Mechanical Engineering Design

Mechanical Engineering Design is one of the most significant branches of Engineering Design. Mechanical Engineering, simply put, is the process by which energy is converted into useful mechanical forms, employing machines that are specifically designed to conduct a task and obtain an output dictated by predefined requirements. It can either involve the creation of a new machine from scratch or upgrade an existing machine. The field of mechanical engineering design focuses on creating and drafting the plans for these mechanical devices and consumer goods. These designs lead to the creation of a product or process. Mechanical Engineering Design is an amalgamation of various disciplines of study including mathematics, kinematics, dynamics, engineering materials, metallurgy and engineering drawing. It also involves the application of other areas of focus such as thermodynamics, electrical theory, hydraulics, engines, turbines, pumps etc.

The process of designing a garment from scratch, including drawing, design, measurements, fabric selection & elasticity, finally culminating into stitching could be drawn as an elementary analogy to define mechanical design in layman terms.

Mechanical engineering design is a widely used area of practice in producing electric generators, internal combustion engines, mechanics inside buildings, and steam and gas turbines, as well as power-using machines, such as refrigeration and air-conditioning systems. It is also applied in areas of automobile research, robotic engineering and aerodynamics.

While there is no standardised procedure for mechanical engineering design, there are some thumb rules to keep in mind such as:

• ü  Internalizing the statement of purpose of the machine to be designed
•    Starting the mechanisms which would help attain the group of actions of movements required by the end product
•     Factoring in the energy acting on each part and the energy released by them
•    Undertaking a study for the various materials that can fulfil the requirements of the machine, factoring in the allowable degree of stress for the machine parts, wear & tare and lubrication
•     A high degree of safety must also be factored into the design

Since the invention of Computer Aided Design (CAD), mechanical engineering design has been revolutionized. CAD is the use of computer software to facilitate the generation, modification, and optimization of a machine or set of machines, facilitating precision, multiple iterations in design, comprehensive documentation and easier project management. To put it simply, Computer Aided Design is a computer technology that designs a product and documents the design process. It churns out 2D and 3D images, which can be rotated and even turned inside out. A special printer is required to print design products of CAD. CAD coupled with a popular rendering package can accentuate designs further. Initially, CAD was used only as digital drawing boards and design engineers had to undertake simulations, prototyping and manually input constraints, making engineering and design activities cumbersome. Today, mechanical design engineers breathe CAD. It is an end to end support mechanism for engineering design. There are various CAD software in the market, SolidWorks and Pro Engineer being the most sought after.

Computer Aided Design has revolutionized the engineering design space, bringing with it various possibilities such as:

ü  Mechanical Design Automation: MDA allows you to digitally model and automate a prototype, add custom functionalities, do multiple iterations enabling you to add enormous efficiency to manufacturing processes and cost reduction benefits.

ü  Computer-Aided Manufacturing: Fancy automating not just mechanical design but also manufacturing? Well, CAD makes it possible with Computer-Aided Manufacturing, a technology that enables you to automate manufacturing processes, estimate material requirements, reduce wastage, tooling accuracy, providing substantial economies of scale and efficiency benefits.

ü  CAD takes into account material properties and interactivity of various materials involved in the design/manufacturing process

ü  CAD significantly reduces the margin of error in materials and production

ü  CAD has revolutionized Inject Mold Manufacturing, helping automate the process of injecting and moulding plastics to optimise the process, minimize defects and bring efficiency in plastic flow in the tools involved in manufacturing.

 

Rising operating costs and the constant race to increase profits are urging mechanical design companies to optimize their product engineering and research & development lifecycles. The wide gamut of mechanical engineering design includes a variety of engineering, prototyping, modelling and designing solutions depending on industry, product and development cycle. As technology is getting smarter, benefits with CAD are becoming far-reaching and increasingly substantial. Let’s take a look at the various mechanical engineering services and technologies in specific industries available today:

v  Automotive Engineering Services: CAD blends well into the automotive landscape to provide benefits in areas such as body engineering, chassis engineering, automobile interiors and powertrain engineering.

v  Fluid Dynamics: CAD helps in areas such as fire simulation, blade design, ship hydrodynamics, combustion & emission analysis, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning which is tremendously beneficial for the aerospace, shipping, wind energy and petroleum industries. 

v  Fluid Oil Analysis: Fluid Oil analysis is useful in areas such as aerospace, construction, power generation, mining and oil & natural gas. CAD helps in analysis of fluid composition and density, scheduled oil sampling, spectrographic analysis and antifreeze among a score of many others.

v  CNC Programming: From milling, drilling and lathe cutting to multi-axis simultaneous machining, CAD can be applied at all these functional areas, aiding industries such as plastics, high-grade aluminium, electronics and alloys among others.

v  Piping Design: Benefits of CAD in piping design are seen across municipality, naval, aerospace, shipping, Oil & natural gas and power generation industries by detailed piping drawing & design, pipe stress & flexibility analysis, pressure & sizing calculations and heat & mass transfer calculations.

v  FEA Analysis: FEA or Finite Element Analysis is one of the broadest work areas of CAD. FEA, a numerical method used to solve problems of engineering and mathematical physics, can see its allied application with CAD in areas such as electromagnetics, fatigues & fracture mechanics, stress & structural analysis in fields such as civil engineering, education, electronics, chemical processing, industrial equipment and telecommunications among others.

v  Product Animation Services: CAD facilitates product and mechanical engineering animations which is particularly in large assembly lines, shipping, aerospace and a score of other heavy machinery producing industries.

Technology is indeed constantly evolving. Never would mechanical engineering designers back in the 80’s imagine the entire process of manufacturing being automated. Today, this is a possibility with Computer Aided Manufacturing. The future holds exciting innovations in the area of mechanical design. The age of touchscreen computers and haptics technology has brought more natural mechanical design interface. Going further, it will likely be artificial intelligence and quantum theory that will bring mechanical engineering design into its culmination of being a purely skilled vocation. If developments like virtual reality are factored into the mechanical design, soon a mechanical engineering designer may not longer to work in industries, cubicles, labs or workstations. They will be seen as technical artists, designing cutting-edge stellar designs in a remote/ virtual environment.