We all make use of these things am talking about but still they amaze us, they look like magic or is it miracle? its even very hard for some of us to believe their existence. Follow the conversation below between a man and his son some decades ago to give you a clue of some of these things am talking about ;
Son : Dad?
Father: Yes son.
Son: have u ever thought maybe we could power our lamp using Electricity.
Father : Never, that can not be possible. Why are u even asking?
Son : I have a problem with the lamp we are using.
Father : What is the problem?
Son : Its very hard to fire the lamp, the fuel is getting expensive, and even the smoke that comes out of it is annoying.
Father : You don't have any choice son.
Son : All right Dad, but I have another question. Do you ever think maybe we can communicate with people in another country without even traveling to meet them?
Father : Son, you need to stop dreaming. You are not God that perform wanders and miracles and you are not a magician so all this things can never be possible. Don't tell me you have another problem with the way we communicate with our people again.
Son : Yes Dad, I have a problem with it. Its very hard and expensive to get message delivered to our people.
Father : I already told you, you don't have any choice.
By now I guess we have a clue already. Some decades ago, there was nothing like electric lamp, but Thomas Edison made it possible. Communicating with people far away was a problem, but Alexander Graham Bell was able to solve the problem by inventing the Telephone. In the conversation, the father kept telling his son " You don't have a choice" but at least the son was able to identify their problem and even idealize a solution. Now let me tell you, what the son was doing is exactly the Genesis of all these wonders we enjoy now through Engineering.
In order to unravel our mystery, I would like to share with us " The secret of Engineering Inventions". This secret comprises Eight different steps as follows;
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Do not be surprised that all Engineering works and inventions was once a problem before they became the existing solution that we enjoy now.
Now trust me when I tell you that the first step to the achievement of all these wonders and inventions is exactly what that boy did in that conversation. What did he do?. The boy was able to know, identify and understand the problem they are facing with the lamp and the way they communicate with their people. This was exactly the first thing Thomas Edison did before inventing the Edison light bulb. Also, the man that invented the Telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, he knew exactly what the problem was, and what was the problem? Communicating with people far away was very hard and expensive.
Now you have found yourself a problem and you are very determined and interested in providing a solution to the problem. The second step is to seat up and get curious about the problem. What do i mean by getting curious? You make research by asking some set of questions like; has anybody done something about the problem before? If yes, How did they do it? If No, is there any other thing that is naturally or artificially existing that can be worked on or improved in order to solve the problem? By doing these, you would have gathered the necessary information about the problem and you would have known the necessary requirement to solving the problem.
You know your problem, you understand it, you have gotten all information about it and you know what is required to provide solution to the problem, then you are one step closer to the solution. This is the stage where you open your mind and allow ideas to flow through it, no matter the kind of idea it may be, just make sure you keep the topic in your mind and you focus on the problem you want to solve. If you are working as a team, allow everybody to share their ideas without criticizing or judging them. Make sure you welcome and encourage as many ideas as possible ! Remember : you don’t know which one of the ideas might work out.
This is the stage where you gather all your ideas and thought together and select the most preferable and promising solution keeping in mind your problem and referencing earlier researches that has been carried out. You might want to ask yourself some questions in order to get this done. Questions like ; which one of the ideas in step 3 is going to be more functional, if it is functional, is it going to be safe? And even if it is functional and safe, is it going to be economical?. You do this until you select the best idea and move forward with it.
Now you have gotten an idea to work on, but you can’t get it built without following a kind of plan and procedure. This stage is where you get to plan your idea by drawing it on paper or by using computer aided drawing to prepare your design. This is where you apply creativity and imagination in order to fine-tune your idea so as to make it buildable. Don’t forget : the design will show how exactly your idea is going to look and work, so make sure you put your best effort and do it perfectly.
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Prototype is just a model of your idea, its like building up your idea on a very small scale following the design and procedure you prepared in step 5. Although, prototype can be as big as the real thing but it is usually a smaller version of the real thing. The main objective of building a prototype is to test your idea against all constraints.
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This is the most important, the most interesting and the most frustrating part. This is the stage where you test your idea to know if it solves your problem or not. If it solves the problem, then its interesting because you will be very happy that the problem has been solved but if the problem is not solved, then its start getting frustrating. Your idea might be very perfect and provide the best solution to your problem but don’t be surprised if the whole thing does not go the way you want it.
The main purpose of testing your prototype is not to discourage you but instead to give you ability to provide answers to the questions that will be discussed in the next step. When it fails, that does not mean you should get frustrated, but make sure you learn something from every failure. Remember : Thomas Edison failed one thousand time before creating the Edison light bulb. Willis Carrier, the inventor of modern air condition, he tested his prototype four years before getting to the solution.
Image Credit : Pixabay
Now your prototype is cool and it worked very well, Oops!!! Maybe your prototype does not work the way you wanted it to work, either ways, you need to Evaluate. By evaluating, I mean you ask yourself some questions like Why did it work? Why didn’t it work? if it worked, How can it be improved? if it doesn’t work, What is required or What can be added to make it work? If you are successful in answering all these questions, then you did not fail, but you have learned something new and you have gotten the reason why your prototype did not work. This stage might take you back to step 5 several times because if your prototype didn’t work out, you would need to redesign , build and test it over and all over again until you are successful.
Engineering inventions are not magic, its just a gradual process of development. If you are so interested in solving the problem of man kind or maybe you want to contribute to the development of your society, all you need to do is look around you and look for a problem you can solve, follow the steps above and develop an idea. Things might not work out the way you wanted it, but when failure occurs, don’t be frustrated. Work on your idea until you find solution to that problem.
Engineering Design ProcessTech Engineering
