Conceptual design is the first step of the design phase where engineers and designers explore and brainstorm ideas for the project and generate design explorations with the requirement space. In this phase, the design freedom is not restricted by any technical requirements, and the team works closely with the customers to identify which ideas would not only fit and answer nicely the given requirements but would also generate an emotional response. In this phase our team will generate several ideas and designs that will be later slowly narrowed down.
Conceptual design undoubtedly has to be the first step with the success of a product often depending on how well thought out and produced the initial concept design is. GIVE’s team of experts can assist in this phase, and generate the most innovative design concepts.
FREEDOM TO DESIGN
We have been involved in several innovative projects where it all starts with the conceptual design. Starting from white board, we are always excited to sit with great engineering teams and work on generating the ideas that will create a great product.
FROM A CONCEPT TO A VIABLE IDEA
The overall process of conceptual design starts from creating the set of performance and concept requirements. The stage of concept development includes extensive discussion and brainstorming with multiple alternative configuration candidates. This stage is the highly creative and imaginative idea stage. At this stage configuration layout and basic arrangements are defined. The number of parts, sub-assemblies and assemblies, are proposed and assessed. The objective at this stage is to determine the layouts that are not only technically but also aesthetically superior and viable in terms of the business case. Evaluation criteria include, performance, efficiency, available space (design space), ease of assembly and maintenance, ease of manufacturing, costs (BOM), and of course business targets.
The visualization through hand sketches, simplified CAD models, and preliminary calculations are performed in parallel with the concept development. Hand drawn sketches of different levels of details are reproduced in CAD Software.
INITIAL SIZING
After the overall layout is determined, the initial sizing process starts. Design tools used for initial sizing are semi-empirical, internal tools and codes, and low to medium fidelity methods, trade-off studies and basic optimization algorithms. The initial sizing is the process to determine baseline configurations based on a set of design requirements and assess the initial concept ideas. These ideas will then be refined.
And the process is repeated! As many times as needed to get closer to the most feasible ideas, that can be processed to the next phase, and the detailed design and analysis of the system.
GIVE’S TEAMS CAN ASSIST IN GENERATING THE IDEAS OF THE FUTURE
Our networked organizational structure, allowing for the creation of teams of experts for each project and its needs, we pride ourselves in the efficiency of generating innovative product ideas and performing conceptual design and initial sizing for the most complex projects and systems. Whether for the automotive, aerospace, marine, or any other sector close to our hearts and vision, we can assist customers, engineering teams and startups, get started with their project.
