连杆机构英文文献和中文翻译(3)

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Identification of Need

This first step is often done for you by someone, boss or client, saying "What we need is

... " Typically this statement will be brief and lacking in detail. It will fall far short of providing you with a structured problem statement. For example, the problem statement might be "We need a better lawn mower."

Background Research

This is the most important phase in the process, and is unfortunately often the most ne- glected. The term research, used in this context, should not conjure up visions of white- coated scientists mixing concoctions in test tubes. Rather this is research of a more mundane sort, gathering background information on the relevant physics, chemistry, or other aspects of the problem. Also it is desirable to find out if this, or a similar problem, has been solved before. There is no point in reinventing the wheel. If you are lucky enough to find a ready-made solution on the market, it will no doubt be more economi- cal to purchase it than to build your own. Most likely this will not be the case, but you may learn a great deal about the problem to be solved by investigating the existing "art" associated with similar technologies and products. The patent literature and technical publications in the subject area are obvious sources of information and are accessible via the worldwide web. Clearly, if you find that the solution exists and is covered by a patent still in force, you have only a few ethical choices: buy the patentee's existing solution, design something which does not conflict with the patent, or drop the project. It is very important that sufficient energy and time be expended on this research and preparation phase of the process in order to avoid the embarrassment of concocting a great solution to the wrong problem. Most inexperienced (and some experienced) engineers give too little attention to this phase and jump too quickly into the ideation and invention stage of the process. This must be avoided! You must discipline yourself to not try to solve the problem before thoroughly preparing yourself to do so.

Goal Statement

Once the background of the problem area as originally stated is fully understood, you will be ready to recast that problem into a more coherent goal statement. This new prob- lem statement should have three characteristics. It should be concise, be general, and be uncolored by any terms which predict a solution. It should be couched in terms of func- tional visualization, meaning to visualize its function, rather than any particular embod- iment. For example, if the original statement of need was "Design a Better Lawn Mow- er," after research into the myriad of ways to cut grass that have been devised over the ages, the wise designer might restate the goal as "Design a Means to Shorten Grass." The original problem statement has a built-in trap in the form of the colored words "lawn mower." For most people, this phrase will conjure up a vision of something with whir- ring blades and a noisy engine. For the ideation phase to be most successful, it is neces- sary to avoid such images and to state the problem generally, clearly, and concisely. As an exercise, list 10 ways to shorten grass. Most of them would not occur to you had you been asked for 10 better lawn mower designs. You should use functional visualization to avoid unnecessarily limiting your creativity!