Technical Contradictions Research Articles

Innovative conceptual design on a tracked robot using TRIZ method for passing narrow obstacles

Background/Objectives: One of the problems of tracked robots in ragged roads is to pass narrow obstacles. As a primary solution, the process of come back and pass another way is usually time consuming or impossible. Methods/Statistical Analysis: In this paper, first, we evaluate the usual solution for this problem, which is preparation of a drive system at the middle area and then by using of innovative problem solving method (TRIZ), by answering ISQ questionnaire and extracting some technical contradictions, we try to match them in contradiction matrix and finally by applying 40 innovative principles we solve these technical contradictions which lead us to the solution of the problem. Findings: Using this method, one innovative principal says, we can consent to pass partly narrow obstacles and for very narrow ones we can find another solution. Another principal says, existing elements can do the duty of new elements and for it flippers location can be changed from outside of driving tracks to inside of them and make universality for flippers. In the other hand Using flippers and middle dive system separately causes when one of them is in service the other become out of service. Applications/Improvements: Using such a system without adding any new element when responding all requested functions means that ideality degree of system increased.

The Butterfly Algorithm: A Contradiction Solving Algorithm based on Propositional Logic for TRIZ

Among creative and innovative problem solving algorithms, TRIZ solves difficult problems by finding contradictions of the problems. In TRIZ, there are two types of contradictions. One is a technical contradiction and the other is physial contradiction. A technical contradiction occurs between two desirable functions of a system. We call it a trade-off contradiction. On the other hand, a physical contradiction appears when two opposite properties are required from the same part of a system. In TRIZ, the ARIZ has been developed by Altshuller for reducing trial-and-error while solving problems. It is known as an inventive problem solving. It transforms difficult technical contradictions of a given problem into the corresponding physical contradiction to solve the problem easily. However, ARIZ-85c, the most recent version of the ARIZ, has inefficient and time-consuming features that cause trial-and-errors. In this paper, we propose the Butterfly algorithm based on the Butterfly diagram to reduce trial-and-error features by giving the right solution strategy based on propositional logic when selecting technical contradictions and physical contradictions for a given problem. The Butterfly algorithm can systematically find the solution strategy for the problem, and thus it helps to solve contradictions efficiently.

A TRIZ-based multi-route model for product-service system design innovation

This paper proposes an integrated method for innovative product-service system (PSS) design based on the theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) methodology. Extant TRIZ-based approaches for PSS innovation are largely based on a single mode of solution development. They are limited to deal with only technical-contradiction problems either through direct use of the adapted inventive principles or by applying the contradiction matrix to solve conflicts with some simplified rules. By integrating multiple TRIZ tools, the proposed new method is capable of providing three different search routes and their combinations for generating innovative product-service solution concepts. In comparison with other similar TRIZ-based approaches, this method is more flexible and effective in solving problems of different natures, i.e., technical contradictions, physical contradictions, and non-contradictions, as well as their mixes. A real-life case study on a datacentre PSS design is presented at the end of this paper to illustrate the application of the new method.

Employing Customer Value Criteria to Address Networks of Contradictions in Complex Technical Systems

The diffusion of TRIZ in the industry is still under the expectations of the scientific community. According to authors’ experience, barriers to industrial adoption are constituted, among the others, by difficulties in approaching problems characterized by tangled networks of parameters and, consequently, very large number of contradictions.The most tailored tools to face this problem aim at managing networks of contradictions. They try to establish the starting point for an effective problem solving process. The task suffers from subjective evaluations or difficulties with applying complex algorithmic procedures. Besides, the existing approaches overlook the potential benefits descending from overcoming each single contradiction. The authors illustrate a strategy to prioritize technical contradictions, which includes metrics concerning customer value. More specifically, the implemented criteria feature the probability of succeeding in the marketplace. Thus, a business perspective is introduced in the problem solving process. The proposal has been experimented through an application to a mature phase included in the manufacturing process of pharmaceutical tablets. Said production phase, taken as the reference technical system, figures out 239 different contradictions. The application of the developed approach allowed to individuate contradictions whose solution has considerably influenced the technical evolution of the treated industrial sector.

TRIZ 인과관계 모순트리와 통합원리를 이용한 물리적 모순의 창의적 해결방안의 고찰 및 적용방안

TRIZ 인과관계 모순트리와 통합원리를 이용한 물리적 모순의 창의적 해결방안의 고찰 및 적용방안

Моделювання процесу кристалізації води в ультразвуковому полі

The article is headlined to prospects of low-temperature water treatment technologies. It describes the available scientific and technical contradictions and the mathematical formulation of the problem. The principle of the block freezing eliminates cold losses that are characteristic of traditional cryoconcentration systems. Further studies are aimed at intensification of mass transfer processes during the formation of ice. For two-phase systems ice - possibility of a general mathematical description of crystallization from solution are currently questionable. Therefore, in modeling of this problem it is advisable to use the maximum approaches which are known in the analysis of two-phase flow in the absence of external influences, but also the research on the heat transfer intensification by means of various fields. It is shown that the time taken to process water treatment, decreases when exposed to water-crystal system of acoustic fields and discussed mathematical models of such influence. The problem was analyzed by using the theory of generalized variables.

Trade-off Analysis of Crosscutting Functionalities using Lazy Counting-based Splay Tree in Aspect Oriented Programming

Aspect Oriented Programming (AOP) provides new modularization of software systems through encapsulation of crosscutting functionalities, providing a clear isolation and utilization thereof. The trade-offs are typically a consequence of technical contradictions in requirements. We employ a data structure called a lazy counting based splay tree to analyze the trade-off between the conflicting quality attributes. These contradictions must be conquered in order to achieve breakthrough. The performance of this data structure is verified after considering Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF) which could be prevented by same-origin policy. The results are promising and show good potential for lazy counting-based splaying, which is capable of analyzing the overall performance of a splay tree compared with a lazy counting-based splay tree and providing interesting results about both.

Revealing the Numeric Signature of Contradictions by a Semi-automatic Analysis of Product Data

This study is part of a new product design project. Its scope is the enhancement of a hybrid boiler, which is an innovative product using different energy sources (natural gas and electricity with a share of renewable energy). One of the key points in this project is to make this boiler more communicative by wiring it to an information system. This system called “Thermibox” gives us a way of monitoring boiler parameters when it works on the field in a real use case. Moreover, as a complete information system, the Thermibox could be a significant link between the products, the customer and our company which designs and manufactures the product.Within TRIZ framework, the goal of this study is to show a new way of documenting expected contradictions and finding physical and technical contradictions that were not expected while designing the product by using a smart monitoring system. The main purpose is to define a set of parameters that could have a correlation and then find how they interact by monitoring them and using algorithms taken from data mining. The system should also be able to classify the contradictions according to their frequency or their intensity and help us finding the available resources to solve them.On the one hand, this tool could give us the necessary information to design a new product as soon as we have a functional prototype, or to improve an existing one for a new version. The created information should be an adequate input to roll out the TRIZ process and work on contradictions that would have been hard to identify in the normal way. On the other hand, if the contradictions we brought to light can be formalized easily, the balance between system parameters could be used in an active way to optimize the regulation and parameterization of the product.

TRIZ Evolution of the Object-Oriented Programming Languages

In the series of “TRIZ Future” conferences [1] authors went through the problems of knowledge scope and learning time leading to educational contradiction. The main approach of solving them was the idea of systematic knowledge transferring. TRIZ gives ways to the realizing of the systematization found on the concept of the evolutionary knowledge.The number of TRIZ specialists (Nikolai Khomenko, Larry Smith, Nikolay Shpakovsky and others) used the evolutionary knowledge in evident or hidden way. Nikolay Shpakovsky (a TRIZ master since 2006), the author of “Trees of evolution”, consequently used the evolution approach [2]. The processes of technical system development are taken up there. TRIZ specialists pay little attention to untechnical systems, especially program ones.The evolutionary knowledge as an isolated concept is not instrumental. Earlier three parts of evolutionary: “a pattern”, “resources”, “the laws of evolution” were considered to pay special attention on. “The laws of evolution” were supposed to be TRIZ tools (solutions of technical and physical contradictions, SuField transformations, principles and patterns of system development, etc.). These supposals lead to a new concept - TRIZ evolutionary. TRIZ evolution will be self similarity of transformations based on TRIZ tools. In his book Nikolay Shpakovsky analyzes in details “The laws of evolutionary” of the technical system. It is interesting to spread the instrumental approach of the evolutionary knowledge to untechnical systems, too. In the report there was an attempt to apply the TRIZ evolution approach to the program systems, particularly to object- oriented programming languages. The in-depth analysis of the object oriented programming paradigm helped to find out the main contradictions of programming languages of that paradigm. The use of TRIZ tools allowed resolving the contradictions and defining principles, which should be included in a new object-oriented programming language. Such programming languages as Simula-67; Smalltalk; C++; Eiffel; Perl; Python; Php; Java; Delphi; C#; Scala are considered in the report. The principal contradictions, which became “moving force” of each new language, solutions of these contradictions based on TRIZ tools, are defined. Language evolution of programming languages on the basis of “from contradiction to contradiction” is formed. Also the TRIZ-evolutionary map is formed and the development forecast of object-oriented programming languages is suggested.

Innovative Design Strategy Based on Customer Requirements

Enterprises face increasing challenge in the designing stage which needs to turn the customer’s needs into technical characteristics. In order to enhance the competitiveness of products, a demand-oriented innovative design model was proposed. This model integrates user demand accessing, technology feature mapping, quality function deployment and innovative solutions generation. During the design stage, designers need to match the acquired customer requirements to corresponding technical features, then apply House of Quality (HOQ) for building the mapping of user requirements to the technical features, analyzing the correlation and weights, and then with the aid of the theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) to resolve corresponding technical contradictions. Finally, an innovative solution of car steering demonstrated the feasibility of the demand-oriented innovative design model.

An exact algorithm to extract the generalized physical contradiction

Problem solving in design is one of the main studied topic of research, and especially methods for problem solving. Generally, two kinds of methods are differentiated, those dedicated to routine design, and those focused on inventive design. The authors aim at linking the two approaches and building a continuum between both. Thus they studied the link and direct extraction of contradictions out of experiments. To do so they built a generic model of contradictions, the generalized system of contradictions (GSC). This paper proposes an algorithm for identifying and extracting generalized physical contradictions (GPCs), a part of the GSC, from experiments. First, the authors’ design methodology to build the continuum from optimization till invention is introduced. The notion of GSC is presented and the focus is made on the notion of GPC. This one is described through binary integer programming and an algorithm is proposed in order to identify and extract complete set of generalized technical contradictions from experiments concerning the inventive problem.

Использование методов научно-технического творчества в выявлении технических противоречий

Использование методов научно-технического творчества в выявлении технических противоречий

Adaption of the TRIZ Method to the Development of Electric Energy Storage Systems

The increasing competition in the automobile industry leads to intensified development activities regarding the next innovations of hybrid and electric vehicle technologies with acceptable costs, reduced weight and commonality. A survey carried out in the field of the automobile industry working on the electrification of drive trains analyzed the specific use of design methods. The industry survey revealed shortcomings in the industrial utilization of design methods which hinder their application and understanding. Besides the need for improved comprehension and a better balance between preparation and output, a lack of direct reference to the technical design task was observed.A development project in a product generation development was accompanied with creativity workshops to specify the designers’ needs. Therefore parts of the TRIZ (theory of inventive problem solving) concepts were chosen to stimulate new solutions. The goal of the presented approach was to facilitate the application of the inventive principles in this product generation development by customizing to the technological circumstances of electric energy storage systems (EESS).The basis of the used approach was a patent search involving 150 patents (and patent applications) in the EESS field. These patents were selected by relevance for e.g. design of the battery's mechanical structure, cooling, electric contacting or assembly. Each of these patents was analyzed in detail regarding the used inventive principles and the technical contradictions solved thereby. After aggregating all identified combinations into an EESS specific contradiction matrix, this matrix was compared to Altshuller's matrix to evaluate the success rate of the given principles in these matrices for solving high voltage battery specific problems. The main result is a ranking of the most used inventive principles in this field. The benefits of the patents were moreover evaluated considering costs, lightweight and production. Hence, it was possible to create particular matrices and rankings for design tasks in these contexts. A first testing of these outcomes showed positive effects on the generated ideas and on the designers’ comprehension. This design practice is focusing on the EESS and needs to be conducted and validated for further applications.

Algorithm for identifying generalised technical contradictions in experiments

Algorithm for identifying generalised technical contradictions in experiments

창조적 사고 방법의 공간디자인 적용에 관한 연구 - 트리즈를 중심으로 -

This study aims to recognize that creative thinking methodologies can be adopted in the spatial design. The concept of 'Convergent' and 'Divergent' used in structure of intellect model by Guilford is chosen to understand the character of creative thinking methodologies. Technical and physical contradictions is analyzed for '40 inventive principles' of TRIZ and spatial design works. Through this study, we recognize that the creative thinking methodologies consist of analysis, idea generation and evaluation phase. The psychological inertia that limits the creative thinking should be move away from solving problem, and convergent and divergent thinking have peculiarities to be adopted in condition and to be harmonized, and to set the direction of solving technical problems through to reach the target point integrated way of thinking is needed. '40 inventive principles' by Altshuller are based on engineering and useful in many areas of fields. However some principles are not accepted in design process because these are not considered in design field and paradigm is changed from machine to nature. Nowadays, nature is a prime issue for sustainable human life, because it has sustainable recycle structure and saving energy ways. Thus, creative thinking, including TRIZ is useful in design education and progress, and should be an essential element to get a new design paradigm.

An ontology-based approach for inventive problem solving

With the development of the theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ), different knowledge sources were established in order to solve different types of inventive problems, such as 40 inventive principles for eliminating the technical contradictions. These knowledge sources with different levels of abstraction are all built independent of the specific application field, and require extensive knowledge about different engineering domains. In order to facilitate the use of the TRIZ knowledge sources, this paper explores a new inventive problem solving approach based on ontologies. In this approach, the TRIZ users start solving an inventive problem with the TRIZ knowledge source of their choice to obtain an abstract solution. According to the selected items of that first knowledge source, the similar items of other knowledge sources are obtained based on the semantic similarity calculated in advance. Considering that all the TRIZ knowledge sources are described as short-texts, the missing links among the TRIZ knowledge sources are defined based on short-text semantic similarity. At the same time, the ontology reasoning mechanism, deployed on Protégé and JESS, is used to provide heuristic solutions dynamically for TRIZ users. The case of a “Space Boiler” is used to show this ontology-based inventive problem solving process in detail.

Application of the TRIZ creativity enhancement approach to the design of a passively adaptive compliant robotic gripper

PurposeThe essence of the conceptual design is getting the innovative projects or ideas to ensure the products with best performance. It has been proved that the theory of inventive problem solution (TRIZ) is a systematic methodology for innovation. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the design of an adaptive robotic gripper as an engineering example to show the significance and approaches of applying TRIZ in getting the creative conceptual design ideas.Design/methodology/approachGripping and holding of objects are key tasks for robotic manipulators. The development of universal grippers able to pick up unfamiliar objects of widely varying shapes and surfaces is a very challenging task. The requirement for new adaptive grippers is the ability to detect and recognize objects in their environments.FindingsThe main aim of this work is to show a systematic methodology for innovation as an effective procedure to enhance the capability of developing innovative products and to overcome the main design problems. The TRIZ method will be utilized in order to eliminate the technical contradictions which appear in the passively adaptive compliant robotic gripper.Originality/valueThe design of an adaptive robotic gripper as an engineering example is illustrated in this paper to show the significance and approaches of applying TRIZ in getting the creative conceptual design ideas.

강도향상형 단열스터드 개발을 위한 트리즈 기법 활용방안

스틸스터드는 스틸하우스와 같이 수직하중을 받는 부위나 칸막이벽과 같이 수직하중을 받지 않는 부위에 널리 사용되는 건축 자재이다. 본 연구는 단열성능을 향상시키면 강도가 저하되는 단열스터드의 물리적 모순을 트리즈 방법론을 이용해 해결하고 새로운 컨셉의 고강도 단열스터드인 HSI스터드를 제안하였다. 본 연구를 통해 물리적 모순의 해결을 위한 트리즈의 원리가 새로운 건축 자재를 개발하는데 유용하게 적용될 수 있음을 확인하였다. 트리즈를 이용해 개발된 고강도 단열스터드인 HSI 스터드는 기존의 KS 표준형 자재와 비교하여 약 12%의 단열성능 향상이 가능하고 벽체의 두께를 약 10% 정도 줄일 수 있다. 구조성능의 경우, 길이가 긴 스터드의 경우 일부 최대 3.9%의 휨강도 저하가 예상되나 4.1%~8%의 압축강도 향상으로 전반적인 구조성능 향상을 기대할 수 있다. This study used TRIZ methodology to develop a new steel stud for load bearing or non-load bearing walls. Technical contradiction of high strength with high insulation performance can be solved by TRIZ. We suppose a new shape of high-strength insulated (HSI) Stud. This study showed TRIZ can be usefully applied to the development of new construction materials by solving technical contradictions. Insulation performance of HSI stud can be improved approximately 12% compared to the standard KS stud. Although up to 3.9% of the flexural strength degradation is expected, compressive strength of HSI studs are improved from 4.1% to 8%. In conclusion, improved thermal performance and higher strength can be expected for the HSI stud developed using TRIZ.

The Innovation Scheme Research of Cutting Part with Shearer

TRIZ is a comprehensive theoretical system composed of a variety of methods and algorithms to solve technical problems and achieve innovative development. In this paper, the definition of TRIZ theory, ideality and the problem-solving methods in TRIZ including physical contradictions and technical contradictions, 39 general engineering parameters and contradiction matrix were firstly explained, and then in order to solve the existing problems of high energy consumption and small power in cutting part with Shearer, the TRIZ theory and the Computer Aided Software Pro/Innovator were applied to design innovation scheme. The Ideality of the technical system was defined. From the expression, the contradictions were revealed in improving the degree of ideality. To make the technical problem further solved, it was analyzed and decomposed in the three directions of system, operation, cause and effect. According to the specific decomposed result, the parameters of improvement and subsequent deterioration from the view of ideality were analyzed and determined, and finally the innovation schemes of cutting part were put forward using the tool of contradiction matrix and innovative principles.

Application of the TRIZ creativity enhancement approach to design of passively compliant robotic joint

The essence of the conceptual design is getting the innovative projects or ideas to promise the products with best performance. It has been proved that the theory of inventive problem solution (TRIZ) is a systematic methodology for innovation. The design of a passively compliant robotic joint as an engineering example is illuminated in this paper to show the significance and approaches of applying TRIZ into getting the creative conceptual design ideas. In the robotic joints with passively compliance, the joints are composed of mechanical components such as springs and dampers as internal elements, which absorb the excessive collision force. Passive compliant joints with springs and dampers ensure a smooth contact with the surroundings, especially if robots are in contact with humans, but the passive compliant joints cannot determine precisely the position of the members of the joint or direction of the collision force. The main aim of this work is to show a systematic methodology for innovation as an effective procedure to enhance the capability of developing innovative passive compliant robotic joint and to overcome the main design problems. The TRIZ method will be utilized in order to eliminate the technical contradictions which appear in the passively compliant robotic joint.