Mechanical Engineering 398, Engineering Design

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Catalog description

Product or system design projects carried out by small student groups. Project definition, conceptual and detailed design, evaluation, and documentation.

Prerequisite: Senior standing.

Who takes it

Nobel Prize winner Herbert Simon says "Science is the study of what is. Engineering is the creation of what is to be." The essence of engineering is design. Most engineers work on some sort of product development, whether it be creating new products or making better products, all based on a fairly well-defined design process. In ME 398, student teams create a new product for an outside client using this design process. Undergraduates take this course in their fourth year, after having mastered many of the engineering tools that they will use in their careers. Mechanical Engineering students are required to take either this course or ME 340-2 to fulfill their design requirement. Two former students in this course went on to win the iF Product Design Award in an international design competition based in Germany for their design of the Swingline Worx Mini Stapler in 2000.

What it's about

ME 398 provides an experience in the creative aspects of design from project definition to ideation to functional prototypes.

Lectures:

The course meets two days per week for 2-hour lectures. Topics include:

  • The total design model
  • Customer-focused innovation
  • The design process
    • Product goal
    • Product design specification
    • Project planning
    • Conceptual design
    • Optimizing a design
    • Prototyping
    • Detail design
  • Tools for design
    • Design complexity
    • Design for manufacture and assembly
    • Design review
    • Re-design
    • Reverse engineering
    • Safety
    • Standards and codes
  • Quality
    • Eight dimensions of quality
    • Quality function deployment
  • Managing quality
    • Tolerance stack-up
    • Statistical process control
    • Taguchi methods
    • Reliability
    • Failure mode and effect analysis
    • Other quality management techniques
  • Design and business skills
    • Estimating part costs
    • Financial statements
    • Economic decision making
    • Patents

Labs:

  • Machine shop training: all students are required to complete a 6-hour machine shop training course, if they have not previously done so
  • Mock-up prototype: each team prepares a mockup of their design early in the design process
  • CAD: each team prepares CAD drawings of their design using SolidWorks, Pro/Engineer, or UniGraphics
  • Functional prototype: each team builds a fully functioning prototype of their design

Assignments/Evaluation:

Assignments/evaluations may include prototypes, oral presentations, interim reports, final reports, and quizes or exams.

Textbooks:

  • The Mechanical Design Process by David Ullman, McGraw-Hill 2003
  • ME 398 Lecture Notes by Richard M. Lueptow 2003

Advanced Study:

Students interested in pursuing further study in product design development should consider the Master of Product Development program at Northwestern University. This program for working professionals requires at least 3 years of work experience.