MEng Mechanical Engineering with Management / Course details

In this unit the students work in small groups and act as an engineering design team tasked with solving a design problem inspired by real industrial experience. Past projects have included the design of a wildfire fighting equipment, the design of a testing device for measuring the efficiency of medical face masks, and the design of a novel propelling aid for improving inclusivity of wheelchair users in low-resource settings.

The aim of the unit is to provide both individual and group work experience in designing an engineered device or system by: - integrating sustainable development, sustainable development goals (SDGs), Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Access (EDIA), ethical principles in design, life-cycle costing, probabilistic approach to design, and their relationship with the design process, - utilising core course material assimilated in years one and two.

In this unit, students work in small groups and act as an engineering design team tasked with solving a design problem inspired by real industrial experience. Past projects have included the design of a wildfire fighting equipment, the design of a testing device for measuring the efficiency of medical face masks, and the design of a novel propelling aid for improving inclusivity of wheelchair users in low-resource settings.

The students form groups or teams (4-6 members depending on the task) and are given a design brief by the client (the lecturers). By the end of the unit (week 12) each group is expected to present a feasible solution to the problem given in the design brief.

Each team member has to develop a concept that could fulfil the technical specification supplied and submit this concept based on the guidelines provided. The team have to evaluate the concepts against a provided technical specification and decide upon a final concept that will be developed further. Using an iterative design process, the team then have to develop the chosen concept into an embodiment design that includes full scientific justification and considers environmental impacts, sustainability, EDIA, operating safety etc. and submit an embodiment (final) design report. The team have to compose illustrative CAD drawings that fully explain the embodiment design and its operation. 

Online test