Introduction to Engineering - Engineering Perspectives - Lecture Slides, Slides of Process Engineering

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Introduction to engineering

Engineering Versus Science

• Scientists
  • Understand why our world behaves the way it does (“laws of nature”)
  • Study the world as it is
  • Thinkers
• Engineers
  • Apply established scientific theories and principles to develop cost-effective solutions to practical problems - Cost effective - Consideration of design trade-offs (esp. resource usage) - Minimize negative impacts (e.g. environmental and social cost) - Practical problems - Problems that matter to people
  • Change the world
  • Doers (^2)

Engineering Disciplines

• Major Disciplines
  • Mechanical engineering
  • Electrical engineering
  • Civil engineering
  • Chemical engineering
  • Industrial engineering
  • Computer engineering
    • A subspecialty within electrical engineering at many institutions
• Specialized, Non-Traditional Fields
  • Aerospace engineering
  • Materials engineering
  • Biomedical engineering
  • Nuclear engineering
  • etc.

Electrical/Computer Engineering (ECE)

• Largest of All Engineering Disciplines
  • About 353,000 or 26% (out of 1.4 million engineers) were electrical and computer engineers (U.S. Department of Labor Statistics in 2005)
• Concerned with electrical devices and systems and with

the use of electrical energy

• Specialties
  • Electronics
    • Design of circuits and electric devices to produce, process, and detect electrical signals
  • Communications
    • A broad spectrum of applications from consumer entertainment to military radar

Mechanical Engineering

• Second Largest Engineering Discipline
  • About 221,000 or 16% (out of 1.4 million engineers) were mechanical engineers (U.S. Department of Labor Statistics in
• Concerned with designing tools, engines, machines,

and other mechanical equipment

• Areas
  • Energy
    • Production and transfer of energy and conversion of energy from one form to another
  • Structures and motion in mechanical systems
    • Design of transportation vehicles, manufacturing machines, office machines, etc.
  • Manufacturing
    • Design and build requisite equipment and tools to convert raw materials into final products

Industrial Engineering

• “Industrial Engineering is concerned with the design, improvement, and installation of integrated systems of people, material, information, equipment, and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, and social sciences together with the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design to specify, predict, and evaluate the results to be obtained from such systems (IIE (Institution of Industrial Engineering), 1985)
• Also known as systems engineering, production engineering, operations management
• Fields
  • Operations research
  • Human factors
  • Quality control
  • etc.

Industrial Engineering

• Quality Control

• Ensure products or services are designed and produced

to meet or exceed customer requirements

• Similarity to Other Engineering Disciplines

• Trained in the same basic ways as other engineers
  • Take foundation courses in mathematics, physics, chemistry, humanities, and social sciences

• Difference from Other Engineering Disciplines

• Emphasis on both people and technology
  • Focuses on how people interact with a system
  • Concern for the human element leads to system designs that enhance the quality of life for all people

Design

• Wikipedia Definition

• Process of originating and developing a plan for a

product, structure, system, or component

• Achieve Goals with Constraints

• Goals
  • The purposes of the design
    • What is for? Who is it for? Why do they want it?
• Constraints
  • Material, cost, time, regulation, etc.
• Trade-off
  • Which goals or constraints can be relaxed so that others can be met

• Understand the Material

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To design a system that involves humans, we have to

understand humans, their physiological, psychological

and social aspects and how they interact with the other

components of the system

How to Make Good Design

• Recognize that systems are built for users and thus

must be designed for the users

• Recognize individual differences
• Recognize that the design of things and procedures can

influence human behavior and well-being

• Emphasize empirical data & evaluation
• Rely on scientific method
• Recognize that things, procedures, environments, and

people do not exist in isolation

QWERTY Keyboard

• Layout
  • QWERTY are first six letters at the top row of alphabetical keys
  • The layout of the digits and letters is generally fixed except a few variations in some nations’ keyboards - e.g. French keyboards interchange both "Q" and "W" with "A" and "Z", and move "M" to the right of "L"
  • Non-alphanumeric keys vary
    • e.g. There is a difference between key assignments on British and American keyboards - Above 2 and 3 on the UK keyboard are the <“> and <£>, respectively, whereas <@> and <#> are on the USA keyboard
    • The placement of brackets, backslashes and such like vary
• Not optimal for typing

Dvorak Keyboard

• An alternative standard keyboard layout to QWERTY,

patented in 1936 by August Dvorak and William Dealey

• Designed to address the problems of inefficiency and

fatigue that characterized the QWERTY keyboard layout

• Speed improvement of 10% ~ 15%
• Reduction in user fatigue due to the increased ergonomic layout of the keyboard
• Has failed to replace QWERTY standard
• Currently, all major operating systems (e.g. Apple OS X,

Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux) can ship the Dvorak

keyboard layout in addition to the QWERTY layout

Chord Keyboard

• Only a few keys are used
• Allow users to enter characters or commands formed by pressing several keys together, like playing a chord on a piano (illustration)

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 Advantages

 Extremely compact and thus can be built into a device (e.g. a pocket-sized computer) that is too small to contain a normal sized keyboard  A large number of combinations available from a small number of keys allows text or commands to be entered with one hand, leaving the other hand free to do something else

 Disadvantages

 Lack of familiarity  Cannot be used by a "hunt and peck" method, so their use is restricted to applications where additional training can be justified  Hunt and peck typing (or two-fingered typing) is a common form of typing, in which the typist must find and press each key individually

Usability

• Concerned with making systems easy to learn and use
• A Usable System is
  • Easy to learn
  • Easy to remember how to use
  • Effective to use
  • Efficient to use
  • Safe to use
  • Enjoyable to use
• Why is Usability Important
  • Many everyday systems and products seem to be designed with little regard to usability, which leads to frustration, wasted time and errors

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Examples of interactive products: mobile phone, computer, personal organizer, remote control, soft drink machine, coffee machine, ATM, ticket machine, library information system, the web, photocopier, watch, printer, stereo, calculator, videogame etc….