This is a paper wrtiten by Mark Goode of Swansea University. The University's Business Department are an associate of Call of the Wild's and work on our programmes where required with clients. For more information take a look at our website.This isn indicative of the forward thinking we incoproate in our programmes in seeking to meet client objectives.
TRIZ
There are two groups of problems, those with known solutions and those with unknown solutions.
Known Solutions can be solved by information in books, technical journals or by referring to an expert on the subject
Unknown Solutions often utilitise methods such as brainstorming or trial and error. However, depending on the complexity of the problem, the number of iterations can be enormous. Furthermore, using tools like experience or intuition ignores solutions in other areas or fields and often leads to psychological inertia.
TRIZ
A new approach to problem solving has been developed by a Russian, named Genrich S. Altshuller born in 1926. Altshuller was a patent expert in the Soviet Navy whose job was to help people get patents for ideas. Altshuller thought that the inventive process was haphazard and so suggested a better system based on the following 6 conditions.
1. be systematic.
2. be a guide through a broad solution space direct to the ideal solution.
3. be repeatable and reliable.
4. be able to access the body of inventive knowledge.
5. be able to add to the body of inventive knowledge.
6. be understandable.
Over the next five years, Altshuller looked at over 200,000 patents, most of which he considered to be just straightforward improvements. Altshuller categorised all these patents in a very novel way; instead of using the industry to classify them as automotive, engine, valve etc, he removed the subject matter to uncover the problem solving process. He found that the same problem had been solved over and over again using one of only forty fundamental inventive principles and he called this system TRIZ that is the Russian acronym for Theory of Inventive Problem Solving. During the 1960’s and 1970’s Altshuller categorised the solutions into five levels.
Level Degree of inventiveness % Of solutions Source of knowledge Approx # of solution to consider
1 Apparent solutions 32% Personal Knowledge 10’s
2 Minor improvements 45% Knowledge within company 100’s
3 Major improvements 18% Knowledge within the industry 1,000’s
4 New concept 4% Knowledge outside the industry 100,000’s
5 Pure discovery 1% All that is knowable 1,000,000’s
Therefore over 90% of problems have been solved somewhere else before, which means that the problem is to find how by whom they were solved.
THE FORTY RULES OF TRIZ
The following forty rules (shown in bold) are listed with examples of their use (shown in italics). Please note that further explanation of TRIZ theory can be gained from the references/web sites listed at the end of this handout. These rules and examples shown below have been adapted from the web site http://www-personal.engin.umich.edu/~gmazur/triz/.
1. Segmentation
Garden hose can be joined together to form any length.
2. Extraction
To frighten birds away from an airport, a tape-recorded sound known to excite birds is used.
3. Local Quality
A pencil and rubber in one unit.
4. Asymmetry
Make one side of a car tyre stronger than the other to withstand impact from a curb.
5. Combining
Have a steam nozzle on a rotary excavator to defrost and soften frozen ground.
6. Universality
Sofa, which can be converted into a bed.
7. Nesting
Chairs designed so that they can stack on top of each other.
8. Counterweight
Boat with hydrofoils or racing car with a rear wing.
9. Prior counter-action
Concrete floor reinforced with steel.
10. Prior action
Modelling knife blade made with a groove allowing the dull part to be broken off.
11. Cushion in advance (Compensate for the low reliability of an object by countermeasures taken in advance)
Goods in a shop are magnetized to deter shoplifting.
12. Equipotentiality (Change the working conditions)
Change the oil in a car engine by the mechanic working a pit below the car.
13. Inversion
Abrasively clean parts by vibrating the parts instead of the abrasive.
14. Spheroidality (Replace linear parts with curved parts)
A computer mouse uses a small ball to transfer linear two-axis movement into vector motion.
15. Dynamicity (if an object is immovable, make it movable or interchangeable)
A flashlight with a flexible body, which can be wrapped around things.
16. Partial or overdone action
A cylinder is dipped in paint and then spun to remove the excess paint.
17. Moving to a new dimension
A conservatory, which has a concave reflector to improve illumination to other parts of the house.
18. Mechanical vibration
Vibrate a casting mould while it is being filled to improve flow and structural properties.
19. Periodic action (Replace a continuous action with an impulse)
An impact wrench loosens corroded nuts by impulses rather than continuous force.
20. Continuity of a useful action
A drill bit with cutting edges, which permit forward and reverse directions.
21. Rushing through (Perform harmful or hazardous operations at very high speed)
A cutter for thin-walled plastic tubes cuts it at very high speed to prevent the tube deforming.
22. Convert harm into benefit
Sand or gravel can freeze solid when transported through cold climates. So over freeze with liquid nitrogen so the ice is brittle and allows pouring.
23. Feedback
Sensing output pressure from a well and turning a pump on if pressure is too low, therefore maintain water pressure from the well.
24. Mediator (Use an intermediary object to transfer or carry out an action)
Temporarily connect an object to another one that is easy to remove.
25. Self-service
To prevent wear in a feeder that distributes an abrasive material, its surfaces are made from the same abrasive material.
26. Copying
The height of tall objects can be determined by their shadows.
27. Replace expensive objects with inexpensive, short-lived objects.
Disposable nappies.
28. Replacement of mechanical systems (use an electrical or electromagnetic field to interact with the object)
To increase the bond between metal coatings and a thermoplastic material, the process is carried out inside an electromagnetic field that applies force to the metal.
29. Pneumatic or hydraulic construction (Replace solid parts of an object by gas or liquid)
For shipping fragile products, bubble wrap or foam is used.
30. Flexible membranes or thin films
To prevent water evaporation from plant leaves, polyethylene spray is applied. After a while the polyethylene hardens and plant growth is improved, because polyethylene film passes oxygen better than water vapour.
31 Use of Porous materials
To avoid pumping coolant into a machine, some of its parts are made from a porous material soaked in a coolant material. The coolant evaporates when the machine is working so providing short-term uniform cooling.
32. Changing the colour
A potato peeler is coloured white instead of brown so it is visible and will not be thrown out with the peelings.
33. Homogeneity
The surface of a feeder for abrasive grain is made of the same material that runs through the feeder, allowing a continuous restoration of the surface.
34. Rejecting and regenerating parts
Rocket boosters separate after they have served their function.
35. Transformation of the physical and chemical states of an object
Change an object’s aggregate state, density distribution, degree of flexibility or its temperature.
36. Phase transformation
Implement an effect developed during the phase transition of a substance, i.e. during change of volume or absorption of heat.
37. Thermal expansion
To control the open and closing of a greenhouse window bimetallic plates are connected to the window. An increase in temperature bends the plates and opens the window, when the temperature colds the window is automatically closed.
38. Use strong oxidizers
To get more heat from a blowtorch, oxygen is fed to the blowtorch instead of atmospheric air.
39. Inert environment
To prevent cotton from catching fire in a warehouse, it is treated with an inert gas while being transported to the storage area
40. Composite materials
Military aircraft wings are made of composite of plastics and carbon fibres for high strength and low weight.
After this work on the forty inventive principles, Altshuller extended his initial work and looked at over 1,500,000 worldwide patents. He found 39 engineering parameters, which had been used in previously well-solved problems (see the list below). Often when solving one problem contradictions happen, i.e. To make a steel plate stronger, it is made thicker, but now the plate is very heavy. (One solution might be to corrugate the original steel plate so it’s weight is not increased but its strength is.) Altshuller designed a contradiction table to solve these types of contradictions; this is available on the web at http://almond.kek.jp/~mejuev/Triz/index.html in an interactive format or at http://www.trizexperts.net/Matrix69.gif in a .gif table format.
The 39 Engineering Parameters of TRIZ
1. Weight of moving object 21. Power
2. Weight of non-moving object 22. Waste of energy
3. Length of moving object 23. Waste of substance
4. Length of non-moving object 24. Loss of information
5. Area of moving object 25. Waste of time
6. Area of non-moving object 26. Amount of substance
7. Volume of moving object 27. Reliability
8. Volume of non-moving object 28. Accuracy of measurement
9. Speed 29. Accuracy of manufacturing
10. Force 30. Harmful factors acting on object
11. Tension, pressure 31. Harmful side effects
12. Shape 32. Manufacturability
13. Stability of object 33. Convenience of use
14. Strength 34. Repairability
15. Durability of moving object 35. Adaptability
16. Durability of non-moving object 36. Complexity of device
17. Temperature 37. Complexity of control
18. Brightness 38. Level of automation
19. Energy spent by moving object 39. Productivity
20. Energy spent by non-moving object
Some useful references and web sites on TRIZ.
BOOKS
G. S. Altshuller (1984) Creativity as an Exact Science. The Theory of the Solution of Inventive Problems, New York: published by Gordon and Breach.
S. D. Savransky Engineering of Creativity: Introduction to TRIZ methodology of Inventive Problem Solving.
Yu P. Salamatov TRIZ The Right Solution at the Right Time: A Guide to Innovative Problem Solving.
WEB SITES
http://www.aitriz.org
http://www.triz-journal.com The Russian TRIZ journal
http://almond.kek.jp/~mejuev/Triz/index.html Interactive TRIZ contradictions table
http://www.trizexperts.net/Matrix69.gif Static contradiction table
http://www.amsup.com/TRIZ
http://www-personal.engin.umich.edu/~gmazur/triz/
If you still want more, simply type TRIZ into your favourite search engine, there is lots of information on TRIZ on the Internet.
He who would do well to another must do it in minute particulars; general good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite and flatterer. What do you think?
Posted by: jordan 3 | July 31, 2010 at 10:15 AM
Don't part with your illusions . When they are gone you may still exist , but you have ceased to live.
Posted by: new balance | October 08, 2010 at 08:15 AM