4: Quality Standards and Product Safety Standards

• Product Safety Standards and the Law
• International Product Standards
• Electric shock
• Thermal skin burns
• Fire hazards and Flammable atmospheres
• Acoustic noise
• Mechanical vibration and shock
• Radiation
• Handling and lifting
• Toxic Substances

"Over time, mankind has learned to defeat the forces of nature by designing long term survivability into products for use under every conceivable set of operating conditions".

C5: Braving the Elements - Survivability

• Product enclosures – IP rating, NEMA rating
• Rain, snow, hail, dust and sand,
• Condensation and icing
• Seawater and salt spray, water pressure
• Urban atmospheres
• Air pressure, wind force
• Solar radiation, temperature and humidity
• Moulds and bacteria
• Chemical contamination
• Fire
• Cooling and ventilation
• Vibration and noise
• Ruggedization
• Radio interference

"Global warming has brought home the need to review our existing approaches to product design and manufacture, with a view to reducing environmental impact".

C6: Protecting the Environment

• General ‘green’ design principles
• Product recycling - Plastics and elastomer recycling schemes
• Product recycling - Metals recycling
• Air pollution
• Energy efficiency and carbon footprint

"Materials selection is a process of elimination, starting with the full spectrum of possible materials, and whittling down the number of candidates by ‘testing’ against predetermined criteria. It is an integral part of the design process". 

C7: Materials Selection

• Basic materials selection process
• Selection criteria and candidate materials
• Materials cost

Includes www links to further resources, organizations and suppliers.

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