Industrial design means different things to different people. Industrial designers typically focus on the physical appearance, functionality, and manufacturability of a product, though they are often involved in far more during a development cycle. For engineers, industrial design is the process of developing products that fulfill the function they were meant to perform. From the engineering perspective, design can be formally defined as the systematic application of scientific concepts, mathematical principles and creativity in order to create a structure, system or machine that performs an intended function.The design should have a geometric relationship with each other and to other objects in the system. It should also have the requisite amount of strength to transmit as well as resist intended forces. Moreover, the design should be such that each component is easily accessible in case repairs need to be carried out, be aesthetic, and be economically viable to manufacture. Ultimately, the end goal of any industrial design process is to create a product that responds to customer needs.
Put succinctly, industrial design deals with form, while industrial design engineering deals with functionality. Quite often, and especially for complex products, the two overlap. For the purpose of this article, when we say ‘industrial design’, we mean ‘industrial design engineering’.
The engineering design process relies on design principles like the need for a model and the need to ensure that failure (for whatever reason) does not prove fatal. In addition, it should ensure that the problem solving incorporates all engineering parameters that will affect the performance of the structure, system or machine and validate all the hypothesis made by actual prototyping. It must be open to new ideas in the product development phase and ensure that all the parts / components can be manufactured using existing technology.Industrial design engineering is thus a specialization in the engineering discipline in which systemic thinking converges with the creative process.Industrial design engineers are professionals in their domain that specialize in applying scientific and technical knowledge to create products, systems or machines. The main objective of engineering design is to understand the requirement, and devise a product / machine that works correctly, that is efficient and environmentally friendly and that meets the expectations with which it was projected. It is also concerned with adhering to legal safety requirements that vary from country to country.For example, the carbon emission requirements of India are different from that of China, and design engineers need to figure a way to control emission from an automobile model depending upon the legal requirements of the country in which the model will be used.
Selection of Material
Each component typically undergoes through three manufacturing processes:
The selection of raw material is a critical part of the manufacturing process, as product workability is directly connected to it. Not all processes are conducive to all machining processes. For example, you cannot use wrought iron for components that need to sustain sudden loads. Design engineers are also actively involved in identifying the right material, or a combination of materials that will satisfy the product requirements.
The emergence of 3D printing has mitigated these disadvantages to a certain degree. Advanced industries in India and other countries of the world today use 3D printing to directly create prototype from a CAD file, eliminating the need for any sort of tooling and processing, at least for the prototyping stage. Of course, it will take some time before 3D printing is extensively used for industrial production, especially metal components. Although we do see 3D printing being increasingly adopted for parts, and tools manufacturing.
Industrial Design Software
Design process typically starts with the definition of a problem and then proceeds to generate concepts to solve that problem. Each product can be defined by its basic properties like structure, form, material, dimensions and topology.The process of industrial design is often collaborative, and industrial designers may work with other professionals such as graphic designers, artists, marketers and manufacturers. The final aim of this process is to create a product that serves the function it was meant to perform.
While 3D modelling has been a part of the profession of industrial design even before computers were introduced, building full-sized models in today's world has been thoroughly transformed by the introduction of CAD. 3D CAD modelling and rapid prototyping (3D printing) has now become mainstay of product development in the industry. Generative design (which we will cover in detail in another article) uses AI to autonomously create optimal designs from a set of system design requirements. Good design software allows easy creation and modification of models, uses NURB (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines Modelling- an acronym for mathematical representation of 2 or 3 D objects that are used to create and represent complex objects. Models created using the NURBS modelling technique are highly efficient, flexible, and geometrically precise.) In addition, industrial design software provides quick simulation and interactive engineering design environment for rapid design exploration and product creation.The key features of good industrial design software also includes geometry creation and simplification, ease of generating dynamic motion of complex mechanisms, topology optimization options, providing structural analysis for major stress types. It must allow multiple assembly configurations which can then be used to evaluate various design scenarios and the resulting concepts. Today's leading industrial software like Altair Inspire™ offers all these modern technologies that facilitate industrial design.
To sum up, the industrial design software should be a concept design tool which the engineering team can use to run structural optimization, finite element analysis (FEA), motion analysis, and additive manufacturing analysis. It should be intuitive and powerful enough to enable simulation-driven design throughout the entire product development lifecycle (PLM), from concept to reality. Good industrial products are possible only with such feature-driven design software. Coupled with generative design and 3D printing, they provide a cutting-edge tool in today’s competitive world. When used early in the design process, good industrial design software permits the creation of designs that are focused on both performance and manufacturability. It empowers the users to explore, develop, and manufacture high-performance products in a single intuitive development environment.