Fundamental Design Principles

Occam’s razor

In general, Occam's Razor states that the simplest explanation is usually true. In engineering, using Occam's Razor means to do something in the simplest manner possible.


Lateral thinking

It is a mental process of generating ideas and solving problems not directly, with a frontal attack, but by evaluation of a situation and approaching problem from a non-standard direction.


Engineering design practice

Engineering design practice depends on two factors:

  1. Background of the designer;

  2. Available technology.


Units and measurements

In general, engineers in the North America use English system, and in Europe - metric.


Off-the-shelf components in design

From the Occam’s razor we know that design should be as simple as possible. Therefore, a good practice is to find as many off-the-shelf parts as possible.


Modular design

The principle of modular design allows end user to customize, repair and reuse products by simple replacement of a faulty component.


Freezes

In engineering design freezes mark the end points of various development stages.


Accuracy, repeatability, and resolution

  • Accuracy – indicates how close a measured value is to the real quantity of what is being measured.
  • Repeatability – describes how well a system can reproduce an unchanged outcome.
  • Resolution – is the smallest variation the system can display.

Reference features

In engineering drawing, a reference is a relation with the datum from which the measurements are made on the part.

Back to top