Innovative Design Process Research Articles

Individual Growth and Development Indicators-Español: Innovation in the development of Spanish oral language general outcome measures

The population of Spanish-speaking preschoolers in the United States continues to increase and there is a significant need to develop psychometrically sound early language and literacy screening measures to accurately capture children’s ability in Spanish. In this paper, we describe the innovative design and calibration process of the new Individual Growth and Development Indicators-Español (IGDIs-E). We developed and tested two Spanish oral language measures: Identificación de los Dibujos/Picture Naming and Verbos (Expresivo)/Expressive Verbs with 976 Spanish-speaking preschoolers (4–5-years old; 50% female) across five states. Children were tested in Spanish in fall, winter, and spring across two academic years. Results provide evidence that the new IGDIs-E are psychometrically sound with no significant bias between genders and dialects of Spanish spoken in the United States. Cumulative results, the utility of the final measures, and the implications for data-based decision making with Spanish-speaking preschoolers is discussed.

Special Issue on “Transport of Fluids in Nanoporous Materials”

Understanding the transport behavior of fluid molecules in confined spaces is central to the design of innovative processes involving porous materials and is indispensable to the correlation of process behavior with the material structure and properties typically used for structural characterizations such as pore dimension, surface texture, and tortuosity. [...]

Application potentials of artificial intelligence for the design of innovation processes

The rapid development of digital technologies leads to dramatic changes of our economies and societies – and these are quite far-reaching. Technological progress especially in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, big data and business analytics, as well as augmented and virtual reality are providing a total digital connectivity and new possibilities for effective data analysis and handling. Enterprises expect higher productivity and opportunities for optimized performance by increasing use and integration of innovative technologies. Not only machines or intelligent algorithms are going to execute tasks, but new forms of human-machine interaction represent valuable enablers for positioning the central role of humans in design and development activities. In this paper, the authors present an overview of currently available technological solutions in the field of AI leading to new forms of human-machine interaction. Furthermore, functionalities of these technologies and development needs for generating ideas in early innovation processes are identified. The results of this first study build the basis for the next step aiming at mapping the analysed systems with current creativity techniques and methods for optimisation of the innovation process.

Solar Gate, Hull – form through function

The Solar Gate sculpture is one of a number of Arup-led interventions in Hull made possible through the city being awarded the title of UK City of Culture for 2017. The ethereal structure’s fabrication made use of local industry, allowing Hull’s industrial heritage and knowledge to reinvent itself to produce cutting-edge, contemporary art. This paper summarises the innovative design process that was followed by the team, testing methods in parametric design and evolutionary optimisation to take a design concept and refine it into an optimised structure. It describes how digital methods of working were used to facilitate a fast and efficient design dialogue between engineer and architect, leading to a design where the inherent beauty results from its engineering efficiency.

The Challenge of Food Systems Research: What Difference Does It Make?

Recent discussions on the results of food security programs devote key attention to complex interactions between policy interventions and business innovation for improving nutrition outcomes. This shift from linear approaches of food and nutrition security towards a more interlinked and nested analysis of food systems dynamics has profound implications for the design and organization of research and innovation processes. In this article we outline our experience with interdisciplinary and interactive processes of food systems analysis at different scale levels, paying systematic attention to three critical system interfaces: intersections with other systems, interactions within the food system, and incentives for food system innovations (the so-called: 3I approach). We discuss the importance of these interfaces for leveraging food system adaptation and managing food system transformation. We also provide illustrative examples of the relevance of food systems analysis for the identification of appropriate and effective programs for reinforcing the resilience, responsiveness and inclusiveness of novel food and nutrition programs.

Solar-driven high temperature hydrogen production via integrated spectrally split concentrated photovoltaics (SSCPV) and solar power tower

Hydrogen production can be achieved via combined concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) and concentrated solar power (CSP) in which concentrated radiation is spectrally split and then converted in a photovoltaic receiver and a thermal absorber. This study thus proposes an innovative solar process design integrating both thermal and quantum components of solar energy while providing a complete assessment of its global performance to demonstrate its practical interest. A stand-alone solar-to-hydrogen path was modeled and numerically simulated, which was both electrically and thermally supplied by a solar power generation unit to feed the electrolyzer power utilization unit with enhanced solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency. Following balance of plant (BoP), the heliostat field and cavity receiver were designed to match the entire system in which the receiver only intercepts a definite range of infrared wavelength while the rest is converted by separately insulated PV cells. Moreover, dichroic reflectors and optimum cutoff wavelength were applied to fulfill separate optimization and heat load reduction of each solar cell. Finally, the solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) was designed to utilize the generated thermal and electrical power appropriately. In best case scenario, a solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency of 36.5% was achieved under 899 W/m2 direct normal irradiance (DNI) and 1000 suns concentration. The solar plant outputs at this operating point were 850 g/h H2 and 6754 g/h O2. Further improvement in efficiency can be achieved through alignment in regard to the site location and annual insolation variation.

Innovative Design of Replacement Device for Vulnerable Parts in the Nuclear Radiation Environment

Vigorously developing nuclear power is the main development direction of current renewable energy. In the nuclear environment, in order to avoid nuclear radiation damage to maintenance personnel and improve the efficiency of nuclear reaction, it is necessary and urgent to realize automatic replacement of vulnerable parts in the electron gun. As the key equipment for the generation and control of nuclear reactions in nuclear reactors, electron guns have been widely used in nuclear power plants of traveling wave reactors. However, the “high-voltage conductive ring” in electron guns is a vulnerable part. It is likely to cause nuclear reactor accidents when the vulnerable part is damaged. Automatic replacement of vulnerable parts is an important part of the entire maintenance equipment. Considering the entire maintenance equipment and the working environment, an innovative design process for vulnerable parts replacement is established. Under the guidance of the process, in order to ensure the continuity of a series of maintenance actions, the technical contradiction resolution theory is first used to conduct the overall analysis of the general direction to obtain the design layout. Then, the contradiction resolution theory and the object-field model analysis are utilized to get and improve the detailed design of the device mechanism. The theory of TRIZ can help us to get the overall mechanical structure design that meets the engineering requirements. The device is designed with a replacement part adjustment scheme to ensure the completion of the maintenance actions. Furthermore, the design provides a solution to the possible jamming phenomenon in the automatic maintenance process and achieves the maximum use efficiency of the storage and replacement of vulnerable parts.

HERITAGE BUILDING ADAPTATION: DECISION-MAKING FOR CONTEMPORARY INTERVENTIONS

Existing old buildings were considered as the city’s culture reminder. By the time, they could be kept via adaptation for contemporary usages. That adopting considered the context of the environmental, social and economic idea of the prior eras, related to the building’s life cycle, that guided by local solutions. This paper started with the adaptation process definition with an evaluation of a number of building’s state to bring out the different potential outcomes for discussing the future adaptation possibilities, especially that known as “alterations and extensions”. Therefore, by rethinking of the new addition’s integration into the heritage buildings will support the heritage value and fit new functions to present innovative design process approaches in the field of heritage preservation’s design. By analysing some case studies, the study achieved some criteria for designing the alterations and extensions by making them an effective component in the design of old heritage buildings. And finally applying these principles to demonstrate its efficiency.

Natural Products Extraction of the Future—Sustainable Manufacturing Solutions for Societal Needs

The production of plant-based extracts is significantly influenced by traditional techniques and the natural variability of feedstock. For that reason, the discussion of innovative approaches to improve the manufacturing of established products and the development of new products within the regulatory framework is essential to adapt to shifting quality standards. This perspective of members of the DECHEMA/ProcessNet working group on plant-based extracts outlines extraction business models and the regulatory framework regarding the extraction of traditional herbal medicines as complex extracts. Consequently, modern approaches to innovative process design methods like QbD (Quality by Design) and quality control in the form of PAT (Process Analytical Technology) are necessary. Further, the benefit of standardized laboratory equipment combined with physico-chemical predictive process modelling and innovative modular, flexible batch or continuous manufacturing technologies which are fully automated by advanced process control methods are described. A significant reduction of the cost of goods, i.e., by a factor of 4–10, and decreased investments of about 1–5 mil. € show the potential for new products which are in line with market requirements.

Transforming a decades-old workplace to support a multigenerational workforce for years to come: A case study

A well-respected and traditional Chicago-based investment bank and asset management company expands well beyond its Midwestern roots to serve a growing clientele of high-net-worth individuals and institutions across the US, Europe and Asia. Assessing its future, the company’s managers embrace a sweeping strategy to build a towering new headquarters that will cater not just to its growing client base but also its five generations of employees. Through a six-year process of thorough and innovative surveys, testing and design, William Blair & Company arrived at an award-winning office structure that has boosted its business footprint, employee culture and civic presence. Those leading the project say that internal communications and continuing measurement of the work environment, tools and changing needs of employees and clients are key to success.

Design of an Electronic Gun Transport Device in a Nuclear Radiation Environment Based on QFD and FPBS

The methods of QFD (Quality Function Deployment) and FPBS (Function- Principle-Behavior-Structure) are combined to improve and obtain the innovative design process for the engineering device. Under the guidance of the process, facing the requirements of the nuclear radiation environment and the explicit expressing of tacit knowledge based on cognition, an electron gun transport device is designed to meet the needs of the project through the design of material, structure and control mode . The device satisfies the basic requirements of the nuclear radiation environment, and the reliability of the innovative design process of this engineering device is verified.

Innovations and Challenges: Conceptualizing CLIL Practice

The continued emergence of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is linked to how it creates, adopts, and leads to the design of innovative didactic processes. In systems, theory emergence occurs when features of smaller entities are brought together through interaction to form a larger ecosystem, one that acquires qualities not readily accessible to the original sources. Having drawn on the theoretical underpinning of a range of language and broader educational philosophy, the emergence of CLIL is driven by processes and practices. This article conceptualizes subsystems of CLIL and describes how CLIL practice through English can be designed and implemented through phenomenon-based learning. CLIL practice provides a systemic process by which to simultaneously advance not only additional language fluency but also adoption of innovative methods across the curriculum.

Enhanced Piola–Hencky discrete models for pantographic sheets with pivots without deformation energy: Numerics and experiments

The problem of the synthesis of second gradient (meta)materials, via architectured microstructures made of micro-lattices, has been solved (Alibert et al., 2003; Seppecher et al., 2011) by choosing ideal pivots as preferred constraints. The obtained homogenized macro-equations (Boutin et al., 2017; Eremeyev et al., 2017) show some pathologies that reflect the exotic behavior of the considered metamaterials, even if they are of interest by themselves (Eremeyev et al., 2017). The theoretical issues that they raise not only represent an intellectual challenge but also means for disclosing potentially interesting new phenomena. To make such disclosure evident, the related technological demand arose, namely, to find an innovative design and production process to construct (Golaszewski et al., 2018), by using additive manufacturing, some pantographic sheets (made in this instance of polyamide but hopefully later also using metals or alloys) whose pivots do twist practically without deformation and with negligible dissipation. Remarkably the specimen could be printed as a monolith and required no post-assembly but only an easily standardized run-in procedure. In this paper, in order to introduce a mathematical description for pantographic sheets with perfect pivots and to avoid to face the aforementioned pathologies, a discrete, finite dimensional, Lagrangian model is formulated. Moreover, in order to include the case in which the beams interconnecting the pivots are long enough to store non negligible bending energy between the closest pairs of pivots, an enhanced Piola–Hencky discrete model is introduced. Two types of nodes are distinguished, the first one interconnects two pantographic fibers, the second one simply interconnects two different segments of the same fiber. The Vietnam long neck peculiar deformed shape experimentally observed in standard extension bias test is obtained with very short computing time, so that the innovative code that has been elaborated can be used as subroutine in more complex computation schemes. A preliminary digital image correlation analysis (Sutton et al., 2009; Hild and Roux, 2012b) is performed and shows that a remarkable agreement between theoretical predictions and experimental evidence can be obtained. This circumstance is easily explained by observing that the numerical code is based on a discrete model directly inspired by the mechanical properties of pantographic sheets and that, therefore, the passages to a continuum model via homogenization (dell’Isola et al., 2016) and then to the subsequent re-discretization, via the introduction of more or less suitable finite elements, are avoided. In our opinion a theory driven formulation of a directly discrete numerical model presents many advantages and it seems suitable for tackling future structural optimization problems.

A study on the collaborative management method of product design cycle knowledge

Because of the ever-increasing market competition and rapidly changing of customers' requirements, the innovation quality and design efficiency of knowledge-intensive product has become the key factors in business success. The traditional knowledge management method which is based on design reuse and the single categories of design knowledge cannot satisfy these demands any more. Therefore, in order to effectively support the innovative design process of enterprises, a design knowledge collaborative management method based on multi-knowledge migration is proposed. According to the characteristics and functions during the product design process, the design knowledge is divided into three categories, design principle knowledge, design domain knowledge and design object knowledge. By extracting the operation attributes, relation attributes and physical attributes of the design knowledge, a unified knowledge representation model is established for different design participants. The ontology concept and knowledge matrix are used to establish the association between various categories of design knowledge. Multifarious knowledge search methods include keyword, function, principle and natural semantics are proposed for different design participants in different design stages. They can not only realize the knowledge reuse in the same domain but also support the cross-domain knowledge migration among different domain. Finally, based on the system analysis modelling, a design knowledge collaborative platform is established for the design process of mechanical products. A case study is also presented to illustrate the implementation of the platform.

Knowledge push technology based on quality function knowledge deployment

In order to help designers to acquire and apply knowledge, a kind of knowledge push technologies based on quality function knowledge deployment was proposed. During the whole lifecycle of product design, the knowledge requirement house of quality model could link up the required knowledge with design activities to help designers to track the required knowledge for realizing product innovation design. The hierarchical relationship between design tasks, designers, design activities, and required knowledge was analyzed, and the knowledge management system structure for product innovation design based on designers was put forward. Furthermore, knowledge acquisition method was analyzed. In view of the different requirements for knowledge in the different design stages, this paper proposed the mapping model between the process of product innovation design and required knowledge. Then the knowledge push model for product innovation design based on quality function knowledge deployment was established. Finally, a prototype system of computer-aided innovation design platform was developed to implement this knowledge push model, and through its application on the design case of space robot gripper, the practicability and validity of the prototype system were demonstrated.

Learning From the Past: Uncovering Design Process Models Using an Enriched Process Mining

Design documents and design project footprints accumulated by corporate information technology systems have increasingly become valuable sources of evidence for design information and knowledge management. Identification and extraction of such embedded information and knowledge into a clear and usable format will greatly accelerate continuous learning from past design efforts for competitive product innovation and efficient design process management in future design projects. Most of the existing design information extraction systems focus on either organizing design documents for efficient retrieval or extracting relevant product information for product optimization. Different from traditional systems, this paper proposes a methodology of learning and extracting useful knowledge using past design project documents from design process perspective based on process mining techniques. Particularly different from conventional techniques that deal with timestamps or event logs only, a new process mining approach that is able to directly process textual data is proposed at the first stage of the proposed methodology. The outcome is a hierarchical process model that reveals the actual design process hidden behind a large amount of design documents and enables the connection of various design information from different perspectives. At the second stage, the discovered process model is analyzed to extract multifaceted knowledge patterns by applying a number of statistical analysis methods. The outcomes range from task dependency study from workflow analysis, identification of irregular task execution from performance analysis, cooperation pattern discovery from social net analysis to evaluation of personal contribution based on role analysis. Relying on the knowledge patterns extracted, lessons and best practices can be uncovered which offer great support to decision makers in managing any future design initiatives. The proposed methodology was tested using an email dataset from a university-hosted multiyear multidisciplinary design project.

Bringing Human Diversity into Design Processes Through Empathic Modelling.

Most products are developed while adapting to requirements from industrial production and logistics. To break that trend and design for people, we suggest focusing on those who put the strongest demands on the final solution. They cannot compensate for bad design solutions and are thereby, like sniffing dogs, guiding designers to meet peoples' needs. We always use a combination of empathic modelling and involvement of people with reduced functions to find new solutions to the problems a product is supposed to solve. We have used this method in the teaching of Universal design at different universities for more than ten years. The students find the exercises to be a very entertaining eye-opener leading to development of empathy for human diversity all while the level of innovation in their design work increase. To constantly make design students understand barriers that can occur due to bad design solutions we utilize a toolbox simulating different kinds of functional ability. It also includes a handbook that describes workshops, evaluation methods and design processes that can be performed using the tools. The goal is to guide efficient, innovative and inclusive design processes. By simulating diversity among people, the designer can interpret the needs of different users and use that as a starting point and for evaluating design solutions during the creative process.

Innovative process design for copper-cobalt oxide ores in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Innovative process design for copper-cobalt oxide ores in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Active Neighbourhoods Canada - Building Community-based Mandates for Walkable Urban Design ( breakout presentation )

The Active Neighbourhoods Canada (ANC) project supports walking, cycling and vibrant streets through community-led and professionally developed urban design projects. The project represents a partnership between the Montreal Urban Ecology Centre, Toronto Centre for Active Transportation and Sustainable Calgary. Since 2013, each organization has been working with four communities, with the aim of implementing a design project in each. Major milestones include leading a participatory planning process; producing a “community portrait” that summarizes resident feedback and data; a professional design workshop; 3-5 design schemes for each neighbourhood; and a design selection kiosk, at which community members can provide feedback and vote on design concepts. This presentation focuses on the outcomes of an innovative engagement and design process in the communities with which Sustainable Calgary worked, namely: Bridgeland, Acadia, Marlborough and High River. Each community was situated in its own unique context, but also presented prototypical urban conditions through which to understand the broader region. In Bridgeland, we were challenged to consider the impact of major thoroughfares on liveability, and re-invite connectivity into a socially-isolated remnant institutional district. In Acadia, we tackled traffic-calming and urban legibility – in a neighbourhood with schools, seniors, and significant cut-through traffic – and proposed a model for the "soft edge" of a commercial zone. In Marlborough, we found under-used laneway spaces and pocket parks that could be brought back to life through green networks and moments of ’social refuge’. In High River, our view turned both big and small – from completing broad pathway routes to creating inviting pedestrian-scale spaces in the core. Between all four communities, common themes emerged around closed loops, active green edges and networks, and the spaces ‘behind’ primary roadways. This work showed how participatory urban design can influence improvements in the shape of communities, encourage empathy and activism among residents, and help develop a collective mandate for community change. Strategic collaboration was crucial to achieving milestones in this project, and our strengths-based approach proved important in capturing the imagination and enthusiasm of local residents and designers alike.

Measuring design innovation for project-based design assessment: considerations of robustness and efficiency

Los enfoques instructivos para la adquisición de habilidades en procesos de diseño innovativo para ingenieros y diseñadores son fundamentales para desarrollar competencias de diseño. Se necesitan recursos que permitan una evaluación eficiente y válida de los resultados del diseño, sin embargo, los métodos de evaluación actuales no son adecuados para los proyectos heterogéneos de las clases de diseño basadas en proyectos auténticos como diseño final. Por ello, nosotros desarrollamos una medida robusta y eficiente, y la validamos con un conjunto grande y diverso de resultados de diseño de una clase de diseño basada en proyectos. La medida se basa en juicios expertos sobre el valor y la funcionalidad de los conceptos de diseño derivados de una serie de requisitos de diseño ponderados por su importancia.Las nuevas medidas de evaluación de los resultados en el contexto de entornos de diseño auténticos basados en proyectos, como el desarrollado en el presente estudio, deben interactuar con las métricas basadas en procesos para crear una entrada de mayor calidad en la evaluación general de rendimiento del equipo de diseño.