Engineering design and morphological analysis

Author's note: Dear readers, after a brief absence due to travel reasons, I renew my interaction with you, with the desire and hope of sharing experiences that may represent a contribution for your information and enjoyment.

Engineering design can be conceived as a process of solving problems, an action to solve needs in any area of ​​life at different levels of complexity. The designer in engineering incorporates knowledge from physics and mathematical sciences added to practical experiences to adapt processed materials for obtaining consumer or consumer goods, applying criteria of economy and conservation.
The morphological analysis to which we will refer is derived from the General Morphological Analysis developed by Fritz Zwicky [1], Swiss Astrophysical and Aerospace Scientist at the California Institute of Technology (California Institute of Technology), who introduced it to investigate the totality of existing interrelations in complex, multidimensional problems of non-quantifiable variables derived from their astronomical research.
These ideas will be complemented with practical example in a forthcoming publication, in such a way that the reader will have an application guide of the described method. < > Figura 1. Fritz Zwicky.(Author´s photo array, sources: discovermagazine.com [2], britannica.com[3]) This approach complements the formal mathematical paths of design and cause-effect modeling. It is oriented towards a modeling process relying more on processes of judgment and internal consistency between the variables of the problem to be solved than in processes of causality.
Basically, morphology deals with the study of form, and this meaning is widely applied to the particularities of each discipline, as in biology when describing or comparing the constituent structures of living beings, in linguistics when studying the structure of a language through variations in words, or in geology when studying the origin and evolution of the terrestrial layers.
• ────── ✾ ────── • We will approach the morphological analysis from our field of action through the realization of a concrete example, keeping in mind that at some point of development, the subjectivity of the designer will be present and have participation, without losing given the need to limit such subjectivity to the minimum possible, so that we can verify the usefulness of the method to be developed.
Methodologically, one begins by identifying and defining the dimensions or parameters of the problem to be studied, that is, having knowledge of the determining factors of the problem. These parameters will confront each other, one against each other, assigning attributes with value ranges to determine the relevance of each interrelation. From the perspective of engineering, these attributes are expressed through characteristics or design concepts related to the physical form and functionality that the product should have. In the social sciences, concepts are often political and philosophical postulates that have to be fulfilled as a result of research. In any case, a multidimensional matrix known as a matrix or "morphological box" [4] is generated (Figure 2), similar to a file cabinet .
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Figure 2. Morfological box Box size or matrix will then depend on the number of dimensional variables or parameters and the number of attributes with their design concepts and weighting categories, which may be more complicated to manage as long as they are higher the factors indicated. Each transverse plane of the matrix, in a normal direction to the plane of parameters, represents a field of interrelationships with assigned value attributes, which are placed in the "tabs" of the filing cabinets. The box in Figure 2 denoted as p 3 p 4 a 2 represents parameter 3 facing parameter 4, whose crossing has been related to the design concept of attribute 2 and it will have a weighting criterion with assigned value (v) that will appear in the box. The individual analysis of each plane facilitates the study of the n-dimensional matrix [(p) x (p-1) x (ca)], where c represents the number of design concepts per attribute. For example, if the attribute is color, then red, yellow and green would be design concepts of that attribute and its relevance would be weighted, either qualitatively or statistically. The totalization of the values ​​in each plane throws the preponderance of the interrelations between the parameters in the definition of the solution of the problem.
• ────── ✾ ────── • To define the design concepts, it is practical to decompose the problem into levels, corresponding to the specific objectives, to the sub-functions or sub-tasks that each part of the whole will carry out to reach those specific objectives leading to the final objective and to the attributes that will allow to establish the design concepts to be evaluated, requiring the weighting or assessment criteria to be applied. These ideas will be complemented with practical examples in a forthcoming publication, in such a way that the reader will have an application guide of the described method.