Designing Novel Nondestructive Attachment Methods: A Methodology and Application to Energy Harvesting Systems

Sumedh Inamdar; Krystian Zimowski; Kevin A. Gibbons; Brittany Rucker; Daniel D. Jensen; Kristin L. Wood; Richard H. Crawford

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Conference: 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Publication Date: June 10, 2012
Start Date: June 10, 2012
End Date: June 13, 2012
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Design in Engineering Education Poster Session
Tagged Division: Design in Engineering Education
Page Count: 21
Page Numbers: 25.411.1 - 25.411.21
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--21169
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/21169
Download Count: 484

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Krystian Zimowski graduated from Northwestern University with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in mechanical engineering with an emphasis in design and manufacturing. His research topic is to develop innovative wind energy harvesters to power remote bridge sensors under the studies of Dr. Kristin Wood and Dr. Richard Crawford.

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Kevin A. Gibbons Ret. U.S. Air Force Academy, NexOne, Inc., and CAStLE

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Kevin Gibbons is a Senior Scientist for NexOne, Inc., in the Center for Aircraft Structural Life Extension (CAStLE) located at the USAF Academy in Colorado Springs. He taught in the AF Academy Department of Engineering Mechanics for four years, where he earned his Assistant Professorship and served as the Director of the Applied Mechanics Laboratory. He currently works as an advisor for a senior capstone research team and mentor to multiple mechanical instrumentation project teams. He earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering with minor in engineering mechanics from the Pennsylvania State University and an M.S. in mechanical engineering from MIT. He spent 22 years on active duty in the U.S. Air Force and is a Flight Test Engineer graduate of the USAF Test Pilot School. Kevin spent most of his AF career performing flight test on advanced aircraft weapons systems. His interests include thermo-fluid sciences, teaching, experimentation, traveling, SCUBA, and botanical sciences.

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Brittany Rucker U.S. Air Force Academy

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Daniel D. Jensen U.S. Air Force Academy

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Dan Jensen is a professor of engineering mechanics at the U.S. Air Force Academy where he has been since 1997. He received his B.S. (mechanical engineering), M.S. (applied mechanics), and Ph.D. (aerospace engineering science) from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has worked for Texas Instruments, Lockheed Martin, NASA, University of the Pacific, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and MSC Software Corp. His research includes design of Micro Air Vehicles, development of innovative design methodologies, and enhancement of engineering education. Jensen has authored approximately 100 papers and has been awarded more than $2.5 million of research grants.

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Kristin L. Wood University of Texas, Austin

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Kristin L. Wood is currently a professor, Head of Pillar, and Co-director of the International Design Center (IDC) at Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). Wood completed his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering (Division of Engineering and Applied Science) at the California Institute of Technology, where he was an AT&T Bell Laboratories Ph.D. Scholar. Wood joined the faculty at the University of Texas in Sept. 1989 and established a computational and experimental laboratory for research in engineering design and manufacturing. He was a National Science Foundation Young Investigator, the Cullen Trust for Higher Education Endowed Professor in Engineering, and University Distinguished Teaching Professor at The University of Texas, Austin.

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Richard H. Crawford University of Texas, Austin

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Richard H. Crawford is a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas, Austin, and is the Temple Foundation Endowed Faculty Fellow No. 3. He received his B.S.M.E. from Louisiana State University in 1982, and his M.S.M.E. in 1985 and Ph.D. in 1989, both from Purdue University. He joined the faculty of UT in Jan. 1990 and teaches mechanical engineering design and geometry modeling for design. Crawford's research interests span topics in computer-aided mechanical design and design theory and methodology, including research in computer representations to support conceptual design, design for manufacture and assembly, and design retrieval; developing computational representations and tools to support exploration of very complex engineering design spaces; research in solid freeform fabrication, including geometric processing, control, design tools, and manufacturing applications; and design and development of energy harvesting systems. Crawford is co-founder of the DTEACh program, a “Design Technology” program for K-12, and is active on the faculty of the UTeachEngineering program that seeks to educate teachers of high school engineering.

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Abstract

Designing Novel Nondestructive Attachment Methods: A Methodology and Application to Energy Harvesting SystemsAbstract: In many cases, design involves adding and integrating additional functionality to anexisting system. Often, such additions are accomplished by literally attaching a new componentor set of components to the existing product. Examples include adding a protective cover to acell phone, adding an electric starter system to a lawn mower or adding an energy harvestingsystem to a bridge or other existing infrastructure to provide power for lights or sensors. Inmany cases, we require that these “add-on” systems interface with the existing system in anondestructive manner. In some cases, the system should be not affected in any permanentfashion by the attachment. In other cases the requirement is that the system’s functionalityshould not be degraded by the attachment.This paper reports on our work to develop a methodology that will assist designers, includingstudents pursuing engineering degrees, in designing the means of nondestructive attachment of anew (child) system onto an existing (parent) system. Based on a literature review of existingjoining and attachment methods, we analyze Theory of Inventive Problem-Solving (TRIZ)principles that can be used to design nondestructive attachment methods. In developing themethodology, we performed an experiential study wherein several off-the-shelf products andexisting structures encompassing a wide range of attachment methods were examined.Generalizable patterns from these products were identified and the distinguishing characteristicsof each attachment method utilized to develop a foundation for the methodology. A matrixmapping the attachment methods and the system characteristics is presented as a design tool. Useof the tool is demonstrated through its application for attachment of a “child” energy harvestingsystem to a “parent” existing bridge for the purpose of powering a structural health monitoringsystem on the bridge.The effectiveness of the design tool was confirmed through the results of a design experimentwhere two groups of undergraduate senior engineering students were presented with a designproblem. The control group did not use the developed methodology while the experimentalgroup did utilize this methodology to generate concept variants. The attachment concepts fromthe two groups were compared and analyzed with respect to a number of metrics. Theexperimental group produced superior results both in terms of the “nondestructiveness” andfeasibility of their concepts when compared to the control group. The method should haveparticular applicability for student design teams where, due to the relatively short design timeline(either 1 or 2 semesters), it is common for the design problem to entail incorporating a “child”system into an existing “parent” system. The overall approach to this research and design-educational-ideation tool promises to inform similar approaches to educational research oninnovation processes and students’ innovation skill sets.

Citation
Format

Inamdar, S., & Zimowski, K., & Gibbons, K. A., & Rucker, B., & Jensen, D. D., & Wood, K. L., & Crawford, R. H. (2012, June), Designing Novel Nondestructive Attachment Methods: A Methodology and Application to Energy Harvesting Systems Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--21169

TY - CPAPER
AB - Designing Novel Nondestructive Attachment Methods: A Methodology and Application to Energy Harvesting SystemsAbstract: In many cases, design involves adding and integrating additional functionality to anexisting system. Often, such additions are accomplished by literally attaching a new componentor set of components to the existing product. Examples include adding a protective cover to acell phone, adding an electric starter system to a lawn mower or adding an energy harvestingsystem to a bridge or other existing infrastructure to provide power for lights or sensors. Inmany cases, we require that these “add-on” systems interface with the existing system in anondestructive manner. In some cases, the system should be not affected in any permanentfashion by the attachment. In other cases the requirement is that the system’s functionalityshould not be degraded by the attachment.This paper reports on our work to develop a methodology that will assist designers, includingstudents pursuing engineering degrees, in designing the means of nondestructive attachment of anew (child) system onto an existing (parent) system. Based on a literature review of existingjoining and attachment methods, we analyze Theory of Inventive Problem-Solving (TRIZ)principles that can be used to design nondestructive attachment methods. In developing themethodology, we performed an experiential study wherein several off-the-shelf products andexisting structures encompassing a wide range of attachment methods were examined.Generalizable patterns from these products were identified and the distinguishing characteristicsof each attachment method utilized to develop a foundation for the methodology. A matrixmapping the attachment methods and the system characteristics is presented as a design tool. Useof the tool is demonstrated through its application for attachment of a “child” energy harvestingsystem to a “parent” existing bridge for the purpose of powering a structural health monitoringsystem on the bridge.The effectiveness of the design tool was confirmed through the results of a design experimentwhere two groups of undergraduate senior engineering students were presented with a designproblem. The control group did not use the developed methodology while the experimentalgroup did utilize this methodology to generate concept variants. The attachment concepts fromthe two groups were compared and analyzed with respect to a number of metrics. Theexperimental group produced superior results both in terms of the “nondestructiveness” andfeasibility of their concepts when compared to the control group. The method should haveparticular applicability for student design teams where, due to the relatively short design timeline(either 1 or 2 semesters), it is common for the design problem to entail incorporating a “child”system into an existing “parent” system. The overall approach to this research and design-educational-ideation tool promises to inform similar approaches to educational research oninnovation processes and students’ innovation skill sets.
AU - Sumedh Inamdar
AU - Krystian Zimowski
AU - Kevin A. Gibbons Ret.
AU - Brittany Rucker
AU - Daniel D. Jensen
AU - Kristin L. Wood
AU - Richard H. Crawford
CY - San Antonio, Texas
DA - 2012/06/10
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Designing Novel Nondestructive Attachment Methods: A Methodology and Application to Energy Harvesting Systems
UR - https://peer.asee.org/21169
DO - 10.18260/1-2--21169
ER -