1. Analysis of surveys and interviews

* Surveys
The survey consisted of questions related to the types of smoke generators the users were already exposed to, its performance parameters were asked in order to identify the advantages and disadvantages, they were asked to estimate a suitable price, the mode of maintenance preferred, and the space constraints they were willing to provide for the smoke generator.
Type of smoke generation used Burning Paraffin Oil | 0% | Evaporating Dry ice | 100% | Other sources | 0% |

Place of smoke generation The smoke was pumped in from outside | 100% | Inside the tunnel at the junction of the tubes | 0% | Inside the tunnel at the probe tip | 0% | Others | 0% |

Duration of smoke <15s | 100% | >15s | 0% | >1m | 0% |
Clarity of the smoke Fully formed | 20% | Partially formed | 60% | Dissipated before formation | 20% |

Estimation of price <300 Dhs | 50% | <500 Dhs | 40% | <1000 Dhs | 10% |

Mode of maintenance Store where purchased | 10% | Specialist | 50% | Self-maintenance | 40% |

Space willing to allocate 1 m2 | 0% | 0.25 m2 | 0% | 0.045 m2 | 0% | Others | 0% | Doesn’t matter | 100% |

The analysis of the survey handed out to colleagues in order to gather chief information related to the project from the users, lead to aid the formation of part of the objectives for the design project.
As is obvious from the results above, there were clear cut answers obtained, and the analysis may be summarized as follows: 1. It is evident that most users were only familiar with the type of smoke generator that used evaporating dry ice as the smoke source and its performance was evidently below satisfactory. Therefore, it may be required that a smoke generator instead of the evaporating dry ice mechanism may be designed and constructed in such a way that the performance in terms of duration of the smoke and the clarity of the smoke over the model are above satisfactory. However, further research must be conducted in order to finalize the objective. 2. A good estimation of the price from the results obtained above, as per the survey taken in accordance with the users is to limit it below about Dhs 400. This is in agreement with majority of the users suggesting a suitable price of Dhs 300 and Dhs 500. This corresponds to the smoke generator being affordable between the range of 300 and 500 Dhs. 3. Although by a small margin, most users preferred specialist maintenance for the machine over self-maintenance. However, upon brainstorming with members of the team it was concluded that the smoke machine would involve a moderate level of difficulty in operation. This accounts to the product’s user-friendliness and easy maintenance. 4. In terms of the size of the smoke machine, almost all the users who completed the survey thought the size didn’t matter. However, this will also be considered an objective but of lesser importance. However, it must be kept in mind that the compactness and portability of the machine must be taken into account and an optimum size will be chosen to enable compactness and portability.
Since the survey provided only a brief idea of possible ideas for an objectives list, further research must be conducted in order to support and enhance these ideas into a solid list of objectives.

* Interviews
Source of information “Stakeholders”:-
1. Client – Dr. Young Hwan Kim and Dr. Ahmed Obaide
2. User – Eligible people and potential users

Methods used in data collection:-
1. Surveys
2. Interviews

1st Interview

Dr. Young Hwan Kim
10th October 2011

Question #1:- What kind of constraints would you like to impose on the smoke generator, being the client??

Ans: The client stressed on specific expectations from the output smoke to be white, regardless of the source of the smoke. Using this new constrain, we took into priority account that the smoke generator should produce only white smoke and in would be able to work on any type of fuel for the smoke generation process. Dr. Kim as the client also wanted to limit us to move towards was a low cost and high performance product, which required a suitable mid-way design.
Question #2:- What is a good duration for smoke performance and how would the smoke be judged to be validated as satisfactory?

Ans: The client then specifically stated that as a constraint, he believed a 15 second duration of perfect smoke generation would be appropriate. However he did mention that even though 15 seconds may be accepted initially, a duration of 45 seconds would be much more appreciated with the general notion that the longer the better.
Outcome: Recognizing the importance of ‘what the client wants we decided to approach Dr Kim with our first set of questions. The interview was extremely fruitful and helped us a lot especially in helping us in defining our initial set of objectives and constraints.

2nd Interview

Dr. Ahmed Obaide
13th October 2011 On the other hand Dr. Obaide clearly stated that the design must be safe. Meaning, it should have a decent heat insulation system, electric hardware should be safely configured, minimum smoke leakage and of course the fuel tank ought to be kept at a safe distance from the ignition. He also mentioned cost but eventually gave us a preferred cost of below 500 AED without actually limiting us. He mentioned that the device may be used by students operating the wind tunnel with minimal training. Our next strategic step in obtaining our questions answered from a wide range of potential users was by using several tools such as surveys and pair wise comparison charts. Survey questions were based on the information we received in our interviews and were distributed to students who actually used a wind tunnel and would end up using the smoke generator. The survey involved questions relating to constraints such as the duration, visibility and functions.
Narrowing and defining perspectives through various data collection processes such as meeting and interviews, resulting into the objective tree, metrics and constraints.