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System Integration

This week I learned about the characteristics of system integration. This included:

Unit Description

  • Design and document the system integration for your final project.

Learning outcomes

  • Understand the importance of design, packaging, testing, failure modes, and lifecycle of system integration.
  • Demonstrate and describe the characteristics of system integration by documenting how they are used in your final project.

Checklist

Linked to the final project page

  • Linked to the final project page:

Although System Integration has been incorporated into the Final Project for several assignments, it really begins to show in Week 14 where the Fab Academy Final Project Plan begins speaking about this aspect of project management. This is also a milestone for this Final Project!

Design system integration into your final project

  • Design system integration into your final project:

Elements of Design:

Conceptual, Preliminary, Detailed

  • You can think about design as progressing from conceptual design where you think of how you’re going do something; preliminary design is where you break it into what goes into it, and then detailed design is the actual implementation of it. But each of the stages are important. If you do detailed design prematurely you “freeze in” design decisions that may cause serious issues. ~Professor Neil Gershenfeld

User Experience

Design For Manufacturing

  • You want to design it to me manufacturable.

  • Echoes some of the design for users.

  • Use standard components

  • Net shape by using parts in their finished form i.e. minimize post-processing

  • Use fixtures that are flexible. Adhesives undoable, fasteners require labor, best to use things that snap together

  • Self-aligning. Eliminate the need for alignment

  • Minimize parts by replacing smaller parts with a conglomerate of parts for faster assembly

  • Process selection - choose the faster process while maintaining efficiency

Documentation

  • Design should include the design files.

  • Include a Bill of Materials (BOM).

  • How was it produced? Document that! Automated assembly instructions.

  • Document how to use it. Make it fun! It doesn’t have to be boring, it can be beautiful and fun.

Packaging

  • PCB mounting

  • Wire routing

  • Mechanism alignment

  • Surface finish - make it smooth and nice to experience

I used the wire management coils that came with my MakerMade CNC500. I had extra so they came in handy. These are images after installing wire management and verifying proper operation.

This is the WBS status going into Week 15. This is the week for Test and Control and that has been completed. I will focus on the Wildcard Week assignment this week.

Testing

  • Test to make sure that it works

  • QA prevents defects from coming in. QC detects whether something got through.

  • Burn-in - give the system time to fail/settle so it doesn’t fail in the field

  • Cycling - stress the system by adding power and taking it away

  • Environmental - Send the system through worse-case scenarios to see what they can handle

  • Fuzzing - Send a barrage of data/input to see if the system can continue to operate

Failure Modes the Heart of System Integration

  • Mechanical

  • Wiring

  • Components

  • Power

  • Software

  • Scaling

  • Manufacturing

  • Collaboration

  • Fail fast

Lifecycle

  • (Right To) Repair

  • Disassembly, Reuse, Recycling. Use it up, Wear it out, Make it work, Or do without! Reduce, Reuse, Recycle :)

  • End Of Life

Document how system integration is incorporated into your final project

  • Document how system integration is incorporated into your final project:

  • Design is described and design files are included.

  • Bill of Materials (BOM) is incorporated in the documentation

  • Production is included in the documentation.

  • Using it is as simple as plugging in the battery, sealing the compartment and tossing it in the water. The lights tell the story. In future spirals there could be a waterproof switch and/or touch sensitivity.