Abstraction and generalization in conceptual design process: involving safety principles in TRIZ-SDA environment

Abstraction and generalization are the processes of facilitating a specific problem to help designers solve problems efficiently. Abstraction and generalization reduce complexity and increase creativity. Both abstraction and generalization guide designers to focus on the key factors of a problem towards producing a broader solution perspective. This paper aims to discuss the use of abstraction and generalization in the conceptual design process within the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) environment, specifically, in TRIZ-SDA (Systematic Design Approach), which was developed to increase the understanding of safety principles in the conceptual design process. In addition, the aspects of abstraction and generalization advantages, their implementation in the design process, safety constraints and comparisons between abstraction and generalization are also reviewed. A case study of an aircraft component is used as the example in conducting abstraction and generalization in the safety approach.