A practical application for machine design education

Abstract

Machine design is perhaps the most important course for Mechanical Engineering students. There are many diverse approaches to the design education in universities worldwide. This paper outlines some collaborative experiences for methodical design education in mechanical/industrial design engineering context at Turkish Universities. For this purpose, a case study based on a student project titled "the conceptual design of a new meatball forming machine" is utilized and the experiences of the conceptual design works made with project groups are presented. The design process outlined in this paper is based on the systematic design approach of Pahl and Beitz. The method applied includes problem definition, formulating (function diagram), creating and selecting of best design variants. The positive feedbacks received from student practices show that this work can be useful for industry followers, design lecturers and young engineers.