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Development of alternative technical systems
Development of alternative technical systems S S Litvin and V M Guerassimov Inventive Machine Laboratory, 38-84 M - Detskoselsky pr. 198147 St Petersburg, USSR
This paper considers the integration of alternative technical systems (TS) belonging to a wider class of competing TS, into a supersystem. The paper introduces the notion of an alternative TS, shows the peculiarities of their incorporation into a supersystem, reveals the mechanisms used for such incorporation, and shows areas of application for the suggested method. Keywords: alternative technical systems, development
One regular feature of the development of technology that was established within the inventor's problem solution theory (IPST) is the law of transition of technical systems (TS) into a supersystem (SS) which states that 'a system, having exhausted its abilities to develop itself, is incorporated into a supersystem as one of its parts, further development being at the supersystem level' (Altshuller 1 p 126). Our special patent research, and solutions to practical problems enable us to state that the systems which have not yet exhausted their development potential can also be incorporated into a supersystem, the advantage resulting from such incorporation being the possibility of using each other's resources for further development. Competing TS, i.e. performing the same principal function (PF) by different means are of considerable interest in this respect. Alternative technical systems (AS) are the competing systems that have at least one pair of opposite virtues, i.e. something good with one system is bad with another, and vice versa.
Example la. Everyone is familiar with a bicycle wheel with spokes. A 'spoked' wheel is a strained spatial structure in which the rim works for compression, and
Vol 12 No 4 October 1991
spokes work for stretching. Due to this, the wheel is both rigid and light. However, the manufacturing process of such wheels is rather complex. It includes intrinsically manual, labour-consuming assembling operations, and requires complicated and sensitive equipment to adjust spoke tension. In addition, the manufacture of the threaded spokes and nuts they need is quite labour intensive. An alternative technical system is the disc wheel. Compared to the spoked one, this wheel possesses one undoubted advantage, namely easy manufacture: a disc can be produced by one strike of the stamp. The disadvantage of the disc wheel is the opposite to the advantage of the spoked one: a disc wheel of the same size as a spoked wheel is less rigid when of the same weight, and heavier when of the same rigidity.
Example 2a. The device for raking up dry peat into windrows is well known. It is a light weight equipment attached to a wheeled tractor similar to a bulldozer shovel ('ruler'), positioned at an angle to the tractor travelling direction. The ruler can be raised or lowered thus adjusting the amount of peat raked. The advantages here are simplicity, low design cost and high productivity (a
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ruler may be 10 to 19 m long). However, such a windrower does not ensure a high quality for the peat gathered; due to uneven ground surface, it either takes up some of the wet peat or leaves some of the dry peat in the field. The alternative TS operates by the vacuum cleaner principle and gathers a very high quality of peat. The disadvantages are large size, heavier weight, low productivity.
MECHANISMS OF INCORPORATION OF ALTERNATIVE TS The effectiveness of incorporation of alternative TS into SS is due to the fact that one of the AS has been rid of the disadvantages typical of the other, and vice versa. Consequently, the use of each other's resources leads to a considerable gain. One of the two AS (the simplest, the easiest for processing) is selected as the basic one. Example 1 b. The highly processible disc wheel is selected as the basic system for which the goal is to reach the lightness and rigidity of the spoked wheel. Example 2b. The simple and low-cost bulldozer-type peat ridger is selected as the basic system, and the supersystem will be required to gather as high a quality peat as with the pneumatic picker. None of its design elements, just the properties (advantages), are transferred from the alternative to the basic system thus ensuring the favourable effect lacking in the basic AS. These properties may, in a particular case, be structurally related to certain elements, or implemented in other ways. Example lc. The advantage of the spoked wheel - high rigidity at low weight - is ensured by its prestressed structure. This is the feature to be transferred to the 'disc wheel' AS. Example 2c. The advantage of the pneumatic peat removal method is the high quality of the peat it gathers, which is ensured by the use of air flow. So this feature will be transferred to the basic AS, a bulldozer type, peat windrower. To state the problem of AS combination, a pair of alternative technical contradictions (ATC) is formulated in which advantages and disadvantages of the integrated AS are listed
• ATC I. If a wheel is of disc type it is producible but has intolerably poor characteristics (low rigidity at low weight). • ATC 2. If a wheel is spoked it is light and rigid but has low producibility. A device must be proposed that would incorporate the advantages of both spoked and disc wheels while avoiding their disadvantages. Example 2d. • ATC 1. If a bulldozer ruler is employed in peat
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raking, the equipment is highly productive, but th~~ peat quality is poor (high percentage of wet pcat~ losses of dry peat). Besides, this work requires ~ highly paid bulldozer operator. • ATC 2. If a 'vacuum cleaner' is used tor peat raking, the peat quality is good (only dry peat is completely raked), and the worker need not be highly skilled, but the equipment is heavy, awkward, expensive and of low productivity. A simple, inexpensive, and highly productive device raking only dry peat without losses must be proposed. Synthesis of an integrated system is accomplished by solving this inventor's problem with the aid of an inventor's problem solution algorithm (Altshutler 2 p 187), to eliminate drawbacks of the basic TS. A feature of the solution is that in the IPSA analysis, the technical contradiction selected for the basic TS is not the one providing good performance of its PF as recommended by IPSA but its opposite. Besides, the resource of the alternative TS is used as the main resource. For instancc, in the bicycle wheel problem the following TC is chosen: 'If a disc wheel is thin, it is light but fragile' (poorly performed PF). The stress of the structure (from the 'spoked wheel' AS) is taken as the main resource, and the following solution is obtained: a wheel of a pair of thin and light disc stretched (stressed) by an axial bush. The lightness and rigidity of such wheels are the same as lor the spoked wheel, and the rate of production is much higher. In the peat windrower problem, the TC chosen is like this: 'If the bulldozer shovel is raised high, the peat quality is good but productivity is low'. Air flow is taken as the main resource and the solution thus obtained is: bulldozer shovel is made hollow and scavenged from inside by air flow coming from nozzles in the shovel bottom and blowing dry peat out from uneven ground to the front part of the shovel. Such a method of raking is much more economical, productive, and easier to implement that the vacuum cleaner approach, providing at the same time an excellent quality harvest of peat.
APPLICATIONS OF THE PROCEDURE The integration procedure for alternative TS can be used for the statement and solution of problems of technical system improvement. Prediction employs the same mechanisms as problem statement and solution. However, only those systems are selected that have not yet exhausted the resources of their development. Besides, it is often the case when predicting that along with the new solution for alternative systems' incorporation, a set of new predictional problems is formed: they are determined by the need to construct a supersystem of alternatives.
REFERENCES 1 ARshuller, G.S. Creative activity as an exact science, Sov. Radio, Moscow, (1979) p 184 2 Altshuller, G.S. To find an idea Nauka Novosibirsk, (1986) p 209
DESIGN STUDIES
This paper considers the integration of alternative technical systems (TS) belonging to a wider class of competing TS, into a supersystem. The paper introduces the notion of an alternative TS, shows the peculiarities of their incorporation into a supersystem, reveals the mechanisms used for such incorporation, and shows areas of application for the suggested method. Keywords: alternative technical systems, development
One regular feature of the development of technology that was established within the inventor's problem solution theory (IPST) is the law of transition of technical systems (TS) into a supersystem (SS) which states that 'a system, having exhausted its abilities to develop itself, is incorporated into a supersystem as one of its parts, further development being at the supersystem level' (Altshuller 1 p 126). Our special patent research, and solutions to practical problems enable us to state that the systems which have not yet exhausted their development potential can also be incorporated into a supersystem, the advantage resulting from such incorporation being the possibility of using each other's resources for further development. Competing TS, i.e. performing the same principal function (PF) by different means are of considerable interest in this respect. Alternative technical systems (AS) are the competing systems that have at least one pair of opposite virtues, i.e. something good with one system is bad with another, and vice versa.
Example la. Everyone is familiar with a bicycle wheel with spokes. A 'spoked' wheel is a strained spatial structure in which the rim works for compression, and
Vol 12 No 4 October 1991
spokes work for stretching. Due to this, the wheel is both rigid and light. However, the manufacturing process of such wheels is rather complex. It includes intrinsically manual, labour-consuming assembling operations, and requires complicated and sensitive equipment to adjust spoke tension. In addition, the manufacture of the threaded spokes and nuts they need is quite labour intensive. An alternative technical system is the disc wheel. Compared to the spoked one, this wheel possesses one undoubted advantage, namely easy manufacture: a disc can be produced by one strike of the stamp. The disadvantage of the disc wheel is the opposite to the advantage of the spoked one: a disc wheel of the same size as a spoked wheel is less rigid when of the same weight, and heavier when of the same rigidity.
Example 2a. The device for raking up dry peat into windrows is well known. It is a light weight equipment attached to a wheeled tractor similar to a bulldozer shovel ('ruler'), positioned at an angle to the tractor travelling direction. The ruler can be raised or lowered thus adjusting the amount of peat raked. The advantages here are simplicity, low design cost and high productivity (a
0142--694X/91/04225-02 © 1991 Butterworth-HeinemannLtd
225
ruler may be 10 to 19 m long). However, such a windrower does not ensure a high quality for the peat gathered; due to uneven ground surface, it either takes up some of the wet peat or leaves some of the dry peat in the field. The alternative TS operates by the vacuum cleaner principle and gathers a very high quality of peat. The disadvantages are large size, heavier weight, low productivity.
MECHANISMS OF INCORPORATION OF ALTERNATIVE TS The effectiveness of incorporation of alternative TS into SS is due to the fact that one of the AS has been rid of the disadvantages typical of the other, and vice versa. Consequently, the use of each other's resources leads to a considerable gain. One of the two AS (the simplest, the easiest for processing) is selected as the basic one. Example 1 b. The highly processible disc wheel is selected as the basic system for which the goal is to reach the lightness and rigidity of the spoked wheel. Example 2b. The simple and low-cost bulldozer-type peat ridger is selected as the basic system, and the supersystem will be required to gather as high a quality peat as with the pneumatic picker. None of its design elements, just the properties (advantages), are transferred from the alternative to the basic system thus ensuring the favourable effect lacking in the basic AS. These properties may, in a particular case, be structurally related to certain elements, or implemented in other ways. Example lc. The advantage of the spoked wheel - high rigidity at low weight - is ensured by its prestressed structure. This is the feature to be transferred to the 'disc wheel' AS. Example 2c. The advantage of the pneumatic peat removal method is the high quality of the peat it gathers, which is ensured by the use of air flow. So this feature will be transferred to the basic AS, a bulldozer type, peat windrower. To state the problem of AS combination, a pair of alternative technical contradictions (ATC) is formulated in which advantages and disadvantages of the integrated AS are listed
• ATC I. If a wheel is of disc type it is producible but has intolerably poor characteristics (low rigidity at low weight). • ATC 2. If a wheel is spoked it is light and rigid but has low producibility. A device must be proposed that would incorporate the advantages of both spoked and disc wheels while avoiding their disadvantages. Example 2d. • ATC 1. If a bulldozer ruler is employed in peat
226
raking, the equipment is highly productive, but th~~ peat quality is poor (high percentage of wet pcat~ losses of dry peat). Besides, this work requires ~ highly paid bulldozer operator. • ATC 2. If a 'vacuum cleaner' is used tor peat raking, the peat quality is good (only dry peat is completely raked), and the worker need not be highly skilled, but the equipment is heavy, awkward, expensive and of low productivity. A simple, inexpensive, and highly productive device raking only dry peat without losses must be proposed. Synthesis of an integrated system is accomplished by solving this inventor's problem with the aid of an inventor's problem solution algorithm (Altshutler 2 p 187), to eliminate drawbacks of the basic TS. A feature of the solution is that in the IPSA analysis, the technical contradiction selected for the basic TS is not the one providing good performance of its PF as recommended by IPSA but its opposite. Besides, the resource of the alternative TS is used as the main resource. For instancc, in the bicycle wheel problem the following TC is chosen: 'If a disc wheel is thin, it is light but fragile' (poorly performed PF). The stress of the structure (from the 'spoked wheel' AS) is taken as the main resource, and the following solution is obtained: a wheel of a pair of thin and light disc stretched (stressed) by an axial bush. The lightness and rigidity of such wheels are the same as lor the spoked wheel, and the rate of production is much higher. In the peat windrower problem, the TC chosen is like this: 'If the bulldozer shovel is raised high, the peat quality is good but productivity is low'. Air flow is taken as the main resource and the solution thus obtained is: bulldozer shovel is made hollow and scavenged from inside by air flow coming from nozzles in the shovel bottom and blowing dry peat out from uneven ground to the front part of the shovel. Such a method of raking is much more economical, productive, and easier to implement that the vacuum cleaner approach, providing at the same time an excellent quality harvest of peat.
APPLICATIONS OF THE PROCEDURE The integration procedure for alternative TS can be used for the statement and solution of problems of technical system improvement. Prediction employs the same mechanisms as problem statement and solution. However, only those systems are selected that have not yet exhausted the resources of their development. Besides, it is often the case when predicting that along with the new solution for alternative systems' incorporation, a set of new predictional problems is formed: they are determined by the need to construct a supersystem of alternatives.
REFERENCES 1 ARshuller, G.S. Creative activity as an exact science, Sov. Radio, Moscow, (1979) p 184 2 Altshuller, G.S. To find an idea Nauka Novosibirsk, (1986) p 209
DESIGN STUDIES