Compound Machine Design

Problem
Can you ride a bike? Think about the design of a bicycle and what different simple machines are
used within the design. What about a door; what simple machines are in a door. Simple
machines are used in your every day life whether you realize it or not. Designers, Architects and
Engineers use it every day to invent, create and design technologies to make our lives easier.
Your task is to create a compound machine of 3 DIFFERENT simple machines that have a total
Mechanical Advantage of 5 that will be used to complete a task listed below:
1. Open a book 4. Move a soda can 2 ft horizontally
2. Close a laptop 5. Raise a flag 6 inches vertically.
3. Switch a lightswitch ON

Deliverables:
A completed Engineering Design Process Report.
Background on an Engineering Design Process Report:
There are 5 main steps within the Design Process; Define a Problem, Generate Concepts, Develop
a Solution, Construct and Test Prototype and Develop a solution. Every good scientist must add
Present a solution to the end of their process to describe their findings and solution to everyone
else.
1. Define a Problem
a. Validate the problem
i. Who says it is a problem?
b. Needs and wants
i. Prior solutions
c. Justify the problem
i. Is the problem worth solving?
d. Create design requirements (specifications)
i. Criteria and constraints
e. Design Brief
i. A written plan that identifies a problem to be solved, its criteria, and its
constraints.
ii. Used to encourage thinking of all aspects of a problem before attempting a
solution.
f. Deliverable
i. Design Brief
2. Generate Concepts
a. Research
b. Brainstorm possible solutions
c. Consider additional design goals
d. Apply STEM principles
e. Select an approach
f. Decision Matrix
i. A tool used to compare design solutions against one another, using specific
criteria.
g. Deliverable
i. Brainstorming List/Drawings
ii. Decision Matrix
3. Develop a Solution
 a. Create detailed design solution
b. Justify the solution path
c. Technical Drawings
i. Drawings that provide technical information necessary to produce a product.
material, size, shape assembly, if necessary
d. Deliverable
i. Technical Drawing
4. Construct & Test Prototype
a. Construct a testable prototype
b. Plan prototype testing
i. Performance
ii. Usability
iii. Durability
c. Test prototype
i. Collect test data
ii. Analyze test data
d. Test Report
e. Deliverable
i. Test Report
5. Evaluate Solution
a. Evaluate solution effectiveness
b. Reflect on design
i. Recommend improvements
c. Optimize/Redesign the solution
i. [Return to prior design process steps, if necessary]
ii. Revise design documents
iii. Project Recommendations
d. Does the solution solve the problem?
i. If not, the designer must return to a previous step of the design process.
e. Deliverable
i. Design Reflection
ii. Optimize/Redesign the Solution
iii. Did you solve the problem
6. Present Solution
a. Document the project
i. Project Portfolio
b. Communicate the project
i. Formal Presentation
Name: _____________________ Partners:_____________________
Teacher: ____________________ Partners:_____________________
Date: ______________________ Partners:_____________________
Section: ____________________
Assignment: ______________

Title:________________________________________________
Define a Problem

Design Brief
Designer:

Problem
Statement:

Design
Statement:

Constraints
:

Hypothesis

Generate Concepts
 Brainstorming
Describe/Draw your three designs below.
1

Gantt Chart
Criteria #1: Criteria #2: Criteria #3: Criteria #4: Criteria #5: TOTAL
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1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
#1: Worst & #5: Best
Develop a Solution
Technical Drawing
Drawings that provide technical information necessary to produce a product: material, size,
shape assembly
View #1:____________________________

View #2:____________________________
Construct & Test Prototype
Materials Used:
1. 6.
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2. 7.
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3. 8.
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4. 9.
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5. 10.
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Procedure to Re-Build Design:

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10.___________________________________________________________________________________________
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Mechanical Advantage
Draw your final design again and calculate the mechanical advantage for each simple machine
and then together.
Overall Analysis: Critically examine and analyze your experiment. Were you results valid? What
did you results prove?
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Evaluate Solution
Design Reflection-

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Optimize/Redesign the Solution

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Did you solve the Problem?

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Overall Conclusion

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