Abstract
Conceptual design is the most critical phase of engineering design process since the great majority of product cost is determined and a basic solution that significantly influences other phases is obtained in this phase. In the phase, there are still some vital issues need to be developed, such as applicability to practice, finding high innovative solutions. In this paper, to overcome these challenges, we aim to establish a model of innovative conceptual design process by incorporating systematically TRIZ and QFD into Pahl and Beitz's conceptual design approach. Herein TRIZ is used as a problem finder, a solution trigger, and a solution improver, which is one original contribution of this study. QFD is used for converting customer needs into design parameters that are further taken as criteria in the step of evaluation, which is another original contribution of this study. The applicability of the proposed model is demonstrated through a case study. The case study shows that the proposed model allows designers to find easily innovative and customer-centered solutions. Based on Altshuller's the levels of innovation, the effectiveness of the proposed model is evaluated, and consequently obtained innovative solutions at Level 2-4.
