Viability of the Proposed Solution

Introduction
To develop or not to develop the product that is the question. Often, the decision not to
develop a product is financial based on a thorough analysis, it is determined that the
anticipated income from the product cannot support the anticipated cost of development.
However, if a financial analysis indicates that the sales of a new product (when compared to
the cost of development) could potentially produce an acceptable profit, you must ask,
Should the product be developed? But this is not always an easy question to answer.
A designer or engineer has an ethical responsibility to his client, his profession, and to
society. In light of these responsibilities, the designer should consider all potential
consequences, good and bad, resulting from development of a product and then compare the
benefits of product development to potential negative impacts. Do the benefits outweigh the
risks? Is continuing with product development the right thing to do?
The design, manufacture, packaging, distribution, and use of any new product will result in
consequences, both positive and negative. These consequences are far reaching and wide
ranging. For example, will the manufacture and distribution of the product consume
nonrenewable natural resources or produce pollution? How will the development of the
product affect the workers that will help produce, transport, and sell the product? What affect
(intended or not) will the use of the product have on the consumer, the environment, and
society? On the other hand, development of the product may create jobs, use abandoned
facilities or discarded waste materials, and improve the lives of people.
The considerations mentioned above assume that the product is well designed and functions
as intended. However, another important ethical responsibility of the designer is to ensure
that the product is well designed and does not suffer unintended failure. What will happen if
your product does not work as intended or suffers a catastrophic failure? Will the failure
cause harm? It is important that the designer has the knowledge and expertise, or seeks out
people with that knowledge and expertise, to properly design the product in order to minimize
the risks of failure.
In this activity you will consider the consequences of your product design, compare the
positive and negative impacts, and assess the ethical implication of continuing to develop
your product.

Equipment

Engineering notebook
Internet access
Access to trade journals, magazines, newspaper, and other printed material
Product Lifecycle handout (from Lesson 1.1)
Product working drawings

Procedure
Work together as a team to complete the following.
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Engineering Design and Development Component 2 Viability of the Proposed Solution Page 1

1. Revisit the Project Proposal that you created and your design specifications. Consider
the technical expertise and knowledge that is required to properly design your product.
Has your team acquired the math, science, and engineering knowledge necessary to
properly design your product? Have you contacted experts in order to gain the
necessary knowledge or obtain assistance with the parts of the design that your team
is not well equipped to perform? It is impossible to include an exhaustive list of math,
science, and engineering principles that you should incorporate into the design of your
product because each product design will require consideration of different concepts.
The following list is intended only to get you thinking about concepts that you may
need to investigate further.

Loads. How will loads be transferred from the environment to your product, and
how will loads be transferred within your product? Will the loads be static
(unchanging) or dynamic (changing)? How can you calculate the loads? Will the
components of your product be able to withstand the magnitude of these loads?
The ethanol inside the product will never leave the tubing once it is put in. If the
consumer does not tamper with the product, it should be able to handle it.

Materials. Will your choice of materials withstand the test of time? Will the
density/weight of the materials adversely affect your design? Will mechanical
properties of your materials provide sufficient strength, stiffness, and abrasion
resistance? Will the material be able to withstand repetitive loading without
premature failure? Will the material operate well within the range of
temperatures to which the product will be subjected? How will the material react
to sunlight, temperature variations, chemicals to which it will be exposed?
The tubing will be plastic, which should withstand both the heat of the outdoor
environment and the cold of the chilled ethanol inside. The ethanol will not
freeze as easily as water does. More testing will be required to find out whether
or not the ammonium nitrate and water reaction will freeze the ethanol. We
dont want the ethanol to freeze because we want it to keep flowing through the
tubing, if it freezes the tubes will be blocked. Ethanol should not react with the
plastic tubing.

Mechanical Engineering. Does your design require an input of heat or

mechanical power? Are there moving parts in your design? What simple
machines are employed in the design? Will all the components of your product
interact effectively? Will the loads be efficiently transferred from part to part? Do
all the parts move at an ideal speed?
Our design includes a pump that will keep the ethanol moving through the
tubing. We will try to make it as efficient as possible.

Energy. Does your product require an input of energy? In what form is the
energy supplied? How is it converted by your product to produce the desired
output?
The pump and the heart and temperature monitors will require electricity. We
plan to put a 9V battery on the device to get this power. It will be replaceable.

Chemical/Bio Engineering. Does your design involve conversion of raw

materials to another form during manufacture or use? What chemical or
biological transformations are involved in the process(es)?
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The reaction between the ammonium nitrate and the water will absorb heat,
making the surroundings colder. We will use this reaction to cool the ethanol,
and pump that through the tubing.

Electrical Engineering. Will your design involve electricity, electronics, control

systems, telecommunications, or computers? How will these systems be
integrated into your design?
The heart monitor will involve electronics. We dont plan to engineer this
ourselves, we will use someone elses existing design.

2. Have you researched laws, codes, and regulations that could potentially impact your
design? Do you feel that your team has met its ethical responsibility for technical
expertise related to the design of your product? If not, perform additional research at
this time. Revise your product design as necessary.
None of the chemicals that we are using are harmful to the environment. The only
potential problem is that ammonium nitrate can be used to make bombs. If consumers
bought our product just for the ammonium nitrate and extracted it to make bombs, that
would be very bad. However, we feel that the benefits outweigh the risks. We can
make the ammonium nitrate difficult to get to without already having mixed with the
water. Also, we can monitor purchases and keep track of who bought the product. If
they decide to use our product in a way that we did not intend and is harmful to other
people, that is their fault, not ours. We could also include a warning that says this.

3. Create a graphic to document your products anticipated lifecycle. Research the efforts
necessary to take your product from raw materials to the end of its lifecycle (and
potentially be reused or recycled into new products). Detail each phase of the cycle
with information specific to your product. For example, in the Raw Material Extraction
phase, indicate the raw materials that must be obtained in order to create your
product. In the Material Processing phase, detail the processes necessary to convert
the raw materials to usable substances in your product. In the Assembly and
Packaging phase, detail the anticipated method of assembly (one-off, hand
assembled, human assembly line in a large manufacturing facility, fully automated
robotic assembly, etc.) and the anticipated type of packaging that will be used.
4. Consider the consequences of the development of your product at each phase in its
lifecycle to people (designers, users, nonusers, employees of the manufacturers,
distributors, sellers, etc.), the environment (including the use of nonrenewable natural
resources; the potential release of toxins, waste, or pollution; the creation of visually
unappealing facilities or noise pollution; the effect on animal and plant species, etc.),
and society.
This product should help users recover from heat stroke. It shouldnt really affect
nonusers, as when it is not in use it will be stored away in a drawer or box. When
manufacturing, precautions will be taken that the chemicals used dont harm the
people assembling the product. Distributors and sellers will not interact with the
chemicals inside. The ammonium nitrate can harm the environment by releasing
nitrates if it is disposed of improperly. So warnings will be included with the product not
to just put the cooling packs in the trash. Nitrates make a good fertilizer for plants so
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the used cooling packs could be used for potted plants. However, it should not be put
into the environment because there are already too many nitrates in the ground.
5. Compose an ethical justification for further development of your product by describing
why and how the benefits of your product outweigh the negative impacts.
Saving peoples lives far outweighs the possible environmental effects. If the consumer
disposes of the cooling pack properly, there wont be any negative effects.

Conclusion
1 What are some potential ways in which your product could fail? What design features
have you included to minimize the chance of failure?

2 Is development of a product that knowingly causes harm to people ever ethically

justifiable? Why or why not? Give examples to support your position.

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