• Inventive Problem Solving (IPS) – solving difficult problems and improvements in existing technical systems related to design, research and development, manufacturing, safety, reliability, and quality assurance.
• Anticipatory Failure Determination (AFD) – pro-active process for analyzing, predicting and eliminating failures in systems, products, and processes.
• Directed Evolution® (DE) – predicting next generations of products, services and technologies via inventing and developing a comprehensive set of scenarios describing future generations of a system.
• Evaluation and Enhancement of Intellectual Property (IP) related to proprietary technologies, inventions, patents and patent portfolios.

Function Analysis System Technique (FAST) diagramming is a tool that has been the mainstay of the Value Management profession since its introduction in 1965. FAST Diagrams provide a graphical representation of how functions are linked or work together in a system (product, or process) to deliver the intended goods or services. By focusing on functions, teams and individuals can focus on what is truly important and not be constrained by physical features of products or processes, leading to a better definition of the problem and a clearer path to a solutio.

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Howard C Cooper
Design for Reliability Engineer
General Dynamics Land System

Since 2003, occasional failure of a very expensive and mission critical ammunition handling system would fail. Over multiple failures the root cause always “boiled down” to the same one of eight “stops” on a telescoping rail support assembly. Yet, the same position “stop” on the opposite rail, serving the very same function was not failing, nor were any of the other seven “stops” on these two identical telescoping rails failing. Across 150 identical weapon systems in field test, when the failure would occur it was always the same stop, in that same right-hand mid-rail position. The left-hand rail never failed.

Learner-focused Teaching - Applied to the Use of Resources in TRIZ Problem Solving

Ellen Domb, Joe A. Miller, Ralph Czerepinski
http://www.trizpqrgroup.com
The PQR Group
190 N. Mountain Ave.
Upland CA 91786 USA
+1 (909)949-0857

The concept of the use of resources is a key concept in TRIZ, since solutions to inventive problems that use resources from problem system or the immediate environment (or minor modifications of those resources) of the problem are inherently higher ideality than those that require additional energy or materials added to the system to generate the solution.   Application of modern teaching methods to the concept of the use of resources demonstrates that there are two distinct phases in teaching and learning about the use of resources:  how to identify the available candidate resources, and how to use the resources for problem solving.   The teaching methods will be demonstrated with examples from services and products in several areas.

Determining Motivation And Strategy With The Triz Contradiction Matrix

Dr. Steven Young, Jr.
Special Applications Group
McDill AFD
Tampa, FL

Jack Hipple
Innovation-TRIZ
Tampa, FL

TRIZ has been used for decades to promote innovation across the spectrum of corporate and scientific interest. From (example) to (example), government, military, and private enterprises have used TRIZ to solve problems and enhance systematic creativity. Consider if a basic tool used by TRIZ could be implemented to understand and even forecast the technical and organizational innovations of others? The principles of strategic foresight mandate that any such opportunity must be seized. The universality and structured application of the TRIZ contradiction tables and principles in reverse offer just such a possibility. Prominent TRIZ authors have cited the usefulness and ready embrace of contradiction table and 40 principles by TRIZ practitioners. Darrel Mann states that the contradiction matrix is “strangely magnetic” (p. 214) to early TRIZ practitioners. This should come as no surprise, for as Terninko, Zusman, and Zlotin write “there are contradictions in all we see and in every thought that we have, but we do not explore them.” (p. 70) Mann states that once one studies the inventive principles, “you will begin to see it everywhere, in business situations, in biology, etc.” (p. 215) Terninko, Zusman and Zlotin add that the “40 principles have a remarkably broad range of application.” (p. 71) While further refinements of the contradiction table exist, the time-tested status of the matrix concept and the 40 inventive principles attest to the pioneering comprehensiveness of Altshuller’s work, in which over 400,000 patents were ultimately evaluated. Thus the principles and contradiction parameters are based on observed, recorded, and analyzed patterns of development and innovation. This face, together with their allure, suggest that the contradiction table and 40 principles serve as a pragmatic “good fit” for understanding the human creativity process in a systematic manner. Crucially, however, the contradiction-resolution use of the parameters to arrive at the principles can be reversed. Reversing the application of the contradiction-resolution table thereby allows us to investigate, anticipate, and –if-necessary- counter the emergent phenomena of development and innovation.

A new vehicle concept based on Ideal Final Result

Noel Leon (*)
Tecnológico de Monterrey, Avenida Eugenio Garza Sada
2501 Sur, 64849, Monterrey, N.L., MEXICO, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(*) The project leader writes and present this paper to which a long list of assistants and collaborators have contributed

This paper gives an overview of a new concept for using solar thermal energy in vehicles following the concept of Ideal Final Result for overcoming existing mental inertia. The concept is based on very high temperatures reached by concentration of solar energy, Stirling engines, which convert thermal energy into mechanical energy and, finally, energy storage using phase changing materials. First, a short review of past research is given and the new vehicle structure is described: Solar energy is gathered by Fresnel lens and stored in a thermal tank. Once charged, the tank is placed in the car and connected to a heat exchanger, which transfers thermal energy to the hot side of the Stirling engine. A generator converts the mechanical output of the Stirling engine into electric energy for being used in hybrid vehicles.

This way 100% renewable energy is used, which may be obtained everywhere solar radiation, is available. This concept releases the vehicles from dependency on oil. Vehicles work without contaminating exhausts and make less noise than conventional cars with internal combustion engines. Using a serial hybrid configuration, the Stirling engine can always work on its best operation point and a smaller engine charge the batteries while the car is driven by more potent electric motors. This technology can be applied to all types of vehicles, from small cars to trucks or trains. First simulations are used to forecast the power of the engine and sizes of the energy storages.

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