Engineering research and development involves learning and building new technologies to design a product. It involves understanding the problem, studying existing technology, and developing prototypes to test ideas. The process is iterative and the number of prototypes depends on factors such as safety and environmental risks.
Engineering research and development, also known as R&D, is the systematic process of learning and building new technologies for the purpose of designing a product. Unlike scientific research, engineering research is not concerned with discovering how the world works, but rather how things can be made to work for a particular purpose. Such research might involve a lot of scientific study, however, as engineers work to create design solutions to real-world problems. The development part of engineering research and development refers to trying to actually build the final product; it may take many development phases, each with varying degrees of readiness, for the project to be successful.
The first step in creating a solution to a given problem in engineering research and development is to understand the problem itself and how the solution should work. If no similar products exist, this step may require a lot of research in the physical sciences, such as physics or biology. For example, the new field of nanoengineering did not have nanoscale products on which to base its designs; engineers had to look to physics to get an idea of how potential products might work.
On the other hand, if there are existing products in the world closely related to the one being designed, engineers will likely focus on studying the existing technology itself rather than basic science. In the case of designing an engine for an upcoming car model, engineers would likely benefit more from studying earlier car engines than from theoretical thermodynamics, for example. Internal combustion engines have been in widespread use for over a century and a variety of configurations have already been designed, used and evaluated for their strengths and weaknesses – there is no point in recreating what has already been designed.
Product development in engineering research and development is generally an iterative process. In other words, it’s impossible to know exactly how a product will work even when a detailed design plan is drawn up. Even well-designed products aren’t perfect and have their weaknesses. Therefore it is very useful to develop prototypes or working models to test ideas. These models are not intended for sale to a customer or for mass production as a final product. Rather, they are intended to give engineers a better idea of which components of the model need to be improved and which ones appear to work well.
After a series of systematic tests of a prototype, engineers attempt to redesign a product based on the information gathered during testing. They could tweak their calculations and tweak some of the weaker components of their design slightly. There is no rule for how many prototypes must be developed before a final product is ready; the number depends on factors such as the newness of the technology and whether the product could pose a safety or environmental risk when used.
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