TRIZ, Windows,Our Breathing Homes

7/29/2019 TRIZ, Windows,Our Breathing Homes

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TRIZ, Windows & Our Breathing Homes

Prashant Y.JoglekarCorporate Quality Office

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.

On a burning Sunday afternoon, I was cooling myself under fully blasting Air-Con while watchinga famous TV show. During commercial break, there was an advertisement of a leading shoe

brand, claiming that its shoes breathe. Suddenly power went off and the next moment, I startedsweating. There was a strange feeling as if I am traveling from North-pole to equator. I f shoescan breathe, what about our homes? I thought to myself and thanked GOD, for we have

windows (our homes nostrils) our resource of natural ventilation. With trees surrounding mybuilding, my pain was subsided to a reasonable extent.

Window is an integral part of our home sweet home, workplace and of all establishments thatwant to be open & keep a close eye on all the worldly events. From a TRIZ perspective, windowis one of the greatest innovations solving a major physical contradiction; I want to be in and want

to be out (In hindsight, all innovations are next common sense, so to us this is no more aninnovation now)

On a lighter note, Window is also the subject of poetic work and there are many literarymasterpieces written on the subject. The word window seems to have brought lot of luck to thetechy- Czar Bill Gates, as his companys products are prefixed with it (WINDOWS 97,

WINDOWS 2000, WINDOWS Vista etc..) Windows seem to have bestowed upon him & hisheart counts name, fame & wealth. His generosity is also helping opportunity starved world with a

ray of hope, with which they can think of breathing freely. All this is because of WINDOWS. Asthese thoughts conceived, few contradictions dawned on my mind.

Let us do some serious business using TRIZ. The first thing we will do is to start looking at thefunctions of the window (we need to do this for any system in order to innovate, this is an

essential step called functional & attribute analysis) Let us look at the few important functionsand also some auxiliary functions of window.

- To receive sun light- To receive fresh air,- Facilitate movement of air from outside as well as from inside

- To communicate with the person who is standing down or vice a versa.- To see a person and communicate- To give something from inside of the house ( Wives handover conveniently forgotten

shopping bags to their poor husband)

- For young hearts, it is a way to communicate ( Window Winking )- It provides an opportunity to refresh a depressed mind by looking at the nature or

street happenings (This need is felt after performance appraisal for some

introspection)- To enjoy the rain while still in- Symbolically it also represents our willingness to be open to the world.

- Opens and closes our interface with the outside world

For the purpose of this discussion let us take up only one key function to identify contradiction

associated with it, let us say we have windows because we want to have better ventilation whichalso helps in keeping the air quality , temperature inside the room to a comfortable limit.( we livein concrete jungles, arent we?). During the day we want windows to be open, during night we

want them to be half closed or completely closed, in summer we need air circulation so we keep


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windows open, or completely closed (in case we use air conditioner) , in monsoon we want toprevent rain water coming inside the house so close it then etc.

The system needs to cater all these requirements, I want the window to be as open or close as Iwant (partial, and infinitely variable etc at different times. If we see from a TRIZ perspective this is

a physical contradiction in time and need to be solved by looking at the relevant inventiveprinciples. The inventive principles that can be used are Dynamics, Preliminary Action, PeriodicAction, Beforehand Cushioning, Partial or excessive action, skipping, copying, mechanical

vibration, Thermal expansion, Discarding & Recovering, Preliminary Anti-action, Continuity ofUseful Action

If we just look at the top most principle Dynamism which says Split an object or system intoparts capable of moving relative to each other; i f an object or system is rigid or inflexible, make itmovable or adaptable

The result is sliding widows; we see these windows have fast become part of our homesreplacing the normal ones. (At the left in following figure) Sometime we wish that we have all

sliding windows, however there is one contradiction with them; they can never be fully opened aswindow frame boundary limits their full opening. Look at figure 1. So in case of 4 sliding windows,the total open area at any given time is three quarter. if you have 2 sliding windows then it is half

open. Let us examine the contradiction and see whether we can generate some useful ideaswhich can satisfy our basic function (having opportunity for ventilation)

Figure 1 : Normal Windows to Sliding Windows but they can open only 3/4th

the area,

For better ventilation, we want more air to come in and more to go out (so more can come in).This will be only possible if the air inside moves faster without any obstruction. So we dive into

contradiction matrix1

to identify which parameters represent our situation the best. After carefulexamination we find the parameter which we are trying to improve (maximize) is Amount ofsubstance (air) and its speed (the received air needs to be moved at a higher speed for better

ventilation) and the parameter that goes worst (or parameter stopping from achieving the desiredimprovement) is the frame area, Matrix Parameter : Area of the stationary object. The inventiveprinciples that the matrix gives us are listed in the following table. Many great inventors/

innovators have used these principles when encountered with the similar problems, it means weare in possession of their ideas now. Refer Contradiction table on the following page.


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Parameters We Would Like

To Improve

Parameters That Goes

Worst

Inventive Principles

1. Amount of Substance2. Speed

Area of the stationary object 35 Parameter Changes31- Porus Materials

04 Asymmetry05 Merging03- Local Quality

17 Another Dimension14 Curvature13- The Other Way Round

02 Taking Out40- Composite Materials

Let us list the elements of the system and try to apply each of these inventive principles to them

to see whether we can generate some useful solutions. The elements & possible attributes areidentified in the table below.

Elements/ Resources of our living spaces Useful attributes of these elements

Living Room Length, Height, Width

Balcony Geometry

Floor Temp gradient

Window Frame Length, Height, Width

Curtain Flexibility, Porosity, Material Properties

Window Glass Hardness, Transparency

Building Material Porosity, Temperature Gradient

Free Space around window All dimensions of space

Atmosphere around our building Wind Speed, Direction etc

Idea Generation with Inventive Principles

1. Another Dimension

Let us consider principle 17 Another Dimension

If an object contains or moves in a straight line , consider use of dimensions ormovement outside the line; if an object contains or moves in a plane, consider use of

dimensions or movement outside the plane

The window shown in the figure 2 has used this principle, it has marble/ granite flat tile

running parallel to the parapet length and going outside the boundary, so the slidingwindows goes out and thus you get a completely opened window.


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Figure 2 : Sliding Windows using TRIZ principle 17 ( Another Dimension)

Can we see whether we can generate some idea with our system elment; balcony, in

modern building the buider provides balcony which is outside and hanging in freespaces.( Open Balcony, builder cashes free money from the dweller, using free spaceresource ) These balconies can be used by the occupants for breathing fresh air ( we are

in , we are out). In case you fear tanning, water-sprinkled roof might help you. Following

pictures show these balconies. These balconies bear some analogy with our nose, theyare external, still their help all our internal system, by taking fresh air in) Refer Figure 3.

Figure 3 : Curved and Protruded Balconies

2. Porous Material

The principle reads Make an object porous or add porus elements; If an object is already

porous, add something useful into the porus.

Can we make glass porus, not sure, can we replace glass with some porus object. The

fine nets which are fixed in the window frame allow fresh air to comes, ( protects from

mosquitoes ) without window being open, in case we want window to be closed, but theair to come in, then this option can work for us. Refer Figure 4 below.


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Figure 4 : Windows with glass in two frames and nets in the remaining two

3. Taking Out Principle

The principle reads extraction of unnecessary partcan we take out the something fromthe balcony wall, French windows are the best to maximize the air flow, and they are big

and allow lot of air to come in.

4. Local Quality

The principle reads When an object or system is uniform then make it not uniform, theglass windows can be two with nets and two with glass. In case you feel privacy will get

affected then use curtains. (Another contradiction, another solution)

The principle further reads Change the things around the system from uniform to non-

uniform.The things around the system is outside air, we can use a fan which can suckthe air in ( in case there is a power cut, then may be a generator can help us) in any caseyou have a fan rotating above your head. Air conditioning/ exhaust fans are some of the

artificial means to move the air and keep your house breathing.

In case you are lucky enough to live by the sea side, the gushing wind will solve all yourventilation problems as the wind pressure (external environment) will drive out the airinside your house and there will be a continuous flow of air. Your home can breathenaturally, just as we do when we visit sea shore. Thank god that we have sea

surrounding us in Mumbai and there are no concrete jungles there as yet.

To buy a house near sea side could be the costliest ventilation proposal.

Enable each part of a system to function in locally optimized conditions.

In case there is no power, we use hand fans to move the polluted / stagnant air away

from us, so that amount of less polluted / fresh air can come in. By this way, we are tryingto use above principle.

.5. Asymmetry

Most of the free air is blocked by the buildings in front of your building then better town

planning could be the answer. But in case you have asymmetrical building layouts, itmight help (example another buildings garden in front of your building and vice a versa)


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6. Curvature

Some of the building side walls are curved; this allows an unrestricted flow without losingwind pressure. Protruded Curved balconies can also guide the air flow in your house.

Conclusion:

The discussion does not claim that ideas generated here are the only ventilationsolutions, one can further generate more ideas. However it is an attempt to demystify &demonstrate use of contradiction matrix of TRIZ to generate several ideas for our day to

day concerns. In solving any problem or finding any opportunity, we come across severalcontradiction chains. Each of these chains can only be solved by defining the rootcontradictions correctly. Talking clearly and using simple words, correct contradictions

are formulated. One way of improving observation power is to think about contradictions,if all can not be solved then still it is sagacious to stay one ahead of others.

References :

1. Matrix 2003 Updating the TRIZ Contradiction Matrix; Darrell Mann, Simon Dewulf,

Boris Zlotin, Alla Zusman; CREAX Press

PS :

All photographs are taken by the author for the purpose of this discussion.

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TRIZ, Windows,Our Breathing Homes