Separation Principles as an Early Exposure to TRIZ-Based Ideation in Engineering Kenneth M. Alfano, P.E. Engineering Undergraduate , University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, MI (USA)

Introduction Pedagogical Implementation Example Student Projects/Prototypes Engineers in industry and entrepreneurship often seek In the context of teaching Engineering Design in Ideation content taught included “traditional” [5] and training in ideation tools that facilitate brainstorming. ENGR100 (Section 200) from a multidisciplinary and TRIZ-based methods, with students free to use either. TRIZ – a Russian acronym translated “Theory of entrepreneurial perspective, the ideation phase was Each team first proposes a broadly-defined problem and Inventive ” – is a set of principles supplemented with open-source content on select then , builds, and tests a solution [6]. TRIZ concepts [3] (portions were adapted for lecture, long employed to help foster innovative solutions to Personal Bottle-Top Sipper Folding/Portable Tray technical problems in many fields [1]. In various class activity, and student reference). formulations, this has been part of engineers’ training Examples of Separation in Time at GE, , , , , Raytheon, Abraidable Material IBM, HP, Xerox, P&G, and other companies.

About TRIZ Desk-on-a-Backpack Modular Utensils “Partial Action” “Transforming State” “Cyclic Use” Surface Peg & PVC TRIZ has evolved as a broad system of approaches to Velcro Pen- help engineers conceive novel technical solutions Examples of Separation in Space Pocket Spring

Magnetic Stir-Bar Cushion when designing functional products. The approaches Slow commonly include the following [2]:

Fabric Fast • Identifying Recurring Patterns of Evolution Glue

• Working Backward from an Ideal Final Result “Extraction” “Exchangeability” “Non-uniformity” ………………………………………………………..Cushions • Exploiting Unutilized Resources (Many such sub-principles and associated examples were covered for Time, Space, Scale, and Direction.) Many students commented positively on the perceived • Resolving Conflicts Between Objectives

benefit of having some guidance in concept generation. These often involve abstracting a problem to find Industrial Case Study on Separation by Scale Future study may involve quantitative assessment of aspects in common with other/unrelated problems, Problem: Plating tanks give off corrosive gases, but impact of first-year exposure to Separation Principles. and have been developed largely by analyzing covering/uncovering the tanks slows production. millions of patents from many diverse disciplines. References

[1] Jana, R., “The World According to TRIZ,” The Separation Principles Business Week (2006). Resolving conflicts to avoid “trade-offs” is the most [2] Rantanen , K.,“Simplified TRIZ,” Ch. 2 (2007). prominent aspect of TRIZ. The best-known tool for [3] Opensourcetriz.com (Collaborative Authors). this is the “Contradiction Matrix,” which is indeed [4] Engineering Laboratories, Inc., “Solid Plastic Balls valuable, but unfortunately requires some expertise.

replace plating tank covers,” Thomasnet (2002). An alternative formulation involving many similar concepts as the Matrix – the “Separation Principles” – [5] Dym, C., and and Little, P., “Engineering Design,” rd is more generalized and deemed better for beginners. Solution: A “Cover” of Small Floating Objects [4]. 3 Ed., Ch. 5 (2008). These Principles entail identifying where competing Before exposure to the Separation Principles, the class [6] Relevant student-team course project deliverables objectives or “design contradictions” may not be was asked how this problem might be solved, and from ENGR100 (Sec. 200), taught by Kenneth Alfano. needed at the same time, in the same space, on the nobody suggested the above solution. After exposure The CAD was done in SolidWorks®, and 3D printing same scale, in the same direction or orientation, etc. to the Principles, several did so in a class exercise. was done at the UM 3D Lab.