Analysis of Construction Inventive Patents Based on TRIZ

Abstract

In this research, a specific category of construction technologies, e.g., formwork, is selected for case study. 40 invention principles and 39 engineering parameters were applied with contradiction matrix to find out the improving and deteriorating parameters for a design case. By consulting the contradiction matrix, innovative principles can be found. It is concluded that TRIZ provides an effective approach for improvement of construction problem solving in terms of time and cost. Moreover, the principles identified by TRIZ also assist the construction technology researchers in searching direction for technology advancement. Forty innovative principles of TRIZ are used in this article to analyze the patents of formwork engineering in the construction industry in Taiwan and to investigate current innovative trend, besides, contradiction matrix is used to investigate the innovative concept of operability and automation demand of formwork. Keywords: TRIZ, 40 Principles, Construction innovation, Formwork 1. MOTIVATION Construction industry is a labor-, technology-, variance-, and complication-intensive industry. There are patents of new material and construction method generated continuously to improve the cost and quality. Generally, the newly created concepts or ideas are sudden ideas. Usually a new invention is neither practical nor systematic enough to consider all aspects of a thing. As a result, the original thought of a new invention is difficult to be realized. It is desirable to develop systematic approach for patent analysis to expedite the invention of new material and construction method for the construction industry. Therefore, this article presents the result of a research applying the forty inventive principles of TRIZ (Theory of Inventive of Problem Solving) to analyze the patented formwork technologies in Taiwan. By analyzing the evolution trends of formwork patents with TRIZ principles, one can easily generate new ideas for invention. Finally, the contradiction matrix of TRIZ is used to provide innovative concept for future advancement of formwork in construction industry based on innovative development of operability and automation.