ME 2212 Chapter : Design Chapter 7
Document Summary
In today"s world, there are thousands and thousands of products. This makes it hard to create an entirely new product without violating an already exiting product"s patent. A good way to avoid this hassle is by reverse engineering a product. This functional decomposition allows anyone with basic engineering knowledge to completely understand the product and its purpose. The key to functional decomposition is to break down the item as slowly and carefully as possible to avoid having to make any assumptions about the product, which could be wrong. Another good source of ideas and solutions to complex problems can be found in the patent literature. Chances are the problem you encounter has been seen many times before, making this resource a good basis for almost all design processes. If further help is needed, analyzing contradictions can often lead to other good ideas.
