Abstract
This paper describes the findings of an experiment on how different engineers understand the notions of function and functional breakdown in the context of design by modification. The experiment was conducted with a homogenous group of 20 design engineers, who had all received the same education. The subjects were asked to analyze how a hydraulic pump works and summarize their understanding in a function tree. The subjects were given either the hydraulic pump itself (with part of its casing removed), or a maintenance drawing that showed a section cut of the pump. This paper shows typical outputs of the designers and discusses the differences between the subjects’ approaches and resulting function trees; and points to typical mistakes the subjects made.
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
References
Hacker, W.: Improving engineering design Đ contributions of cognitive Ergonomics. Ergonomics 40(10), 1088–1096 (1997)
Hinds, P., Weisband, S.: Knowledge Sharing and Shared Understanding. In: Gibson, C., Cohen, S. (eds.) Virtual Teams That Work Creating Conditions for Virtual Team Effectiveness. John Wiley & Sons, Jossey-Bass (2003)
Bucciarelli, L.L.: Designing Engineers. MIT Press, Boston (1996)
Arias, E., Eden, H., Fischer, G., Gorman, A., Scharff, E.: Transcending the individual human mind-creating shared understanding through collaborative design. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI) 7(1) (2000)
Hill, A., Song, S., Dong, A., Agogino, A.M.: Identifying Shared Understanding in Design Using Document Analysis. In: Proceedings of the 2001 ASME Design Engineering Technical Conferences, Pittsburgh, PA, DETC2001/DTM-21713 (2001)
Pahl, G., Beitz, W.: Engineering design: a systematic approach, 2nd edn., translated by Wallace, K., Blessing, L. and Bauert, F. Springer, London (1996)
Warell, A.: Introducing a use perspective in product design theory and methodology. In: Proceedings of the 1999 ASME Design Engineering Technical Conferences, DETC99/DTM8782, Las Vegas, NV (1999)
Crilly, N., Good, D., Matravers, D., Clarkson, P.J.: Design as communication: exploring the validity and utility of relating intention to interpretation. Design Studies 29(5), 425–457 (2008)
Gero, J.S., Kannengiesser, U.: The Situated Function-Behaviour-Structure Framework. In: Gero, J.S. (ed.) Artificial Intelligence in Design 2002, pp. 89–104. Kluwer, Dordrecht (2002)
Ingenieure, V.D.: VDI Richtlinie 2223, Methodisches Entwerfen technischer Produkte. Beuth, Berlin (2004)
Vermaas, P.E., Houkes, W.: Technical functions: a drawbridge between the intentional and structural natures of technical artefacts. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 37(1): 5(18) (2006)
Kirschman, C.F., Fadel, G.M.: Classifying functions for mechanical design. Journal of Mechanical Design 120(3), 475–482 (1998)
Albers, A., Alink, T., Deigendesch, T.: Support of design engineering activity – The Contact and Channel Model (C&CM) in the context of problem solving and the role of modelling. In: Proceedings of the International Design Conference 2008, Dubrovnik, Croatia (2008)
Asimov, M.: Introduction to Design. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs (1962)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Netherlands
About this paper
Cite this paper
Alink, T., Eckert, C., Ruckpaul, A., Albers, A. (2011). Different Function Breakdowns for One Existing Product: Experimental Results. In: Gero, J.S. (eds) Design Computing and Cognition ’10. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0510-4_22
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0510-4_22
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-0509-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-0510-4
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)