Undergraduate study

Undergraduate 

Mechanical Engineering BEng/MEng

Mechanical Design 4 ENG4186

  • Academic Session: 2026-27
  • School: School of Engineering
  • Credits: 20
  • Level: Level 4 (SCQF level 10)
  • Typically Offered: Runs Throughout Semesters 1 and 2
  • Available to Visiting Students: No
  • Collaborative Online International Learning: No
  • Curriculum For Life: No

Short Description

This course requires students to work in design teams to take an open-ended customer brief for a large scale item and create a unique engineering solution that matches that brief.

Students build on knowledge gained from previous courses in product development and mechanical analysis with more techniques introduced. Additional skills on elements of design are introduced in this course and must be included in the student's design, these include design for Eco (sustainable design), design for environment, design for ethics, risk reduction, failure analysis and design for manufacture and assembly.

Students are required to produce project management documents, design documents and calculations to a standard acceptable in industry; these skills are taught and put into practice in the project. Students also have to choose an element of the design that will be manufactured, then assess appropriate materials and manufacturing methods for mass market production and engage in quality assessment of the output.

Timetable

1 lecture and 2 group discussion / tutorial per week

Excluded Courses

SIT4044 Mechanical Design 4N

Co-requisites

None

Assessment

50% Report: group report (20% submitted in S1 and 30% submitted S2; supported by portfolio: individual logbooks of research for both semesters)

25% Report: individual design calculation (calculation is specific to each student's design that needs to be completed first)

25% Report: individual "Design for X" report (supported by portfolio: individual logbooks of research for both semesters)

Course Aims

The aims of this course are to:

■ improve and broaden the student's engineering and design skills;

■ instil a capability to solve problems and reflect on solutions throughout the design process;

■ give the students an understanding of the quality of documentation used in the engineering industry

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ develop an open project brief into a complete concept design through problem analysis and resolution, achieving an inclusive and sustainable design, developing it to the point where manufacturing drawings could be created;

■ individually consider and communicate the wider context of "Design for X" (design for Eco/sustainable design, design for environment, ethical design, risk reduction, failure analysis and design for manufacture and assembly) when creating engineering solutions, use external literature to explore concepts and justify decisions;

■ teamwork to integrate different aspects of the system, including "Design for X" into a project output;

■ use an array of industrial software packages to refine and/or verify design;

■ create a set of industrial quality project management documents and use these to control an engineering project;

■ create a sample set of engineering calculations using analytical tools and techniques and present them to communicate the solution so that an industrial partner will have confidence in their competence;

■ create a design disclosure of an engineering design.

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

No exceptions