INTRODUCTION
This project was the first project of our senior engineering class in it we preformed a reverse engineering of an object a student brought into class to analyze how it preformed each given function. This project was interesting do to it starting as a solo project where each person would bring in an object to deconstruct and analyze. In this portion a brought in a set of earphones that I had recently broken. We then studied these objects for about a day preforming conceptual sketch's of the objects and each of their subsystems as well as sketches over the object as a whole. We then were split in to groups of 4 where we then decided to choose one of objects brought in by the group members to do a complete reverse engineering of. After this we analyze how the object was constructed and how its individual parts preformed their role. We then compiled the information we gathered into a research report, and presentation, both are found bellow. My group members were Quinton Greybeal, Nathan Luis, and Hunter Mahan.
Concepts
Reverse engineering: A strategy used to find answers to questions about an existing product that are used in the design of another product. In this project we reverse engineered a LED Bluetooth speaker to discover potential flaws with in its internal structure.
Functional analysis: Functional analysis is the process in which you figure what individual systems of an object do, for its over all greater function. You preform functional analysis by first identifying what each subsystem is and then preforming research and experiments on the subsystems to figure out what they do for the overall system.
Structural Analysis: The process in which you analyze the way an object is put together and how it is held together. To preform this action you deconstruct the object looking at the individual pieces and figuring out how they are fit together to create a greater whole, as well as how they help in place to make it.
Material Analysis: The process in which you analyze the materials a product is produced from. To do this you gather a list of the parts that compose an object and then research and experiment to figure out what was used to make each part.
Manufacturing Analysis: The process of studying how something is made. You preform this analysis by separating an object into individual parts and then researching the way similar objects are constructed to make prediction on how the object you are studying is made.
Functional analysis: Functional analysis is the process in which you figure what individual systems of an object do, for its over all greater function. You preform functional analysis by first identifying what each subsystem is and then preforming research and experiments on the subsystems to figure out what they do for the overall system.
Structural Analysis: The process in which you analyze the way an object is put together and how it is held together. To preform this action you deconstruct the object looking at the individual pieces and figuring out how they are fit together to create a greater whole, as well as how they help in place to make it.
Material Analysis: The process in which you analyze the materials a product is produced from. To do this you gather a list of the parts that compose an object and then research and experiment to figure out what was used to make each part.
Manufacturing Analysis: The process of studying how something is made. You preform this analysis by separating an object into individual parts and then researching the way similar objects are constructed to make prediction on how the object you are studying is made.
Conclusion
I found this project very interesting as it gave me a very in-depth understanding of how complex our modern world is under the surface. This makes me very hopeful about the remainder of this class as I would like to revisit that realm of hidden complexity again. This project also had many ups and downs which I can improve in the future. The first thing I feel I did well at is distributing the work in the beginning. In this project we had four major pieces of information to gather so I took believe I did a good job taking the lead in the beginning and helping to distribute work through out the entire team which help ensure our project was a success. This success was also a double sided sword however as my group ran into issues in communication, because of this I feel I could improve greatly in a leadership role by forming more regular group meetings so we have a better under standing on what we have done and need to continue doing. Another thing I believe I did well in is staying on task. This is an improvement as usually during research projects I will get side tracked half way through and because of this lose much of the time allowed for the project. Instead I feel I did a good job and even finished a bit early on my part of the project. I could have improved more at reading the directions as it wasn't until about the third to last day that I realized that we as a group still had to complete many of the parts in the report. This cause us to work a bit late into peer presentations but in and could have been solved if we were all just a bit more vigilant.