The course introduces students to a range of methods and approaches appropriate to mechanical engineering design. It does this through a complex ("messy") but moderately-bounded design task. The students take this design task from initial brief through to early embodiment stage in a group assignment, and then individually take a selected component through detail design to final expression as a manufacturing drawing.

Two and a half hours per week

None

None

45% Group Report

5% Oral Assessment & Presentation

50% Individual Reports (2 x 25%)

The course aims to illustrate, practice and develop an appropriate level of practical knowledge and skill relating to the integrated activities of Engineering Design and Manufacture.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ use the methods of engineering design practice, including consideration of environmental impact and sustainability, and assessment of potential failure modes and their effects;

■ research and assimilate user and market needs;

■ generate and evaluate innovative solutions to engineering design and manufacture;

■ use formal methods to support idea generation and creative thinking;

■ apply their prior engineering knowledge in an integrated manner to the design of a product capable of economic manufacture;

■ work with inexact or uncertain data, and be comfortable with the estimation and approximation typical of early-stage design activity;

■ recognise and deal with mutual or circular dependencies within the design problem;

■ present design ideas in a professional manner, including the use of CAD and other tools for representation and communication.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components of the course's summative assessment.