Comparing Funtional Analysis Methods for Product DiSSECTION Tasks

Joran W. Booth, Tahira N. Reid, Claudia Eckert and Karthik Ramani
J. Mech. Des 137(8), 081101 (Aug 01, 2015) Paper No: MD-14-1324; doi: 10.1115/1.4030232

Defining functions when dissecting a product is an important method to learn how it works.  There are three primary methods for identifying functions in a product.  In this study, we tested the hypothesis that one of the methods is superior to the others.  We tested the three methods in a within-subjects design of experiments to see how each method compared to the others, as measured by the size, shape, and content of each function tree.  We found that there was no dominant method for discovering functions in a dissected device.  This implies that any method is appropriate for understanding how a device works. Additionally, we found generalized aspects of creating function diagrams that are difficult for novice designers.

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