DI:17.1 DESIGN

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Recall the basic process of design (or at least one of the many)

The important phases of this diagram are,

- The ongoing refinement of the overall design

- The ongoing refinement of the detailed design

- The analysis of the design

This diagram (or at least the main concepts) form the basis for CAD systems. A complete CAD system will provide as much of the structure above as possible.

Some of the tools provided in a CAD environment are,

- Innovative and conceptual design

- Qualitative design analysis

- Structuring of part (eg. assemblies)

- Knowledge based/intelligent design tools

- Engineering design information (standards lookup, or electronic catalogues)

- Optimization

- Design interfaces, and tools

Some applications are well suited to 2D CAD systems,

- PCBs (Printed Circuit Board Design)

- ICs (Integrated Circuit Design)

- Mapping (road maps, topographical maps)

Consider the example of a sheet metal layout

3D CAD systems are becoming widely used for Mechanical design in a number of businesses these days including,

- Aircraft Design

- Automotive

- Consumer electronics

- etc.

CAD systems provide advantages such as,

- Visualization

- Minimizes design errors

- Graphical display of hard to visualize information (eg. 3D warping of plastic part)

- Standardized drawings, and documents

- Faster lead time

- Customer perception is improved

- Productivity improvement over time

- Developing alternate concepts

- Evaluation of alternate concepts

- Analytical investigation of parts

- Experimental investigation

- Detailed drawings and specifications

- Preliminary `construction' of design prototype

- Easy bridge to prototype construction

- Easy to change designs

- Optimization