Integrated System Design

Project

Marion Hersh
With thanks to Ross Wilson
What course is about
The course is about integrated system
design.
System design principles are applied to
the design of a wind turbine.
It also involves team work, presentations
and reports.
What is a system?
A system is a set of parts which, when
combined, have qualities that are not
present in any of the parts themselves

Systems that work balance conflicting

requirements cost / safety / reliability/
environmental impact / performance
How are systems designed?
To meet many different specifications
To take into account all the factors from the
start
To achieve desired performance
To meet constraints of deadlines and
budget
To reduce the risk of failure on any of the
specifications, including performance, time
budget and environmental factors
Integrated System Design

Debate, define, revise & pursue your

aims
Think holistically.
Follow a systematic procedure
Be creative
Take account of the people
Manage the project and the relationships

5
Debate, define, revise, and
pursue the purpose
The system exists to deliver
capability
Trade-off between cost,
performance and timescale
Risk is a fourth parameter
Environmental factors
Requirements first and last
Think holistically
The whole is more than the sum of
the parts - interactions between
components
Coping with change and failures
Start through to finish
Impacts of past and future
Boundaries
Follow a systematic procedure
Systems work because they are designed
to work the system architecture is the
top level design
Partition break task down into
manageable chunks
Construct sub-systems and check that
they work
Integration of the sub-systems
Check that whole system works.
Be creative
See the wood and the trees the
components and the parts
You will need to compare designs, sites
etc and need to have specifications and
metrics to do this.
You may make mistakes and things may
go wrong. You will need contingency
plans what you will do to put them right.
Take account of people
The people involved are an important component of
systems that are often ignored.
The system should be designed for the people who
are going to use it. Otherwise they will frequently
make mistakes, causing system problems.
Systems can be designed to increase or reduce the
likelihood of errors. You should design to reduce
errors and make it easy to recover from them.
Quality and fitness for purpose must be built into
the design
The system should reflect the values and
capabilities of those who design and use it
Manage the project and the
relationships
Good relationships between team members and full
participation are important for project success.
You will need to work on the group process and
group relationships.
Everyone has strengths and weaknesses
maximise strengths and minimise weaknesses.
Develop strategies for dealing with problems in the
group before problems occur.
Listen to other group members and recognise that
they have valid experiences and a valid perspective.
Be flexible and open to doing things differently.
Multi-cultural groups
All the teams contain a mix of people from
different countries and cultures.
A strength different perspectives and ways of
working able to generate interesting and
innovative ideas.
An opportunity find out about other countries
and cultures; skills in multi-cultural working.
A challenge different expectations and ways
of working, different languages and degrees of
English fluency.
Wind farm on Great Cumbrae
Description in handout.
You need to consider a lot of different
issues and the interactions between
them.
Opportunity to visit Great Cumbrae to
help you choose the best site.
Assessment
Interim reports and presentation 10%
Final report 50%
Final presentation 20%
Individual Lab Book and timesheets 10%
Peer review and self-reflection 10%
Peer review, self-reflection
and team evaluation
Peer review (1 page): reflect on how each member
of the team performed, including yourself, give them
a mark out of 10 and comment on why.
Self-reflection (2 pages) reflect on your own role
and performance, what have you
Team evaluation (1-2 pages): reflect on your teams
performance. What did you do well and what could
be improved? What did you do to develop good
relationships in the group? Did this work? If there
were problems, how could relationships have been
improved?
Lab books
A4 bound book.
Write up everything concisely
Brief notes of project plan
Roles, GANTT char, project plan
Sources of information
Details of thought processes, ideas and the
work you have done
Discussion of important decisions with
reasons.
Indications of the work you have done.
Final Report
Title page lteam members, matrication numbers and roles
Executive summary not more than two pages, may be the only
part that busy directors read.
Report not more than 30 pages introduction, logical
presentation of investigation divided into sections, conclusions
and references.
Conclusion summarise results and explain i) financial viability
ii) environmental impact iii) feasibility of approval for project with
reasons
Appendices not more than 15 pages, busy directors may not
read them. They should include details which would interrupt the
flow of the main report.
Page limits are strict expressing ideas concisely is an important
skill. You need to cover all the questions, but will have to decide
what to include and what to leave out.
Presentations
You need to cover all the main points, but
avoid a lot of detial.
Appropriate balance between different issues,
but focus on main issues.
Spend more time on final report than
presentation
Smooth transition between speakers
Ensure graphics are big enough, look at
audience, do not block slides.