Applied design and product development I & II

  Thermomix Copyright: © Vorwerk  
Concept draft vehicle (PEM Aachen GmbH) Copyright: © PEM Aachen GmbH Concept draft vehicle (PEM Aachen GmbH)

Content

The two newly introduced compulsory subjects AKPro I and II occupy a special key position in the new Master's course in Product Development. In AKPro, students receive in-depth knowledge of interdisciplinary contents from the fields of project management and model-based product development in lecture blocks at the beginning of the respective course. These contents are then independently applied by the students in practice sessions. The students work in small groups of up to approx. 20 persons on projects with tasks from the industry and learn the development process from requirements definition to concept development to the validation of results by expert models in a real case.

 
 

Organization

At the beginning of the semester, three lecture blocks (3x4 SWS) are held on the topics of construction methodology and project management. In the first lecture block, the chairs of the master's course in product development present projects. The students then select projects according to their individual professional interests. The allocation is based on the number of available project places. The projects are supervised by a lecturer or a scientific assistant of the chair responsible for the project.

The projects are spread over summer and winter semesters. An examination and grading takes place in each semester. For a complete project experience it is recommended to attend both semesters of a project, but this is not a mandatory requirement.

Current dates and further information can be found on RWTHonline.

Contact

Thilo Zerwas

Name

Thilo Zerwas

Head of Systems Engineering - Design Methodology, Group Lead Architecture Development

Phone

work
+49 241 80 27353

Email

E-Mail
 

Course topics

Applied design and product development I:

  • introduction to the topic
  • presentation of the project by the industrial partner
  • project plan for the summer semester
  • requirements list
  • creating the function structure
  • creation of principle solutions
  • concept creation with the morphological box
  • concept evaluation and selection
  • final presentation of the first semester

Applied design and product development II:

  • concept presentation
  • project plan for the winter semester
  • designing under restrictions
  • design principles and basic rules
  • presentation of interim results
  • prototyping and testing
  • preparation of the final documentation
  • presentation of project results to the industrial partner

 
 

AKPro I/II in 2019 (formerly KvMG I/II)

In the summer and winter semester 2019, students had several parallel projects to choose from after a joint lecture series at the previous KvMG event. These were organized in cooperation with PEM and IFAS.
The MSE project was about the development of innovative technical solutions for food preparation in cooperation with the company VORWERK. The main topics of this project were:

  • agile product development
  • product planning and innovation
  • prototyping and testing
  • evaluation and selection of qualified technologies and design solutions

The PEM project involved the development of an electric vehicle in cooperation with a start-up company. The main topics of this project were:

  • requirements and conception
  • chassis design
  • dimensioning electrical drive train
  • validation of prototypes

  Valve control Copyright: © IFAS Valve control (IFAS)

IFAS is also participating in the event for the first time. In cooperation with Linde Hydraulics, the valve control of next-generation mobile machines is being developed. The topic covers the points:

  • circuit design
  • control and mechatronics
  • constructive implementation of a valve section
 

Further literature

  • Pahl, G.; Beitz, W.; Feldhusen, J.; Grote, K. H.: Konstruktionslehre, Grundlagen erfolgreicher Produktentwicklung, Methoden und Anwendung. 8.Auflage. Springer-Verlag 2013
  • Ehrlenspiel, K.: Integrierte Produktentwicklung, Denkabläufe, Methodeneinsatz, Zusammenarbeit. 4. Auflage. Hanser-Verlag 2009
  • Feldhusen, J.; Gebhardt, B.: Product Lifecycle Management für die Praxis, Ein Leitfaden zur modularen Einführung, Umsetzung und Anwendung. Springer-Verlag 2008
  • Specht, G.; Beckmann, C.; Amelingmeyer, J.: F- & E-Management, Kompetenz im Innovationsprozess. 2. Auflage. Schäffer-Pöschel-Verlag 2002