Water scarcity and resource depletion can be expected during the climate crisis. Therefore, thermally loaded processes in particular, must be made more efficient in the future. Heat exchangers will play a key role in this optimization process. More efficient designs allow a greater heat flow to be removed from processes while mass flows remain constant. In this context, the heat-transferring wall of heat exchangers is a focus of current research on the design of heat exchangers. The aim is to increase the heat-transferring surface of the wall as much as possible and to keep the design space as compact as possible. Therefore, this study investigates the suitability of the differential-growth method for generating complex heat-transferring walls for heat exchangers using CFD-analysis. Firstly, a framework for generating the wall structures and a computational model for predicting the design influence of such structures for the thermal and fluid-dynamic behavior of the heat exchanger are presented. Thereby, the potential of such wall structures is analyzed in this study. Furthermore, the study identified weaknesses of such walls designed with the differential-growth method, which should be the focus of future investigations.

Renewable energy is increasingly used and promoted. In the UK, for example, large scale renewable energy farms have been used to supply electricity with great effect. Given the large number of homes, there is considerable impact to be made by small scale residential renewable energy systems. Despite solar panels being the most common form of residential renewable energy technology, only 4% of buildings in the UK support solar technology of any kind. For direct electricity generation, silicon-based photovoltaic (PV) arrays are the most utilised, and when used in a residential setting, they are typically mounted on the sloped roofs. This is where the problem lies. The technology comes with a high cost, and there is further financial burden of installation and maintenance, making solar energy inaccessible for many UK homeowners. This paper presents a research and design innovation project to make PV technology more accessible in the UK. Edge Solar, the innovative, affordable, new PV system concept for UK homes may become a promising solution to significantly improve the accessibility to the PV technology and renewable energy at the household level in the UK and beyond with further development and commercialisation.

Facing a rising competitive pressure, manufactures create advantages when they are able to offer customer-specific products to the conditions of a mass production article. Traditional configurators support the creation of personalized products from the elements of a modular product system, but are based on a pre-defined set of rules. The model based approach changes the environment of configuration from static configuration rules to the dependencies defined within the product's system model. So, by regarding target quantities of the user, the configurator identifies the optimal variant.

This article investigates human geometry in design, allowing exploration of unknown geometries in Paralympic sports equipment. By creating a configuration map exploring the solution-space, optimal sit-ski seating positions–in the sense of performance and ergonomics–can efficiently be found for individual athletes. A physical prototype was developed, and an experiment was designed to identify changes in performance due to different geometries. The design method and application make it possible to translate critical angles onto geometries, and test individuals for optimal work ergonomics.

Computer aided tolerancing (CAT) in the automobile industry is implemented by CAD tools. These tools analyze the manufacturability of complex assemblies with rigid single parts in an early stage to reduce the product development time and the cost for hardware prototypes. This paper proposes an approach to implement tolerance simulation for a compliant assembly, which includes manufacturing processes such as clinching, bolting and hemming by applying tolerance simulation tool. The fender- BIW system is simulated as a compliant–rigid system and the simulation model is applied to two production scenarios. The simulation results are compared with real measurement data, which demonstrates the efficacy of using simulation in early production as opposed to prototyping or other methods of design by showing the strong correlation between simulation results and as-built products.

The functional analysis of technical systems is an important part of the design process. To further improve the design process, especially the functional analysis, it must not be viewed as a monodisciplinary process. To this end, cognitive factors such as the aha-experience must also be included in studies of analysis processes to a greater extent. This paper investigates the relationship between the occurrence of aha-experiences and the correctness of solutions in the analysis of a technical system. An aha-experience is a strong feeling of subjective certainty that accompanies the cognitive process of suddenly finding a previously unknown solution. For this purpose, a study on the functional analysis was evaluated. The results show that many identified subfunctions of the system under investigation were identified with an aha-experience and that these subfunctions are more often correct. The results also suggest that aha-experiences occur more often among students than among experienced design engineers. Especially among students, a positive relation of aha-experiences on the correctness of the identified subfunction can be seen. This offers potential for further investigations to make aha-experiences useful in design methods.

This paper examines how human and organizational factors need to be designed to achieve strong technological maturity of either the products or the production process. In a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fs/QCA), a combination of intensive training and strong worker participation is found to be associated with strong technological maturity in the two organizational contexts: firms with a strong entrepreneurial culture and in large firms oriented towards customer-oriented innovation. Overall, the paper uncovers designs or causal recipes for a successful digital transformation.

The present analytical design of shrink fits typically results in an uneven stress condition that can lead to failure in a variety of manners. With increasing loads and the use of brittle materials, the optimization of the stresses in the shrink fit hence becomes increasingly necessary. Currently existing approaches do not solve the problem satisfactorily or increase the manufacturing and design effort. This paper therefore considers the implementation of an AI-based stress optimization using reinforcement learning, which performs stress optimization by geometrically contouring the interstice.

Studies of design activity have been dominantly reporting on different aspects of the design process, rather than the content of designing. The aim of the presented research has been the development and application of an approach for a fine-grain analysis of the design content communicated between designers during the team conceptual design activities. The proposed approach builds on an engineering design ontology as a foundation for the content categorisation. Two teams have been studied using the protocol analysis method. The coded protocols offered fine-grain descriptions of the content communicated at different points in the design session and enabled comparison of teams’ approaches and deriving some generalisable findings. For example, it has been shown that both teams focused primarily on the use of the developed product and the operands within the technical process, in order to generate new technical solutions and initial component design. Moreover, teams exhibit progress from abstract to concrete solutions as the sessions proceeded and focused on the functional requirements towards the end of the sessions.

The digitalization of the Industry is one of the megatrends taking place, but many companies struggle to follow this trend. The main reason is the absence of simple solutions for the integration of sensory functions, which are applicable to the existing system. Therefore, this paper discusses the aspects of simplicity in the context of integrating sensory functions into existing systems, to support the development of digitalized products.

Two general requirements can be formulated for a solution to be applicable simple: The first requirement is affected by the product structure. The solution must affect the least possible amount of modules and must not interfere with the interfaces of the modular platform. The second requirement is affected by the effort to model the behaviour of the desired information and the possible data a sensory function is delivering. The effort to develop a reliable solution has to be compared with the commercial potential of the solution.

To consider the mentioned requirements, the paper explains three approaches to assess the simplicity of solutions on an example of the desired monitoring of the functions of a rotary plug valve.

Shortening product development cycles while improving cost efficiency and quality epitomize a key challenge in today's competitive market environment. Integrated approaches simultaneously taking into account a conceptual design, material and processing definition methodologically facilitate the progress of promising product solutions most effectively. However, assorted approaches in the field of lightweight design as well as material selection mostly trying to cover alternative solutions on a component-specific level exclusively, yet.

Thus, this contribution outlines a cross-component material selection for function-based lightweight design within the Extended Target Weighing Approach covering the identification and evaluation of lightweight design potentials. The developed method is based on Ashby's material selection additionally taking into account project objectives for mass, costs and CO2 emissions in individual functional design spaces. Resulting in material combinations fitting to clearly stated project targets, the product engineer is already supported in an early phase of product development when initially assessing feasible materials for the overall system development.

The increase availability of operational data from the fleets of cars in the field offers opportunities to deploy machine learning to identify patterns of driver behaviour. This provides contextual intelligence insight that can be used to design strategies for online optimisation of the vehicle performance, including compliance with stringent legislation. This paper illustrates this approach with a case study for a Diesel Particulate Filter, where machine learning deployed to real world automotive data is used in conjunction with a reliability inspired performance modelling paradigm to design a strategy to enhance operational performance based on predictive driver behaviour. The model-in-the-loop simulation of the proposed strategy on a fleet of vehicles showed significant improvement compared to the base strategy, demonstrating the value of the approach.

To design a more robust artifact, an artifact design based on a design rationale analysis is pivotal. Errors in previous design rationales that led to the degradation of artifact robustness in the past provide valuable knowledge towards improving the robust design. However, methods for exposing and analysing errors in design rationale remain unclear. This paper proposes a structured method for a design rationale analysis based on logical structuring. This method provides a well-constructed means of identifying and analysing errors in design rationale from the perspective of knowledge operation.

The problem of plastic waste in research laboratories is a significant one, with an estimated 5.5 million tonnes generated annually worldwide. Reusable labware has the potential to reduce this waste significantly, but the design of such products must take into account quality assurance to guarantee the accuracy of experiments. Insights were gathered through the generation of an overview of the available techniques for verifying labware after use and decontamination. As during different design cycles verification of prototypes is needed, these techniques were evaluated and translated to be applicable in the specific context of a design lab. Therefore, this study presents a protocol which can be used as a verification tool while designing safe, reusable labware for chemical laboratories. This protocol consists of four different steps: (i) visual inspection, (ii) mass & size comparison, (iii) leak test, and (iv) chemical stability test.

The number of publications on methods in product development is increasing constantly. In addition to scientific models, method guidelines exist in practice to support the selection of suitable methods. When looking more closely, it is noticeable that new methods are not new developments of methodical principles, but rather adaptations and summaries of known methods to specific application areas.Although approaches to standardize methods exist, they are usually formulated too abstractly to be useful to project managers as a support for method decision making.In our contribution, we analyse common methods of technical product development regarding similarities in content and time. In doing so, we were able to derive a method DNA on the basis of which all methods can be described and, above all, distinguished in a verifiable manner. In addition to essential activity blocks, the DNA also includes the description of temporal sequences, which in particular enables a differentiation between agile and classic methods. Ultimately, the method DNA not only offers the chance to make methodical work comprehensible, but also the possibility to select methods specifically for upcoming development steps arises through the classification option.

The literature lacks methodologies to make supply chains of composite materials circular. The proposed approach aims to transform scraps and off-specification products into secondary raw materials. Its novelty is to find innovative applications, instead of re-introducing scraps in the loop they come from. The case study investigates how scraps can be re-worked and re-used as raw material. First, the processes are analyzed; some components are then re-designed to be made of the discarded scraps (composites material). Results reveal that the symbiosis can ensure green, high performing products.

The study aims to identify the relations between creative design quality and content of the memorising precedents, association, and combination of information processes in a design context. 71 participants were recruited to finish a creative design task. Think aloud and interview were conducted during and after the creative design task to understand the content of the memorising precedents, association, and combination of information processes. The 71 creative designs were then assessed by five experts in creative design. The results from this study revealed that participants who generated high-creativity design tend to memorize various topic-related precedents, associate items based on topic-related information, and combine topic-related information with products. Participants who generated low-creativity design tend to memorize characteristics of a specific space of the design topic, associate items based on specific topic-related information, and add the topic-related pattern to a product.

Edible insects have been introduced as a novel protein source. Although the rationales for insect-eating highlight the urgency of changing diets into more sustainable solutions, there is still a need for better understanding how packaging design is related to adoption of insects. Much consumer research has been conducted to understand the acceptance of insects, but packaging design connected to practices has been given less focus. This article looks at packaging as a medium for stimulating adoption and links an empirical study on analogies for packaging design to practices of eating insects.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the challenges in the servitization journey of product-centric firms from an ecosystem perspective, considering both intra-firm and inter-firm levels. Prior research addresses the challenges of servitization in many sectors from different perspectives. However, the majority of studies primarily focus on the provider of an offering. There is a lack of in-depth studies on analysing servitization challenges from the broader set of network actors including customers, suppliers, and sub-suppliers at the intra-firm and inter-firm levels. A multiple case study method was used to analyse five product-centric firms from different industries that were engaged in servitization. At intra- firm level, our analysis shows that ‘coordination’ is a major challenge for the provider, supplier, and sub-suppliers, and that ‘uncertainty’ and ‘risk’ is a major challenge for the provider, customer, and supplier. At inter-firm level, ‘partnership management’ found to be a most significant challenge for provider, customer, supplier, and sub-suppliers. The study contributes to the discussion of the relational view approach for servitization research.

Design representations are important tools for designers in the design process. To help designers choose the appropriate representation, taxonomies have been proposed based on type, degree of fidelity, and when to use them. However, Design representations may also play an important role in designers' communication with users and enabling users as co-designers. Therefore, new taxonomies, focusing on design representations’ potential mediating roles in collaborative design processes with users, have been developed. The purpose of this interview study, with twelve designers within Swedish industry, was thus to investigate how designers use design representations in communication with users in the design process. The study indicates that the designers mainly interacted with users in order for them to answer specific design questions or to evaluate design solutions. If design representations’ value for facilitating communication and collaboration with users should be emphasized, we need to shift from teaching mainly taxonomies related to fidelity levels or when to use them in the design process, and rather educate future designers about design representations inherent potential to mediate and enhance the dialogue with users.