Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) 3.1 The TRIZ Process Step-By-Step As mentioned above,Altshuller felt an acceptable theory of invention should be familiar enough to inventors by following the general approach to problem solving shown in figure 1.A model was constructed as shown in figure 4. WHY TRIZ IS FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT Previnusl 1 1234 Analogous Well-SoMved Solutions Problems 234 Prism of 5 IRIZ 6769 56789 .: y n My Problem Solution DEATICN 20 Figure 4.TRIZ Approach to Problem Solving. 3.1.1 Step 1.Identifying My Problem. Boris Zlotin and Alla Zusman,principles TRIZ scientists at the American company Ideation and students of Altshuller have developed an "Innovative Situation Questionnaire"to identify the engineering system being studied
Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) 3.1 The TRIZ Process Step-By-Step As mentioned above, Altshuller felt an acceptable theory of invention should be familiar enough to inventors by following the general approach to problem solving shown in figure 1. A model was constructed as shown in figure 4. Figure 4. TRIZ Approach to Problem Solving. 3.1.1 Step 1. Identifying My Problem. Boris Zlotin and Alla Zusman, principles TRIZ scientists at the American company Ideation and students of Altshuller have developed an "Innovative Situation Questionnaire" to identify the engineering system being studied
its operating environment,resource requirements,primary useful function,harmful effects,and ideal result. Example:A beverage can.An engineered system to contain a beverage. Operating environment is that cans are stacked for storage purposes. Resources include weight of filled cans,internal pressure of can, rigidity of can construction.Primary useful function is to contain beverage.Harmful effects include cost of materials and producing can and waste of storage space.Ideal result is a can that can support the weight of stacking to human height without damage to cans or beverage in cans. 3.1.2 Formulate the problem:the Prism of TRIZ Restate the problem in terms of physical contradictions.Identify problems that could occur.Could improving one technical characteristic to solve a problem cause other technical characteristics to worsen, resulting in secondary problems arising?Are there technical conflicts that might force a trade-off? Example:We cannot control the height to which cans will be stacked.The price of raw materials compels us to lower costs.The can walls must be made thinner to reduce costs,but if we make the walls thinner,it cannot support as large a stacking load.Thus,the can wall needs to be thinner to lower material cost and thicker to support stacking-load weight.This is a physical contradiction.If we can solve this,we will achieve an ideal engineering system. 3.1.3 Search for Previously Well-Solved Problem Altshuller extracted from over 1,500,000 world-wide patents these 39 standard technical characteristics that cause conflict.These are called the 39 Engineering Parameters shown in Table 2.Find the contradicting engineering principles.First find the principle that needs to be changed. Then find the principle that is an undesirable secondary effect.State the standard technical conflict. Example.The standard engineering parameter that has to be changed to make the can wall thinner is #4,length of a nonmoving object.In TRIZ, these standard engineering principles can be quite general.Here, "length"can refer to any linear dimension such as length,width,height, diameter,etc.If we make the can wall thinner,stacking-load weight will
its operating environment, resource requirements, primary useful function, harmful effects, and ideal result. Example: A beverage can. An engineered system to contain a beverage. Operating environment is that cans are stacked for storage purposes. Resources include weight of filled cans, internal pressure of can, rigidity of can construction. Primary useful function is to contain beverage. Harmful effects include cost of materials and producing can and waste of storage space. Ideal result is a can that can support the weight of stacking to human height without damage to cans or beverage in cans. 3.1.2 Formulate the problem: the Prism of TRIZ Restate the problem in terms of physical contradictions. Identify problems that could occur. Could improving one technical characteristic to solve a problem cause other technical characteristics to worsen, resulting in secondary problems arising? Are there technical conflicts that might force a trade-off? Example: We cannot control the height to which cans will be stacked. The price of raw materials compels us to lower costs. The can walls must be made thinner to reduce costs, but if we make the walls thinner, it cannot support as large a stacking load. Thus, the can wall needs to be thinner to lower material cost and thicker to support stacking-load weight. This is a physical contradiction. If we can solve this, we will achieve an ideal engineering system. 3.1.3 Search for Previously Well-Solved Problem Altshuller extracted from over 1,500,000 world-wide patents these 39 standard technical characteristics that cause conflict. These are called the 39 Engineering Parameters shown in Table 2. Find the contradicting engineering principles. First find the principle that needs to be changed. Then find the principle that is an undesirable secondary effect. State the standard technical conflict. Example. The standard engineering parameter that has to be changed to make the can wall thinner is "#4, length of a nonmoving object." In TRIZ, these standard engineering principles can be quite general. Here, "length" can refer to any linear dimension such as length, width, height, diameter, etc. If we make the can wall thinner, stacking-load weight will
decrease.The standard engineering parameter that is in conflict is"#11, stress." The standard technical conflict is:the more we improve the standard engineering parameter "length of a nonmoving object,"the more the standard engineering parameter "stress"becomes worse. Table 2.The 39 Engineering Parameters 1.Weight of moving object 2.Weight of nonmoving object 3.Length of moving object 4.Length of nonmoving object 5.Area of moving object 6.Area of nonmoving object 7.Volume of moving object 8.Volume of nonmoving object 9.Speed 10.Force 11.Tension,pressure 12.Shape 13.Stability of object 14.Strength 15.Durability of moving object 16.Durability of nonmoving object 17.Temperature 18.Brightness 19.Energy spent by moving object 20.Energy spent by nonmoving object 21.Power 22.Waste of energy 23.Waste of substance 24.Loss of information 25.Waste of time 26.Amount of substance 27.Reliability 28.Accuracy of measurement 29.Accuracy of manufacturing 30.Harmful factors acting on object 31.Harmful side effects 32.Manufacturability 33.Convenience of use 34.Repairability
decrease. The standard engineering parameter that is in conflict is "#11, stress." The standard technical conflict is: the more we improve the standard engineering parameter "length of a nonmoving object," the more the standard engineering parameter "stress" becomes worse. Table 2. The 39 Engineering Parameters 1. Weight of moving object 2. Weight of nonmoving object 3. Length of moving object 4. Length of nonmoving object 5. Area of moving object 6. Area of nonmoving object 7. Volume of moving object 8. Volume of nonmoving object 9. Speed 10.Force 11.Tension, pressure 12.Shape 13.Stability of object 14.Strength 15.Durability of moving object 16.Durability of nonmoving object 17.Temperature 18.Brightness 19.Energy spent by moving object 20.Energy spent by nonmoving object 21.Power 22.Waste of energy 23.Waste of substance 24.Loss of information 25.Waste of time 26.Amount of substance 27.Reliability 28.Accuracy of measurement 29.Accuracy of manufacturing 30.Harmful factors acting on object 31.Harmful side effects 32.Manufacturability 33.Convenience of use 34.Repairability
35.Adaptability 36.Complexity of device 37.Complexity of control 38.Level of automation 39.Productivity 3.1.4.Look for Analogous Solutions and Adapt to My Solution Altshuller also extracted from the world wide patents 40 inventive principles.These are hints that will help an engineer find a highly inventive (and patentable)solution to the problem.Examples from patents are also suggested with these 40 inventive principles.See Table 3.To find which inventive principles to use,Altshuller created the Table of Contradictions,Table 4.The Table of Contradictions lists the 39 Engineering Parameters on the X-axis (undesired secondary effect)and Y-axis (feature to improve).In the intersecting cells,are listed the appropriate Inventive Principles to use for a solution. Example.The engineering parameters in conflict for the beverage can are "#4,length of a nonmoving object"and "#11,stress.The feature to improve (Y-axis)is the can wall thickness or #4,length of a nonmoving object"and the undesirable secondary effect (X-axis)is loss of load bearing capacity or "#11,stress."Looking these up on the Table of Contradictions,we find the numbers 1,14,and 35 in the intersecting ce11. Inventive Principle #1 is Segmentation a.Divide an object into independent parts b.Make an object sectional c.Increase the degree of an object's segmentation Examples: Sectional furniture,modular computer components,folding wooden ruler
35.Adaptability 36.Complexity of device 37.Complexity of control 38.Level of automation 39.Productivity 3.1.4. Look for Analogous Solutions and Adapt to My Solution Altshuller also extracted from the world wide patents 40 inventive principles. These are hints that will help an engineer find a highly inventive (and patentable) solution to the problem. Examples from patents are also suggested with these 40 inventive principles. See Table 3. To find which inventive principles to use, Altshuller created the Table of Contradictions, Table 4. The Table of Contradictions lists the 39 Engineering Parameters on the X-axis (undesired secondary effect) and Y-axis (feature to improve). In the intersecting cells, are listed the appropriate Inventive Principles to use for a solution. Example. The engineering parameters in conflict for the beverage can are "#4, length of a nonmoving object" and "#11, stress." The feature to improve (Y-axis) is the can wall thickness or "#4, length of a nonmoving object" and the undesirable secondary effect (X-axis) is loss of load bearing capacity or "#11, stress." Looking these up on the Table of Contradictions, we find the numbers 1, 14, and 35 in the intersecting cell. Inventive Principle #1 is Segmentation a. Divide an object into independent parts b. Make an object sectional c. Increase the degree of an object's segmentation Examples: • Sectional furniture, modular computer components, folding wooden ruler
Garden hoses can be joined together to form any length needed For example,using Inventive Principle 1 c."Increase the degree of an object's segmentation,"the wall of the can could be changed from one smooth continuous wall to a corrugated or wavy surface made up of many "little walls.This would increase the edge strength of the wall yet allow a thinner material to be used.See figure 5. Figure 5.Cross section of corrugated can wall. Inventive Principle 14 is Spheroidality a.Replace linear parts or flat surfaces with curved ones;replace cubical shapes with spherical shapes b.Use rollers,balls spirals c.Replace a linear motion with rotating movement;utilize a centrifugal force Example: Computer mouse utilized ball construction to transfer linear two-axis motion into vector motion Using Inventive Principle 14 a.,the perpendicular angle at which most can lids are welded to the can wall can be changed to a curve.See figure 6
• Garden hoses can be joined together to form any length needed For example, using Inventive Principle 1 c. "Increase the degree of an object's segmentation," the wall of the can could be changed from one smooth continuous wall to a corrugated or wavy surface made up of many "little walls." This would increase the edge strength of the wall yet allow a thinner material to be used. See figure 5. Figure 5. Cross section of corrugated can wall. Inventive Principle # 14 is Spheroidality a. Replace linear parts or flat surfaces with curved ones; replace cubical shapes with spherical shapes b. Use rollers, balls spirals c. Replace a linear motion with rotating movement; utilize a centrifugal force Example: • Computer mouse utilized ball construction to transfer linear two-axis motion into vector motion Using Inventive Principle 14 a., the perpendicular angle at which most can lids are welded to the can wall can be changed to a curve. See figure 6