Describe briefly three well-defined, complete, competitive potential design solutions to the problem.

Learning Goal: I’m working on a engineering project and need support to help me learn.

Description and objectives

In the previous deliverable, you identified and defined a problem to solve, and brainstormed at least 3 possible solutions to satisfy the requirements and criteria. The goal of this deliverable is for you to further develop those solutions, so that they are all well-defined, complete and competitive. Then, you will compare and evaluate these using a decision matrix. After choosing the ‘best’ solution, you’ll describe it in detail and create a 3D CAD model to represent it.
Please make sure to review the project description as well as the assignment details below.

Submission format

Centered at the top of the document, type the name of this deliverable. Centered in a line below it, type your name. Below these, the rest of the deliverable starts, aligned to the left, and typed (single spaced).
Arrange the requested information into appropriate paragraphs (or bullet list, if asked) under the following section headings: Problem Statement and Context, Potential Solutions, Decision Matrix, and the Final Design.

Use bold and/or larger font size for headings. You should use consistent spacing, formatting, font, and style, as well as correct grammar and spelling. Be professional, neat, and organized.

Your document should be submitted as a single, typed, pdf file.

Instructions

Please provide the information for various sections below.

Problem Statement and Context

• Write the problem statement.
• Also include a very brief description and the background of the problem you identified.

This is the same information as the Individual Project Deliverable 1. It’s here to provide some context for the information included in this deliverable.

Potential Solutions

• Describe briefly three well-defined, complete, competitive potential design solutions to the problem.
• Along with each description, include a rough sketch to help visualize.

In the Individual Project Deliverable 1, you identified three possible solutions. They should have been significantly different from each other to represent a variety. You may further define and improve those three possible solutions to form three well-defined potential design solutions. For example, you can add features to them so that they can meet all the requirements, and perform better on the criteria. Also consider how feasible will they be to build and test. Consider the materials used to build them. Also consider the ease of use/repair. Or, you may also come up with completely new well-defined design solutions if you want, instead of choosing the old ones.

Decision Matrix

• Provide a decision matrix to select the ‘best’ design from the potential solutions.
• Briefly justify the ratings you assigned in the decision matrix and the final outcome of the decision matrix.

Note that it is perfectly fine to update your list of design criteria since the design process is iterative! If your criteria have been revised, please include the updated weighted criteria in your decision matrix.

The Final Design

• Explain your final design in one paragraph.

Your final design may be one of your three designs which had the highest score in the decision matrix, or it may be design that combines the (best) elements/ideas of the three designs. If it’s the former (highest rated design), feel free to provide any additional description about the parts, functionality, important features/details, etc. If it’s the latter (i.e., a combined design), then please describe its parts, how they function together, important features/details etc. In each case, describe how the design meet the requirements and customer needs, etc.

• Create a 3D model using TinkerCAD (or any other CAD software) to represent the final design solution and include clear snapshot(s)/screenshot(s) of it. Please label the relevant parts and provide an overall scale (or some dimensions).

If there are particularly specific details of the solution that cannot be modeled or shown using the 3D model, that is okay, just make sure that the general form and key features are represented in the 3D model, and then described properly in the previous paragraph. Your CAD model does not need to be overly complex (e.g., it doesn’t need to have more than 10 parts/components, it doesn’t need to take more than 2 hours to build). It can be a combination of simple 3D shapes which conveys the design idea and shows only the important and relevant features.

Rubric

This document will be assessed based on the following rubric. Points shall be assigned based on the quality and thoroughness of the responses.

• Problem Statement and Context (total 2 points)
  • 1 point for problem statement.
  • 1 point for very brief description and the background of the problem, to provide context to this deliverable.
• Potential Solutions (total 9 points)
  • 3 points for including at least 3, different, well-defined and competitive design solutions and their brief descriptions.
  • 3 points for including design solutions that all meet the design requirements.
  • 3 points for including neat and clear sketches of the solutions.

• Decision Matrix (total 5 points)
  • 1 point for including the decision matrix.
  • 2 points for correct calculations.
  • 2 points for brief justification of the ratings and the outcome of the decision matrix.

• Final Design (total 14 points)
  • 2 points for the (additional) description of final conceptual design solution: it’s parts, functionality, important features/details, meeting requirements and customer needs, etc.
  • 4 points for including the 3D CAD model of the design.
  • 2 points for the 3D model to appropriately represent the form and shape of the final conceptual design.
  • 4 points for the 3D model with enough detail to represent the key features and functions of the final conceptual design.
  • 2 points for labelling the relevant parts and providing an overall scale (or some dimensions).