Integrated Engineering Design Research Articles

Research on Integrated Optimization of Design Parameters and Process Simulation for Throughput Efficiency

This thesis presents a comprehensive approach to enhance the production throughput of aluminium bumper beams, a critical component in automotive manufacturing. Using CATIA, an innovative bumper beam design was developed, focusing on simplicity of design and manufacturability. The design parameters considered included material selection, cross-sectional area optimization, and welding techniques to ensure both performance and ease of manufacturing. Transitioning to Tecnomatix Plant Simulation, a virtual environment was constructed to simulate the bumper beam production process. The simulation incorporated the identified design parameters, process routes, layout considerations, and machine arrangements to optimize throughput without inflating costs. By leveraging advanced simulation techniques, the study aimed to identify the most efficient production strategies while maintaining design integrity and minimizing resource consumption. Through systematic scenarios experimentation and analysis, the research yielded insights into the complex relationship between design decisions and manufacturing processes. The results highlight the potential for significant throughput enhancements achievable through collaborative optimization of design and production parameters. The optimization was able to achieve an increase in throughput of about 12.64% of its initial throughput. Moreover, the study underscores the importance of holistic approaches integrating design engineering with manufacturing simulation to drive continuous improvement in industrial operations. This thesis contributes to advancing automotive manufacturing practices by offering a methodology for enhancing production efficiency while preserving product quality and cost-effectiveness. The findings provide valuable guidance for engineers and practitioners seeking to optimize manufacturing processes through the use of simulation and design parameters

The Effect of Engineering Design-Based Science Instruction on 6th-Grade Students’ Astronomy Understandings

Astronomy education is essential for STEM education in primary schools, and integrating engineering design-based science education enhances student engagement and achievement in the field of space science. Integrating engineering design into science education is essential for students to excel in astronomy and to meet the requirements of contemporary society. This study investigated the effect of engineering design-based instruction (EDBI) on the understanding of astronomy concepts among sixth-grade students. The study included a cohort of 37 sixth-grade students from a public school. It was carried out using a one-group pre-test, post-test experimental design. All participants received EDBI that was based on the objectives of the 6th grade “Solar System and Eclipses” unit. Statistical analyses were employed to ascertain the effect of astronomy instruction based on engineering design on students’ comprehension of astronomy concepts. The results indicated a significant difference in the average scores of students’ understanding of astronomical concepts before and after being taught using EDBI.

Reducing the cognitive abstractness of climate change through an “engineering fiction” learning experience: A natural language processing study

The lackluster societal response to the climate crisis is partially attributed to the abstractness of people's mental construals of climate change given its vast spatial and temporal dimensions, which fail to evoke urgency to act. Prior efforts to measure mental construal levels of climate change are inconsistent, insufficient, and labor-intensive. This study developed and implemented learning experiences for integrating engineering design and climate fiction writing to engage 48 high school students in concrete climate change thinking. A novel measure of cognitive abstractness overcomes previous methodological shortcomings by automatically quantifying the linguistic abstractness of participant-authored stories using natural language processing. Comparing participant stories written at the beginning and end of the intervention reveals a significant decrease in linguistic abstractness (Cohen's d = 1.01, p = 0.03). This study contributes to the nascent movement for greater use of narratives as data sources in environmental psychology research, which may uncover new insights into human behavior and decision making.

The integrated engineering design concept of the upper limiter within the EU-DEMO LIMITER system

The EU-DEMO first wall protection relies on a system of limiters. Although they are primarily designed for facing the energy released by a limited plasma during transients, their design should safely withstand a combination of loads relevant for in-vessel components (IVCs) during steady-state operation. They are not meant to breed tritium, nor to provide plasma stability. However, sitting in place of blanket portions, they should ensure an adequate shielding function to vacuum vessel and magnets while withstanding both their dead weight and the electro-mechanical loads arising from the interaction between current induced in the conductive structure and magnetic field. During plasma disruptions they will be subjected to halo currents flowing from/to the plasma and the grounded structures, whose effects must be added to the eddy current ones. Disruption-induced electro-mechanical loads are hence IVC design-driving, despite the uncertainties in both eddy and halo currents’ magnitude and distribution, which depend on IVC design, electrical connectivity, plasma temperature and halo width.The integrated design of the limiter is made of two actively water-cooled sub-components: the Plasma-Facing Wall (PFW) directly exposed to the plasma, and the Shielding Block (SB) devoted to hold the PFW while providing neutronic shielding. The PFW design is driven by disruptive heat loads. Disruption-induced electro-magnetic loads are instead SB design drivers, meaning that the design details (i.e. geometry, electrical connections, attachments) affect the loads acting on it, which, in turn, are affected by the mechanical response of the structure.The present paper describes the design workflow and assessment of the Upper Limiter (UL), resulting from a close and iterative synergy among different fields. Built on static-structural and energy balance hand calculations based on, respectively, preliminary electro-magnetic and neutronic loads, the UL integrated design performance has then been verified against electro-magnetic, neutronic, thermal-hydraulic and structural assessment under the above-mentioned load combination. The outcome will be taken as reference for future limiter engineering designs.

IFMIF/EVEDA achievements overview

In a fusion reactor, the plasma based on a deuterium-tritium reaction generates high energy neutron flux interacting with the materials of the plasma facing components. In order to study the irradiated behavior of these materials, the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF) was conceived to generate these fusion relevant neutrons through d-Li stripping source. IFMIF is presently in its Engineering Validation and Engineering Design Activities (EVEDA) phase under the Broader Approach agreement signed between EURATOM and Japanese Government in 2007. This agreement mandates the IFMIF/EVEDA project to validate the design of the different systems of IFMIF and to produce an integrated engineering design of IFMIF, together with the data necessary for future decisions on its construction and operation. While the Engineering Validation Activity (EVA) of the Lithium Target Facility and the Test Facility was completed by constructing prototypes, the EVA of the Accelerator Facility with the Linear IFMIF Prototype Accelerator (LIPAc) is still on-going at the Rokkasho Fusion Institute, Japan. This paper overviews the achievements in the previous phase ended on 31 March 2020 and the progress in the current phase to complete the commissioning of the LIPAc.

Development of Physics Worksheet based on STEM integrating Engineering Design Process (EDP) through Guided Inquiry Model to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking

This study aimed to develop a physics worksheet based on STEM integrating Engineering Design Process (EDP) through the guided inquiry model to improve students' critical thinking in learning physics. The research approach used R&D using the ADDIE model, namely: 1) analysis, 2) design, 3) development, 4) implementation, and 5) evaluation. The data collected was in the form of worksheet eligibility data and critical thinking instruments by experts, and response questionnaires given to five physics teachers at a senior high school in Kutacane. Data analysis using percentage descriptive analysis. The results of the worksheet eligibility test by experts show a percentage score of 79.5%, which is the feasible category, and a critical thinking instrument score of 83.3%, which is the very feasible category. Teachers’ response results show the percentage of suitability indicators of the worksheet with the EDP model step through the guided inquiry model was 91.6% and the EDP model step suitability indicator with critical thinking ability was 93.6%, both of which were included in very valid qualifications. It could be concluded that a worksheet based on STEM integrating the Engineering Design Process (EDP) through the Guided Inquiry Model is appropriate for use to improve students' critical thinking skills in learning physics.

Empowering students'engineering thinking: An empirical study of integrating engineering into science class at junior secondary schools

Background, the context, and purpose of the studyWith the prosperity of STEM education, engineering thinking has emerged as a crucial component of engineering education. However, current STEM educational practices do not totally promote engineering thinking among students at junior secondary schools. This paper presents a study that investigates the effects of teaching innovation, specifically the Engineering Integrated Science (EIS) curriculum, which integrates engineering design into science classes. The study aims to explore the impact of this curriculum on the development of junior secondary school students' engineering thinking skills, including systems thinking, critical thinking, and creative thinking. Results, the main findingsThis study employed a quasi-experimental design with 286 junior secondary school students, split equally between experimental and control groups, to investigate the impact of integrating engineering design into science classes on students' engineering thinking. Mixed methods, including pre-posttests and interviews, were used to collect data and evaluate the effectiveness of the EIS curriculum, while also exploring influential factors such as academic achievement levels and gender. The results revealed that the EIS curriculum brought about significant differences in engineering thinking between the experimental group and the control group; the experimental group performed better in the development of systems thinking, critical thinking and creative thinking. Further findings suggested students’ achievement levels and gender difference affected their performance in engineering thinking, for example, students with low achievement levels were comparatively weak at creative thinking; male and female students demonstrated similar levels of engineering thinking, with males showing better performance in creative thinking. Conclusions, brief summary, and potential implicationsThis study employed mixed research methods to analyze and compare the development of students' engineering thinking before and after the implementation of a self-developed EIS curriculum. Overall, the results showed that the implementation of the EIS curriculum could improve students’ engineering thinking significantly, and expose the impact of this curriculum on students’ systems thinking, critical thinking, and creative thinking. The findings will contribute to the research of thinking skills in engineering-oriented STEM education and inform the design and implementation of engineering-oriented STEM education.

A Model for Integrating Engineering Design into Science Teacher Education

A Model for Integrating Engineering Design into Science Teacher Education

Impacts of integrating engineering design process into STEM makerspace on renewable energy unit to foster students’ system thinking skills

Currently, science education systems around the world are faced with global challenges, especially in anticipating environmental changes related to sustainable development programs. Complex system problems related to climate change, reduced fossil-based energy reserves, and social environmental problems that have an impact on the economy have made stakeholders aware of the Education for Sustainability Development (ESD) program. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of STEM-PBL integrated Engineering Design Process (EDP) in renewable energy learning units to improve students' system thinking skills. The quantitative experimental research with a non-equivalent control group design was conducted on 67 high school students in XI grades. The results showed that the performance of students who were taught with STEM-EDP was better than students who studied with traditional STEM learning approach. In addition, this learning strategy also encourages students to be actively involved in every EDP process so that they show good performance in mind-on and hands-on activities which have an impact on increasing students' system thinking abilities. Furthermore, the STEM-EDP learning is implemented to develop students' ability to design through applied technology and engineered activities, paying special attention to design-based theory. It does not require students and teachers to prepare super-sophisticated technology, because the integration of technology in this learning design used cheap, simple and ‘easy to find’ equipments, to create more meaningful learning packages. In the critical pedagogy, STEM-PBL integrated EDP can be used to systematically foster students' STEM literacy and thinking skills through the engineering design thinking process, thus expanding students' cognitive building and perspectives in reducing the routine in conventional pedagogy.

Developing creative material in STEM courses using integrated engineering design based on APOS theory

Developing creative material in STEM courses using integrated engineering design based on APOS theory

Impacts of Integrating Engineering Design Process into Stem Makerspace on Renewable Energy Unit to Foster Students’ System Thinking Skills

Impacts of Integrating Engineering Design Process into Stem Makerspace on Renewable Energy Unit to Foster Students’ System Thinking Skills

Exploring sources of engineering teaching self-efficacy for pre-service elementary teachers

BackgroundThe Next Generation Science Standards (2013) put a special emphasis on engineering for K-12 science education. However, a significant number of elementary teachers still feel unprepared to integrate engineering into their science programs. It is, therefore, incumbent upon science educators to update their elementary science methods courses to accommodate engineering especially in the states which adopted the NGSS. In this study, we taught an engineering unit in an elementary science teaching methods course to examine what instructional components and learning experiences provided in the engineering unit enhance teachers’ engineering teaching self-efficacy beliefs.Our research questions addressed to what extent the engineering education intervention improved pre-service teachers’ engineering teaching efficacy beliefs and what instructional components and learning experiences served as sources of self-efficacy contributing to the improvement of pre-service elementary teachers’ engineering teaching efficacy beliefs. We also explored how pre-service teachers viewed the relative importance of the sources of teaching efficacy stemming from the engineering unit.ResultsThe participants comprised 84 pre-service teachers enrolled in an elementary education program at a public university in the Southwestern United States. Data obtained from the Engineering Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument (ETEBI) indicated that the pre-service teachers’ personal teaching efficacy beliefs significantly improved after the engineering intervention; however, the engineering intervention had a small impact on teachers’ engineering teaching outcome expectancy beliefs. Written reflections used to explore the sources of engineering teaching efficacy and the relative importance of each source showed that cognitive content mastery and cognitive pedagogical mastery were the major sources of engineering teaching self-efficacy among the pre-service elementary teachers.ConclusionOur study illustrated that integrating engineering design activities with explicit-reflective instruction on the nature of engineering concepts could enhance pre-service teachers’ personal engineering teaching efficacy beliefs even though a relatively small impact was observed in their engineering teaching outcome expectancy beliefs. Also, the study indicated cognitive content mastery and cognitive pedagogical mastery were the most important sources of engineering teaching efficacy. Therefore, the study suggests that it is vital to integrate a variety of mastery and vicarious experiences in methods courses to support the development of teachers’ engineering teaching efficacy beliefs. Besides, the current study could provide an example for integrating engineering education in methods courses.

Design and sensitivity analysis of spacecraft swarms for planetary moon reconnaissance through co-orbits

This work presents an automated mission design architecture for global surface mapping missions to planetary moons. Such missions need to address three important challenges: virtually absent spheres of influence, tidal locking, and self-shadowing. Therefore, a complex task such as global surface coverage is better handled using the swarm approach. The design of a swarm mission for such a dynamic environment is challenging. For this reason, we developed the Integrated Design Engineering and Automation of Swarms (IDEAS) software to facilitate the automated end-to-end design of swarm mission concepts. Specifically, it will use a sub-module known as the Automated Swarm Designer module to find optimal swarm configurations suited for a given mission. In our previous work, we developed the Automated Swarm Design module to find swarm configurations for asteroid mapping operations. Here, we will evaluate the capability of the Automated Swarm designer module to design missions to planetary moons, and also examine the sensitivity of the generated optimal design to various perturbations. Specifically, we explore the design space of resonant co-orbits where the spacecraft will have planned periodic encounters with the planetary moon due to the natural dynamics. The swarm will be deployed on resonant co-orbits using an aeroassist from the central planet. the maneuver cost with this deployment is broken down into two maneuvers: a planar orbit insertion maneuver using aerobraking, and an orientation change maneuver required to facilitate a planar orbit capture. The design space of such missions is examined, and the principles are illustrated using numerical case studies of a global surface mapping mission to the Martian moon Deimos. Using the described principles, a spacecraft swarm mission to map 90 % of the surface of Deimos is designed. The designed swarm consists of 5 spacecraft, which have a maximum estimated orientation change Δv of 1.97 km/s, and a worst-case orbit insertion Δv of 0.848 km/s if aerobraking is used. Overall implications on the mission, such as fuel requirements, and aerobraking timespans are then studied. Finally, the sensitivities of the designed swarm to different perturbations are studied, and peak disturbances that lead to coverage deterioration below a threshold of 80 % are noted.

Automatic Assessment of Students’ Engineering Design Performance Using a Bayesian Network Model

Integrating engineering design into K-12 curricula is increasingly important as engineering has been incorporated into many STEM education standards. However, the ill-structured and open-ended nature of engineering design makes it difficult for an instructor to keep track of the design processes of all students simultaneously and provide personalized feedback on a timely basis. This study proposes a Bayesian network model to dynamically and automatically assess students’ engagement with engineering design tasks and to support formative feedback. Specifically, we applied a Bayesian network to 111 ninth-grade students’ process data logged by a computer-aided design software program that students used to solve an engineering design challenge. Evidence was extracted from the log files and fed into the Bayesian network to perform inferential reasoning and provide a barometer of their performance in the form of posterior probabilities. Results showed that the Bayesian network model was competent at predicting a student’s task performance. It performed well in both identifying students of a particular group (recall) and ensuring identified students were correctly labeled (precision). This study also suggests that Bayesian networks can be used to pinpoint a student’s strengths and weaknesses for applying relevant science knowledge to engineering design tasks. Future work of implementing this tool within the computer-aided design software will provide instructors a powerful tool to facilitate engineering design through automatically generating personalized feedback to students in real time.

Automated design architectures for co-orbiting spacecraft swarms for planetary moon mapping

This work describes the design and optimization of spacecraft swarm missions to meet spatial and temporal visual mapping requirements of missions to planetary moons, using resonant co-orbits. The algorithms described here are a part of Integrated Design Engineering and Automation of Swarms (IDEAS), a spacecraft swarm mission design software that automates the design trajectories, swarm, and spacecraft behaviors in the mission. In the current work, we focus on the swarm design and optimization features of IDEAS, while showing the interaction between the different design modules. In the design segment, we consider the coverage requirements of two general planetary moon mapping missions: global surface mapping and region of interest observation. The configuration of the swarm co-orbits for the two missions is described, where the participating spacecraft have resonant encounters with the moon on their orbital apoapsis. We relate the swarm design to trajectory design through the orbit insertion maneuver performed on the interplanetary trajectory using aero-braking. We then present algorithms to model visual coverage, and collision avoidance in the swarm. To demonstrate the interaction between different design modules, we relate the trajectory and swarm to spacecraft design through fuel mass, and mission cost estimations using preliminary models. In the optimization segment, we formulate the trajectory and swarm design optimizations for the two missions as Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP) problems. In the current work, we use Genetic Algorithm as the primary optimization solver. However, we also use the Particle Swarm Optimizer to compare the optimizer performance. Finally, the algorithms described here are demonstrated through numerical case studies, where the two visual mapping missions are designed to explore the Martian moon Deimos.

Tutorials for Integrating 3D Printing in Engineering Curricula

Three-dimensional (3D) printing can revolutionize the way products have been designed and manufactured. This necessitates engineering graduates equipped with the knowledge and skills of 3D printing. As a result, the educational aspects of 3D printing have earned a great deal of attention. Nevertheless, to teach 3D printing in an undergraduate engineering degree program, an outcomes-oriented approach integrating engineering design, object visualization/digitization, and 3D printing domains can be used. Accordingly, this study presents a tutorial development method to teach undergraduate engineering students the knowledge and skills of 3D printing. The method integrates the abovementioned domains maintaining a hierarchy among the seven ABET-prescribed outcomes. The hierarchy organizes the outcomes into three levels (primary, secondary, and tertiary). The presented method is implemented by introducing a tutorial where a spur gear-pinion pair is designed, visualized, digitized, and 3D printed systematically. E-learning tools can be developed to deliver the tutorial online.

Elementary Pre-Service Teachers’ Reflections on Integrated Science/Engineering Design Lessons: Attending, Analyzing, and Responding to Students’ Thinking

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and recent efforts in STEM education have highlighted a multi-disciplinary vision of teachers’ integrating science education and engineering design problem-solving for student learning and critical thinking development. However, elementary pre-service teachers (PSTs) typically are unfamiliar with engineering design. Since research is limited on elementary PSTs’ ability to notice student thinking for engineering problem-solving, the purpose of this exploratory study was to identify patterns in PSTs’ written reflections from their fourth-grade practicum teaching experience with an integrated science/engineering STEM unit. We adapted Barnhart and van Es’s (2015) teacher noticing coding scheme to examine PSTs’ level of focus (low, basic, or strong) in their professional noticing (attending, analyzing, and responding) of students’ thinking and engineering disciplinary core ideas. The results indicated that PSTs’ reflections focused more on attending to students’ engineering ideas than on analyzing and responding to students’ thinking. For NGSS engineering disciplinary core ideas, the PSTs reflected the least on defining and delimiting the engineering problem, focusing more on students’ idea generation to solve the problem and students’ thinking to optimize their design with less emphasis on evaluating design ideas. These findings suggest possible areas of emphasis for teacher educators to prepare elementary PSTs in developing their ability to attend to, analyze, and respond to students’ engineering thinking when integrating engineering design with science education.

Suggesting a Framework for Science and Engineering Integrated Lesson Design and Engineering Design Level

Suggesting a Framework for Science and Engineering Integrated Lesson Design and Engineering Design Level

Investigating the Validity and Reliability of a Scientific Imagination Test for Tenth graders

This research was conducted to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Scientific Imagination Test (SIT) using the Rasch Measurement Model. SIT is a set of questions developed by the researchers based on the Integrated Engineering Design Process with Scientific Imagination Model. SIT was developed to evaluate the scientific imagination constructs among the tenth graders. SIT is a test consisted of two main open-ended subjective questions and 14 sub-items. Students’ scientific imagination was assessed based on the three stages of scientific imagination namely initiation, dynamic adjustment and virtual implementation; which consisted of four basic constructs respectively: brainstorming, association, transformation and elaboration, and conceptualization/organization/formation. The sample consisted of 65 Tenth Grade students aged 16 years old from two secondary schools in a district in Sabah, Malaysia. Overall, the findings showed that SIT has a very high reliability with Cronbach’s alpha (KR-20) value of 0.92. The findings also showed that SIT has excellent item reliability of 0.97 with separation value of 5.30. SIT also has a very good respondent reliability of 0.92 with separation value of 3.40. Meanwhile, the assessment on the item fit, respondent fit and unidimensionality established the construct validity of the SIT instrument. In conclusion, the findings indicate that the SIT instrument is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring the scientific imagination of tenth graders.

Integrating Engineering Design in Undergraduate Biology Using a Life Science Design Task

Integrating Engineering Design in Undergraduate Biology Using a Life Science Design Task