Authors : S. Abdullah and D.A. Wahab
Abstract: This study discusses the concurrent application of design methodologies for the generation of engineering conceptual design in product design projects. The projects, or so called the capstone engineering design project, were carried out by groups of final year students in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering (DMME), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). To align with the Problem-Based Learning (PBL), which is a criterion in recent engineering education, the level of students` understanding in performing the engineering design project is highly required. Accordingly, this paper focuses on the use of the concurrent engineering approach in the concept generation phase with the application of the Pugh and Cross models. Methods to generate design ideas and design concepts such as brainstorming and the morphological chart were applied during the design process. Each of these methods has its own strength and it is necessary to apply them together to produce design ideas, leading to the development of more meaningful conceptual designs. To have a further outline of this situation, a case study on conceptual design generation performed by a group of undergraduate students from the DMME UKM is presented. Findings from the case study showed that better conceptual designs were generated, indicating improvements in the students` capabilities and creativity in the PBL engineering design projects.
S. Abdullah and D.A. Wahab , 2007. Enhancement of Capabilities in Design Synthesis Through the Concurrent Application of Design Methodologies. Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 2: 248-255.