Theory of Technical Systems – Relationships to Engineering Sciences

Abstract

Products (process or tangible systems) are defined with reference to standard ISO9000:2005. Designing products with a substantial engineering content, technical systems (TS), means to fully describe them ready for manufacture – in detail and assembly drawings, parts lists, adjustment instructions, customer instructions, etc. Designing must take into account all recognized requirements, especially implied and stated requirements for the designing-manufacturing-distributing organization, the intended transformation process (TrfP), and all other phases of the TS-life cycle, including societal norms, economic considerations, etc. The theory of technical systems (TTS) and its associated engineering design science (EDS) provides a framework for design considerations about engineering products, including the technology, TS-life cycle, properties, and other aspects of artificial transformations and their operators. The triad ‘theory - subject - method’ suggests that a systematic enginee-ring design method can be derived from TTS and EDS, to augment the usual intuitive design procedure, especially where the design problem is not routine. Engineering sciences are essential in this design process, (a) for analysis of existing systems and/or proposals for synthesis of designed systems, and (b) to assist as heuristics during design synthesis. Design synthesis is the more difficult operation, it requires iterative working. Several case examples have been published to demonstrate the application of the recommended systematic design method. Some of the relationships between engineering sciences and systematic design processes are explored to show their interdependence, and the need to provide a wider context in this area.