Category Archives: _Doc-Prep Guidance

TAD Section 8.2 — Assembly Highlights

1 Organization and Formatting

1.1 General (same as for other B-sheets; follow this link for easy reference)

1.2 Sheet-Specific — Making it All Fit

It’s a blank page; use it however you wish. But, be concise enough to not need more than five (5) pages. Five pages is enough space, and having less than two (2) pages is unusual.

2 Content Presentation

There is no specific Page Input textbox/content to be addressed for this page.
Referencing detailed drawings/prints in the appendix, describe how the system is assembled step by step. Include CAD renderings and/or actual pictures of the assembly processes/steps. Someone should be able to replicate your prototype from this section, the bill of materials, and the referenced appendix.
Annotate any illustrations and describe any issues encountered and the way they were resolved or could be resolved.
Be sure to keep images and annotations large enough that they are easily read.
Complete the sheet with the Page Output textbox. Include a couple conclusions or takeaways based on what is on the sheet. Think of it as answering a reader’s question “so what?” and/or “why should I care?”

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Updated September 21, 2022

TAD Section 8.1 — Part Manufacturing Highlights

1 Organization and Formatting

1.1 General (same as for other B-sheets; follow this link for easy reference)

1.1 Sheet-Specific — Making it All Fit

It’s a blank page; use it however you wish.

2 Content Presentation

There is no specific Page Input textbox/content to be addressed for this page.
Referencing detailed drawings/prints in the appendix, describe how at least two non-purchased (i.e., not commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)) components are manufactured.
Annotate any illustrations and describe any issues encountered and the way they were resolved or could be resolved.
Be sure to keep images and annotations large enough that they are easily read.
Complete the page by populating the Page Output textbox. Include a couple conclusions or takeaways based on what is on the page. Think of it as answering a reader’s question “so what?” and/or “why should I care?”

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Updated September 21, 2022

TAD Section 7.2 — Design-Decisions Summary

1 Organization and Formatting

1.1 General (same as for other B-sheets; follow this link for easy reference)

1.1 Sheet-Specific — Making it All Fit

Adjust the page however you want by resizing boxes. Be sure to keep images and annotations large enough that they are easily read. Be sure to include images; there is plenty of space for images.

2 Content Presentation

Commence this page by populating the Page Input textbox. In this case, the page input includes conclusive elements from your detail-design engineering work that are relevant to the areas of design decisions covered here.
Provide descriptions of design decisions made in regard to the three specific, always relevant Decisions and Features Specifics are as follows:
- Safety-Driven Decisions and Features: Safety is of utmost importance in any product or service. Describe features of your concept and the related design details intended to ensure safety, as well as any specific analyses that support realization of a safe-to-use product or process. Demonstrate the ways safety considerations influenced your design decisions.
- Manufacturability-Driven Decisions and Features: Describe detail-level and system-level/concept-level decisions made to facilitate ease of manufacture of components and their subsequent assembly into the system. Use engineering data to support your decisions.
- Material-Selection Decisions and Features: Justify decisions regarding material selection for key components, with reference to results from the detail-design engineering work-product. Note any material substitutions made for the purpose of prototype manufacturing (e.g., use of a wrought alloy machined for the prototype versus use of a casting (of cast alloy) for the final product). Justify that the substituted material should be sufficiently representative of the material intended for the final product. Considerations include:
  - availability of materials
  - availability of facilities (internal and/or outsourced) to work with certain materials
  - impact of both materials and facilities on manufacturability
  - other materials considered but not used and the reason(s) they were discarded as options
- Other Decisions and Related Features: For each item below, briefly summarize the ways in which each item influenced (or did not influence) your design decisions. In this list, unlike the three specific, always-relevant ones noted above, there is greater likelihood (though still relatively rare) that a topic is not applicable. But, in that case, you must convincingly justify it. Anything addressed as an afterthought rather than during the early design stages should be noted as a “late-stage enhancement.”
  - Reliability: What steps has the team taken to determine if the final design is reliable? Whether process or product-oriented, each project has potential reliability issues.
  - Maintainability and Serviceability: Discuss what steps the team took to ensure the design is low-maintenance and easy-to-service when maintenance is needed. Examples include construction with “commercial off-the-shelf” parts, simple assembly and disassembly processes, standard sizing of components, etc.
  - Aesthetics: Includes any considerations made in regard to physical appearance, but from a design standpoint, not a matter of visual quality of workmanship. While visual quality is important, focus here on choices made to benefit the end-user, i.e., design of a controller or interface, color scheme, etc.
  - Human Factors: The focus here is how a human interfaces with the device/system, physically, cognitively, etc. Things to consider, for example, are placement of controls, placement of indicators, repetitive motions, ease of motions, potential for mental errors, minimization of physical error opportunities (physical interface robustness) in general.
  - Environmental Sustainability (including Retirement, Reuse and Remanufacture): While this may not be relevant for all projects, most projects have some type of environmental impact. Discuss possible impacts and the ways the team has addressed them in the final design.
There is no specific Page Output textbox/content to be addressed for this page.

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Updated September 21, 2022

TAD Section 7.1 — Engineering Summary

1 Organization and Formatting

1.1 General (same as for other B-sheets; follow this link for easy reference)

1.1 Sheet-Specific — Making it All Fit

It’s a blank page; use it however you wish. But, be sure to use it carefully to fit as much as you can while maintaining clarity and connectivity among the engineering results. You can have up to three (3) pages if needed. Three pages is enough space, and one page is not significantly more space than needed (i.e., if you have a lot of excess space on a single sheet, you have likely fallen short, and the remedy is not just making the text and/or figures obnoxiously big to consume space).

2 Content Presentation

There is no specific Page Input or Page Output textboxes/content to be addressed for this page.
Summarize calculations and other technical/engineering work done to flesh out the details of your design.
- Describe the modeling and simulation engineering tools use and why each is used.
- Include graphical model representations and output of general software tools (e.g., FEA, CFD, Matlab, etc.).
- Include hand calculations and the like that may be specified for use by catalogs to appropriately select the right-sized component from the catalog.
- Provide results that support your decisions related to material, size, and shape of components, whether mechanical, electrical, or electromechanical.
Graphics should be annotated labeling key characteristics related to design decisions; be sure to keep images and annotations large enough that they are easily read.
Remember this is a summary covering inputs, outputs/results, and decisions based on the results; the details are in Appendix C building on previous content from the Preliminary/Feasibility Engineering work-product completed at the PCR stage.

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Updated September 21, 2022

TAD Section 6.3 — Primary Components and Rough Budget

1 Organization and Formatting

1.1 General (same as for other B-sheets; follow this link for easy reference)

1.2 Sheet-Specific — Making it All Fit

It’s a blank page; use it however you wish.

2 Content Presentation

This page addresses the second of the four key objectives of your PCR — to convince/persuade your PCR panel (and the SCD program director) that the project can and will be completed within the allocated/secured budget.

This section begins with a concise but thorough explanation of your budget. In table format, identify primary components and cost estimates for each item.
Costs should be broken down as either purchase price (for standard components), or (for non-standard components/systems) as material cost and manufacturing cost (internal manufacturing being far less expensive than external).
Provide the basis/assumptions (e.g., hourly manufacturing cost rates, manufacturing time estimates).
Use the following hourly cost rates:
- $0/hr for internal student machining, fabrication, assembly, etc.
- $40/hr for internal staff machining, fabrication, assembly, etc.
- $90/hr for external outsourced machining, fabrication, assembly, etc.
Calculate total estimated costs by category (standard, custom – materials, custom – internal manufacturing, custom – external manufacturing). Use of pie charts is tempting; if you do so, make sure you do a good job so it is meaningful and not fluff.

A thorough budgetary analysis with documentation supporting that you have secured commitments to cover any needs beyond the allocated budget is critical to successfully progressing through the PCR stage gate.

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Updated September 21, 2022

TAD Section 6.2 — Prototype-Stage Verification Plan

1 Organization and Formatting

1.1 General (same as for other B-sheets; follow this link for easy reference)

1.2 Sheet-Specific — Making it All Fit

This one should be straightforward. The verification plan tables in DP Manager have been sized and shaped to fit nicely on a B-sheet.

2 Content Presentation

This sheet (along with the previous sheet) addresses the third of the four key objectives of your PCR — this one to convince/persuade your PCR panel that you have a good plan for verifying (via prototype) that each engineering requirement ultimately is satisfied.

There is no specific Page Input or Page Output textboxes/content to be addressed for this page.
Ultimately, verification of your solution is achieved by evaluating a prototype — a realization of the solution — relative to your engineering requirements. Prototype evaluation includes applying methods of testing and measurement in the physical realm under standard, and in many cases excessive, operating conditions.
For each engineering constraint address each constraint indicating how you will demonstrate that it has been satisfied. Likewise, briefly describe how you will evaluate the prototype to demonstrate that the objective (target) has been achieved. .Include specifics of the fixtures, test protocols, sensors and instruments to be used, including justification of instrument and sensors in regard to their suitability (i.e., range, resolution, etc.).
Also describe methods of analyzing the data. Doing a thorough and credible job here is critical to successfully progressing through the PCR stage gate.
Insert a graphical rendering of this table from the DP Manager Excel workbook. Use the copy table buttons (in this case without the heading (“Copy Table Only”) for the TAD).

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Updated September 21, 2022

TAD Section 6.1 — Detail-Design Engineering Plan

1 Organization and Formatting

1.1 General (same as for other B-sheets; follow this link for easy reference)

1.1 Sheet-Specific — Making it All Fit

This one should be straightforward. The detail-design engineering plan table in DP Manager has been sized and shaped to fit nicely on a B-sheet with ample space to provide representative equations, graphics, etc. as supplementary notes as needed.

2 Content Presentation

This sheet (along with the next sheet) addresses the third of the four key objectives of your PCR — this one to convince/persuade your PCR panel that you have a good plan for verifying (pre-prototype) that each engineering requirement should be satisfied.

There is no specific Page Input or Page Output textboxes/content to be addressed for this page.
At the PCR stage the detail-design engineering plan must be fully fleshed out.
The preliminary/feasibility engineering work is, presumably, completed at the PCR stage; any of the preliminary/feasibility engineering work that is not yet completed at the PCR stage should be assimilated into the detail-design engineering plan.
Insert a graphical rendering of this table from the DP Manager Excel workbook. Use the copy table buttons (in this case without the heading (“Copy Table Only”) for the TAD).

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Updated September 21, 2022

TAD Section 5.3 — Preliminary/Feasibility Engineering Summary

1 Organization and Formatting

1.1 General (same as for other B-sheets; follow this link for easy reference)

1.2 Sheet-Specific — Making it All Fit

It’s a blank page; use it however you wish. But, be sure to use it carefully to fit as much as you can while maintaining clarity and connectivity among the engineering results. One page is enough space, but it is also not significantly more space than needed (i.e., if you have a lot of excess space, you have likely fallen short, and the remedy is not just making the test and/or figures obnoxiously big to consume space).

2 Content Presentation

This sheet covers the first of the four key objectives of your PCR — to convince/persuade your PCR panel that your final system-level concept is technically feasible.

There is no specific Page Input or Page Output textboxes/content to be addressed for this page.
Summarize calculations and other technical/engineering work done to support feasibility of your final system-level concept (i.e., supporting your claims that it can work to satisfy your specific engineering requirements).
This should include model-based systems engineering and/or kinematic modeling and simulation. Some projects may require both; other projects may require only one. To repeat, the intent is to show why your solution can work.
This engineering work could also include other types of analysis, for example, FEA, if it is critical to demonstrating feasibility. Note that each project is different and a catch-all, cookie-cutter description here cannot cover all situations.
Put the details in Appendix C; only provide a thorough summary here (e.g., note methods used and show final results and conclusions of feasibility as related to specific engineering requirements).

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Updated September 21, 2022

TAD Section 5.2 — Preliminary/Feasibility Engineering Plan

1 Organization and Formatting

1.1 General (same as for other B-sheets; follow this link for easy reference)

1.1 Sheet-Specific — Making it All Fit

This one should be straightforward. The preliminary/feasibility engineering plan table in DP Manager has been sized and shaped to fit nicely on a B-sheet with ample space to provide representative equations, graphics, etc. as supplementary notes as needed.

2 Content Presentation

The work you are planning for here will be the most important element in successfully completing your Project Continuation Review (PCR) at the end of Term-I — not the plan, but the work you have in this plan.

There is no specific Page Input or Page Output textboxes/content to be addressed for this page.
This page addresses the early stages of design-stage verification — performing preliminary engineering work in support of showing your selected system-level concept can work; that is, it is feasible.
At the CSR stage, you need to have a plan in place as to how you will do this once the final system-level concept is selected.
Insert a graphical rendering of this table from the DP Manager Excel workbook. Use the copy table buttons (in this case without the heading (“Copy Table Only”) for the TAD).

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Updated September 21, 2022

TAD Section 5.1 — Design Failure Modes and Effects Analysis

1 Organization and Formatting

1.1 General (same as for other B-sheets; follow this link for easy reference)

1.2 Sheet-Specific — Making it All Fit

This one should be straightforward. Hopefully the DFMEA table can be legible at the scaling required to make it fit. That is generally not a problem. You can split it vertically (an upper and lower portion, though each with headings) across two pages if needed.

2 Content Presentation

Follow the same “Content Presentation” guidance as for the DPFMEA, but in this case the focus is on what (product or process) you are designing (DFMEA), not the design project (DPFMEA) as it was before. Be sure you have given this work some serious thought (if you have not done so, review the associated work-product guidance and reduce the risk of losing your butt on otherwise avoidable failures and their effects).

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Updated September 21, 2022