Ethical issues in engineering design - 3TU.Centre for Ethics and ...

Introduction to the case-studies
several months but, due to time considerations it was not possible to observe a
complete design process from problem definition to production and use.
The following four cases were selected:
One, a design of a lightweight sustainable car at Delft University of
Technology for the DutchEVO project. The conceptual design to produce a car of
400 kg mass that can carry four persons and their luggage is radical high-level
design. Normal car design leads to an average mass for the car of 1200 kg. The
mass requirement in the DutchEVO project made reconsidering the normal
configuration and the working principle of a car necessary.
Two, a design for piping and equipment for the petro(chemical) industry. In
this case-study the design process for pipes and pressure vessels was studied. The
working principle and normal configuration of pressure vessels and pipelines
were used in this case. This was normal design and because it consisted of
component design, it was low level design.
Three, a design for a bridge over the Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal. In this casestudy
the preliminary design phase for a bridge over a canal was studied at the
engineering company owned by the city of Amsterdam. The bridge was designed
to have the normal configuration and working principle of arched bridges. It was
high level design because the design process concerned the whole bridge.
Four, a lightweight open trailer design for loads such as sand. In this casestudy
the preliminary design and feasibility study design phase for a light trailer
was studied within an engineering company. The trailer had to be able to be used
in combination with a truck, thus it was part of a combination and therefore a
middle or low level design. The trailer should have no roof, be made in
composites and able to include a new unloading system. The normal
configuration for an open trailer was not used because of the new unloading
system and the use of composites; giving a radical design.
The selected case-studies are listed with regard to their design type and
hierarchy in table 3.1.
Table 3.1: the selected case-studies
High-level design DutchEVO, light weight
sustainable car
Low-level design A light open trailer for bulk
loads
radical normal
Bridge
Piping and equipment
design for (petro)
chemical industry
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