1. Design Process
You already know the Scientific Method process. Today we are going to learn about the process engineers use when inventing new products. You will hear this referred to as the “technological process,” “design process” and/or the “engineering process”.
Technological design is a little different than the scientific method. Does anyone have an idea how it could be different? The same?
Both processes require research and observations. They also both have step- by-step procedures, and they both involve interpreting data and testing ideas.
The technological design process is about solving people’s problems.
It requires the design of a prototype. A prototype is a working model of a new technology.

2. The Engineering Design Process
Clearly Identify the problem or need.
Search for and evaluate possible solutions.
Select the best possible solution.
Develop a process or procedure for a prototype.
Test and evaluate the prototype.
Communicate the results.
Redesign and retest as necessary.

3. Air pollution caused by vehicles
How does the engineering process differ from the scientific method?
Research studies that have already been conducted. Find data to
support the negative effects of pollution on the environment.
Specify how your new technology is going to change the problem.
Design a model

4. Engineering Process Step 1 Define the Problem
The problem is the main issue preventing the need from being fulfilled.
If you determine there is too much pollution in the air, your next step would be to determine what the primary issue is that causes pollution.
You would then identify the cause as output of burned gasoline from vehicles.
The problem must be accurately and realistically defined in order to go about the process of solving it. So you must decide specifically what you are going to do to help the problem.
If you are unable to do this in a realistic way, time and money will be wasted and the original problem may still exist with no solution.

5. Engineering Design Process Step 2: Background Research
Research can be an independent, lonely endeavor or a dynamic group activity. Research must be focused and incorporate new ideas and a thorough exploration of old similar ideas. Sometimes the old ideas are the best. Ever heard the saying, “Don’t reinvent the wheel?” Old ideas that failed are sometimes great research gold mines; that idea may have failed due to a lack of new technology that may exist now.
1. Explore other solutions to the same and similar problems.
2. Look carefully at the environment in which your invention must operate.
3. Analyze the constraints of your project carefully. (A constraint is a factor that limits what you are able to do, such as an engine is too small to test what you need to test.)

6. Engineering Design Process Step 3: Specify Requirements
Design requirements state the important characteristics that your design must meet in order to be successful.
One of the best ways to identify the design requirements for your solution is to use the concrete example of a similar, existing product, noting each of its key features. Here is how to analyze:
A physical product
A software product or website
An environment
An experience
To complete the requirements step of the design process, you should write a design brief— a document that holds all of the key information for solving your problem in one place

7. Engineering Design Process Step 4: Brainstorm, Evaluate, Choose Solution
No ideas are bad ideas. It is important to consider all approaches to a problem. One that did not seem feasible or make sense in the beginning might be the way to go in the end. Not too many projects go through development on the first try or on the best idea at the time. The final project usually consists of a collection of ideas; some that were considered too risky, costly, or just plain crazy. Think back to famous inventors like Edison, Benjamin Franklin, the Wright Brothers, or Leonardo da Vinci. Can you imagine them using this process? How many tries did they make before they succeeded?
Solutions must be separated according to their pros and cons. This activity is better accomplished in a group setting. Brainstorming encourages a maximum amount of input from different levels of experience and different approaches to the problem. Alternative solutions can be analyzed and cataloged according to merit and possible use. After these ideas have been reduced to a manageable number, the numbers must be crunched to evaluate the probability and cost of a successful outcome, using the individual solutions. Larger factors come into play here, such as common sense and instinct. If it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it.
1. Come up with at least three design solutions and evaluate each of them.
2. Look at the number of parts that are being committed to the design. Are there enough? Can it be simplified?

8. Engineering Design Process Step 5: Design, Test, and Evaluate
The design phase of a product is perhaps the most challenging of the entire process. Once the idea has been fleshed out, it is time to sit down and figure out how to make it happen. Good designers are willing to be flexible when making tough decisions and willing to make trade-offs and omissions to make the design practical and possible.
The first step is to start sketching to get the ideas on paper. Sketching and drawing by hand enables you to tap your creative side. It is important to have accurate and complete sketches in order to translate the idea into drawings and models. You can find potential, and sometimes costly, flaws in a design before the real world prototype is constructed.

9. Engineering Design Process Step 6: Build a Prototype
The best way to know if a design will work in real-world conditions is to build a prototype. The prototype is an accurate working model of the final design. The prototype is evaluated for cost, aesthetics, durability, ease of construction, and meeting the design criteria.

10. Engineering Design Process Step 7: Test the Prototype
In this step, you will test your prototype to determine its effectiveness. Did your prototype meet the goals you set for it?
Is it the solution to your original problem?
Does it need to be edited or redesigned? If so, you will move to the redesign step.

11. Engineering Design Process Step 8: Redesign
If an initial design and prototype does not fully solve the problem or specifications, meet the design parameters, or stay within an acceptable cost, a designer may go “back to the drawing board” (or computer).
The engineering design process has a loop to go back to the design and refine or redesign. The biggest hurdle in this refinement/redesign is money.
Sometimes it is easier and less costly to settle for a slightly inferior design than spend the money to redevelop a nearly finished product.

12. Engineering Design Process Step 9: Communicate Results
This step is where you will draw your conclusions and determine if you will go on to the next step of building.