How to Develop a Machine: See Key Steps
In thinking this phrase and in the history of mankind, one constantly perceives insurmountable obstacles being overcome by the human mind. Thanks to our intelligence, we have been able to produce machines that exceed our physical limitations and allow us to adapt the environment to our requirements. In this article we explain step-by-step how to create and develop a machine.
You can also see How packaging machinery design is done.
Entrepreneurship in mechanical projects At some point in the story, someone noticed the need, and then designed what we use today to make coffee. By reflecting, even for a short time, it is already possible to perceive how simple or complex machines are present in our day-to-day life. And proof that constantly new ideas arise, is that in 2014 only 1.1 million patents were issued, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). But generally, developing a machine is not so simple.
How then, have a fresh idea, put it on paper and then pull it out?
Innovation or Invention in Developing a Machine? When developing a machine, being aware of an answer to this question is critical because before investing or hiring an engineer, you should ask yourself whether you are creating something new and useful or just having an unnecessary money spend:
Innovation, unlike inventing, means taking advantage of something that already exists to recreate a new meaning or concept and achieving a certain result in society with the new idea. It is necessary to have these concepts in mind so that one does not rework with the creation or technical verification of something that is already used, besides, to be aware of the impact of what is being developed may be interesting to analyze the possibility of a patent, to ask investment or even give up the idea as being unreceptive to the target audience.
Ideation in mechanical designs to develop a machine
From routine needs, with a technical foundation or not, we think of something that can solve obstacles found, raising as many possibilities as possible. In this part we create a model of the situation that is as simple as possible and that is enough to treat the problem in a qualitative way and thus define what will need to be analyzed quantitatively.
Therefore, it is important to have defined the objectives of the machine developed, as well as the points to be analyzed and that are inseparable for the project, such as safety, fabricability, profitability, market receptivity and functionality. Understand better what ideation is in our article Ideation and management of innovation.
Technical feasibility in projects to develop a machine In development projects of machines, engines, parts or equipment, made all these definitions is continued for the study of mechanical technical feasibility . For this, different possibilities are created to obtain the same result, which is a machine that meets the specifications previously defined. With this, a variety of satisfactory solutions exist, which must be worked out to filter out the ones that best meet the objectives.
From this step, a greater technical knowledge is needed so that the hypotheses and the qualitative analyzes in the models surveyed do not generate much rework in the verification with the calculations, in order to avoid big changes in the defined model. It is important that if there are products similar to your idea, they should be analyzed so that they can apply already tested concepts to the idea being developed, as well as have a sense of audience acceptance. In addition, one of the knowledge related to how to develop a machine is that of structural calculations.
Dimensioning and structural calculations Once the sketch has been defined, it is necessary to validate and optimize what has been elaborated, with the accomplishment of calculations that will allow to define the dimensions of the parts and the necessary components. Structural and dynamic calculations are performed, quantitatively analyzing the project from the power, yield, and other inputs of the project.
Attention should be paid here not only to the functionality question, but also to consider the other points given as inputs to the project. By analyzing the profitability of the machine, one way of reducing the costs for its production is to find suppliers who have the necessary components in the product catalog, that is, they manufacture the product constantly. Understand better how to reduce costs through this article on how to do a study of mechanical components.