The Design Synthesis Exercise
Joris Melkert, Faculty of Aerospace Engineering
13-4-2015
Delft
University of
Technology
Challenge the future
Overview
• The educational philosophy and program
• The Design/Synthesis Exercise
• Four examples
• Message: For Engineering studies it is better to focus on
undergraduate design than on undergraduate research
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The educational philosophy and program
Bachelor (3 year)
Master (2 year)
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The educational philosophy and program
Aerospace Engineering
(e.g. Calculus
& Physics)
General Engineering courses
year 1
year 2
year 3
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The educational philosophy and program
Engineering design is the process of devising a system, component, or
process to meet desired needs. It is a decision-making process
(often iterative), in which the basic science and mathematics and
engineering sciences are applied to convert resources optimally
to meet a stated objective. Among the fundamental elements of the
design process are the establishment of objectives and criteria, synthesis,
analysis, construction, testing and evaluation.
The engineering design component of a curriculum must include most of
the following features: development of student creativity, use of openended problems, development and use of modern design theory and
methodology, formulation of design problem statements and specification,
consideration of alternative solutions, feasibility considerations, production
processes, concurrent engineering design, and detailed system
description. Further it is essential to include a variety of realistic
constraints, such as economic factors, safety, reliability, aesthetics, ethics
and social impact.
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History
• Design Synthesis Exercise:
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Start in 1997
Based on earlier aircraft design exercises
Planning: 10 weeks - full time - for all BSc students
Conclusion of the Bachelor’s Programme (Q4 of third year)
1997:
2002:
2008:
2009:
2010:
4 groups of 10 students
15 groups of 10 students
19 groups of 10 students
24 groups of 10 students
28 groups of 10 students
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The Exercise
• Synthesis of knowledge and skills of Aerospace BSc Curriculum
(Student gets an idea about how far they are – w.r.t. knowledge
and skills – after 2.5 year)
• Design of
• objects (e.g., a 100-seater aircraft)
• missions (e.g., to discover water-ice on the Moon)
• Design is much more than to
• conceptualize / draw / dimension
• Design is to come up with a solution for a problem/assignment in
a structured way:
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Analysis of the problem
Define (and review) requirements
Come up with more than one solution
Do a trade-off based on pre-defined criteria
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The Exercise
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Each year: innovative ideas
Challenging for both students and staff
All sections in the faculty have to contribute
Very high study efficiency
• Students are extremely motivated
• 15 ECTS in 10 weeks is a nominal score!
• Hardly any drop-outs!
• Each year: evaluation (may) result(s) in changes
• Finalized projects sometimes lead to:
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New insight
Follow-up DSE assignments
Internationally accepted papers
Actual projects (DelFly, DART, …)
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The Exercise
• Conclusion of DSE:
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Poster
One-day symposium
Professional Jury (ESA, NLR, Dutch Space, European Universities, …)
Award for the winner!
• DSE book
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Each team provides an "executive summary"
Book contains overview of all projects
Not only a nice overview ….
High PR value: we can show “the world” what our students can do!
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As it is now: the main players …
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Organization Committee
“Assignment-evaluation committee” – partially external
Student-assistants
Educational office – admittance to the exercise
Study counselors – handling complaints on admission
Principal tutors – in charge of a project
Coaches – helping the principal tutor (2 per project)
(External clients)
Lecturers and coaches for Project Management/ Systems
Engineering, Oral Presentations and Library Instruction
• Jury during the symposium
• THE STUDENTS!!
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As it is now: prerequisites
1. Completed first year
2. Completed second year
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no more than one course with 5 (max. 5 ECTS)
all other courses grade 6.0 or more
all projects completed
all exercises and practicals completed
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As it is now
• No holidays
• Supporting courses on project management, systems engineering,
library utilization and oral presentations
• Concluded with a report, a poster presentation and a presentation
on the concluding one-day symposium.
• Both group and individual performance will be judged
• Peer and self evaluation
• Team of three coaches (1 principal tutor and 2 additional coaches
from three different discipline groups)
• Limited resources (project room, computers, small budget)
• Students as a group are responsible for the outcome
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Grading
Technical Quality
Team Organisation Aspects
• Commitment
• Attitude
• Initiative
• Management of Resources
• Communication
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Peer evaluation
Consistent thoughout project
Something happened??
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Geyser Hopping
on Saturn’s Moon Enceladus
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METOPE
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Investigate geysers and determine composition
Establish existence of subsurface ocean at south pole of Enceladus
Characterize this ocean
Investigate surface, subsurface and mantle dynamics
Repeat measurements at different location(s)
• Customer: Dr. Andrew J. Ball, ExoMars Instrument Engineer,
ESA/ESTEC
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METOPE
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Cost Enceladus lander segment <1000M€
No contamination of Enceladus environment during and after mission
Use off-the-shelf technology and hardware, where possible
Operation window 2020-2030
Mission duration lander 6 months
Mass < 500 kg (TBC)
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METOPE
Power – Mass – Cost –
TheReliability???
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METOPE
Design down to sub-system
level:
• Instrumentation
• Propulsion and Repositioning
• Power
• Thermal Control
• Guidance, Navigation and
Control
• Command & Data Handling
• Communication
• Structure
• Mechanisms
Cost: M€ 806
Peak power: 140 W (6 hrs)
Landing mass: 335 kg
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Delfly
Design a Micro Aerial Vehicle that can fly like a bird or insect
and is able to do this autonomously
with the use of an onboard camera.
Key technical requirements that are imposed on the design are:
- Fly using flapping wing technology
- Be autonomous using vision-based technology
- Be structurally sound
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Delfly
Constraints on the design:
- Weight: close to 15 g
- Wingspan: less than 45 cm
- Cost: within a budget of € 5000
- Noise level: less than 60 dB at a distance of 15 m
- Endurance: at least 5 min
- Slow flight: less than 5 m/s
- Use of COTS components
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Delfly
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Delfly
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Delfly
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Delfly
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Delfly
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