Case Studies in Design: An Introduction for Product Design and Engineering

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This book is fourth in a series of introductory books relating Product Design and Engineering.
This book is preceded by Book 1 , and by Book 2 , is followed by one further book on case studies .
The author gives a number of reasons for writing this series of books. One reason is that this accompanies a series of taught lectures that the author gives.
However, a more significant reason is that the author believes that there is a separation between the world of Product Design, and that of Engineering.
Product Designers tend to come from an artistic background. Engineers come from a background of mathematics and physics. Broader understanding of what design is, and how to design, tend to be lacking. Designers tend not to have a good understanding of the engineering difficulties with their design. Engineers do not have a broader understanding of the people and situations within which any design is first chosen.
The author, Robin McKenzie, has been involved with engineering all his life: in factories, industrial design and marketing, broader business relationships, and in teaching. He also has an insight into industrial product design. He is therefore well placed to link these two areas of design.
By engineering, the author also includes other technology based disciplines, such as architecture and computer science. The term engineering is used as a short hand description for all these technology based disciplines.
The series of books has been designed to be read one after the other. However, each of the books in this series is free standing, and can be read independently of the others.
In this fourth book the author describes some significant and extended cases in product design and engineering.
In the first chapter we describe the steps that Orville and Wilbur Wright took in their design for the first controlled heavier than air machine. Here we will see that they found out what the current state of understanding was at that time, and met and overcame the design issues with balancing of forces, need to have stability and control, and then of propulsion. The mathematics here is complex, though we will introduce one mathematical equation to assist in our understanding.
In chapter 2 we review an important aeroplane in British history, that of the Supermarine Spitfire, a fighter that helped Britain defend itself in a time when Germany might well have defeated Britain in war in 1940. We review later development of military aeroplanes, and the enduring legacy of the Spitfire in British culture.
In chapter 3 we describe the steps in the development of a new commercial engine by Rolls-Royce, the Trent 900 that powers the Airbus A380, the double decked super jumbo jet that was launched in 2007. Whilst this is a complex product, the steps followed in its design can be clearly set out.
Chapter 4 provides a broader understanding of what is required for flying, not just the aeroplane, but the whole systems for flight. In 50 years, commercial flying has changed from being an exciting luxury for the rich, to being available to all, certainly in the developed world. These systems tend to be more specialist systems as they are only used for flying.
Chapter 5 is a completely different area of design, that of design of artificial lighting, or lighting for short. This is an extensive area of design, and includes both aesthetics and engineering. We look at aspects of lighting design, the different sources of light themselves, and typical applications.
Our last chapter, chapter 6 is again somewhat different. This is the area of ergonomics, which aims to fit the workplace to the worker. This is particularly important to both product designers and to engineers.