First year - Curricular part

In the first year of the program, detailed attention is given to building up knowledge. To create a broadly based, top-level interdisciplinary program, the basic component is formed by a coherent set of courses, in which group assignments and teamwork play central roles. All courses are purpose-made for this designer's program, and are given mainly by lecturers from industry.

The following courses are given, in which the first matter of importance is the self-motivation of the trainee design engineers working as a team:

  • Plant Design and Scale Up
  • Product Design
  • Applied Statistics
  • Project Management
  • Polymer Reaction Engineering
  • Chemical Thermodynamics
  • Process Modelling, Simulation and Control
  • Chemical Reactor Development and Process Intensification
  • Process Synthesis
  • Process Economics
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics

In these courses the following software packages are intensively used: ASPEN PLUS, Matlab and FLUENT. Integration of professional knowledge takes place during the more extensive courses 'Plant Design and Operation' and 'Product Design'. All courses are purpose-made for this designer's program and are mainly given by lecturers from industry.

Next to the technical courses in the basic component, also a number of non-technical courses are given, like:

  • Methods and Techniques for Design
  • Professional Development
  • Technical Writing and Editing
  • Project Management 

We hope that we have given you a good impression of the set-up of the designer's program 'Process and Product Design' and the contents of the curricular year.

For foreign course participants, courses in Dutch are provided outside the common program.

First year - Course descriptions

Study_Program_PPD_01-04-11.pdf

Second year - Design project

After the curricular year, the technological design projects are carried out in the second year of the program. These are challenging projects with a high reality value that are aimed at the development of the trainee design engineers' abilities. In the project, a specific design objective must be reached within a restricted period of time and with limited means. Projects have an integrative character through the application of several (sub)disciplines. A design assignment is distinct from a research assignment in that the emphasis lies on synthesis (rather than on analysis), and account is taken of the technical and economic preconditions.

A design assignment differs from a (fundamental) research assignment in a number of ways:

  • a design assignment is characterized by analysis, followed by synthesis; a research assignment by analysis which raises new questions
  • a design assignment is aimed at a specific objective (a plant, equipment, system) or product
  • in this, the result of a design assignment is bound by practical limitations. It must suit the local context.
  • technical and economic preconditions must be taken into account.


Second year - Design project - Methodology

In the program the following methodology is used:

  • problem analysis
  • fact finding (literature, interviews)
  • renewed analysis
  • survey of possible solutions

The choice is usually made on the basis of:

  • proven technology
  • economic evaluation
  • technical calculations
  • any experimental work
  • precision of the design
  • reporting

With respect to the experimental work it holds that a design engineer regards it as a necessary evil that is only to be carried out when other methods of approach do not lead to sufficient results. This is the main difference with fundamental research.

Some additional words on multi-disciplinarity.

A design engineer starts with a problem that needs to be solved. In principle the solution can go in various directions and the design engineer will have to gather knowledge and information, wherever he/she can find it. In the designer's program Process and Product Design there is an integral cooperation between the departments of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, Mechanical Engineering, and Applied Physics. Other departments, including the department of Technology Management, are also willing to participate.

Second year - Design project - Organization

The design project is carried out - in most cases in cooperation with a company - in industry, a research institute, or one or several departments of the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven. The period a trainee design engineer effectively works on the project is 42 weeks. Project acquisition is done by BODEC Process Technology at Best. Moreover, projects are also initiated by TU/e research groups, which in most cases will concern explorative designs of new processes that are also the subject of scientific research. The project portfolio is compiled with the number of course participants in mind that have to start their project at a certain date, so 1 October or 1 April.

In the pre-project phase a project description is drawn up in consultation with the company and the TU/e. This description is assessed by the program group. Then a TU/e supervisor is assigned and a contract is made with TU/e. The costs of a project amount to € 40,000 plus VAT. This includes the costs of organization and supervision; any additional project costs for equipment and experiments are billed separately.

In consultation with the Managementteam a number of possible candidates is selected for a project. Introductory interviews are held at the company, after which the project is assigned to one of the candidates.

During the execution of the project, the TU/e supervisor holds regular progress meetings with the trainee design engineer and the company. Each month, the project progress is discussed with the course participants, and if necessary and desirable also with the company. In projects that have been initiated by TU/e often one or more companies are involved and the location where the project will be carried out will be decided upon in mutual agreement.

In general, course participants will hold an interim talk at the TU/e. The final examination consists of the final report, the public final talk and an interview. This all takes place at the TU/e and the examination committee consists of representatives from the company and TU/e.

Projects may be of a confidential nature and customary secrecy agreements can be part of the agreement. In mutual consultation it can be established which elements of the assignment can be made public. Final reports can also be treated confidentially, although there has to be a version that must be filed in such a way that assessment committees can sufficiently acquaint themselves with the design quality of the assignment.

Second year - Examples of design projects


  • Design of Soft Sensors for Plant Automation
  • Simulation Model for Production of PBT
  • Design of a Fluid Bed Heat Exchanger
  • Crude Unit Design for a Vietnamese Refinery
  • Ethylene Oxide Reactor Tube Modelling
  • Design of a Cyclone for Supercritical Textile Drying
  • Conceptual Design of 2 in 1 Softening Washing Powders
  • Improvement study for the DelrinR Polymerization Reactor 
  • Scale Up of Contact Drying Processes
  • Centrifugal Crystalization Technology
  • Design of a Flexible Feed Manifold for replacing Feedtanks in Emulsion Polymerization Plants
  • Thermosyphon Cooling System Design for a Multi-Tubular Reactor
  • Improvement of Coffee Extraction Process
  • Semi-stationary Model for a Cluster of Gas Wells
  • Design of a Scrubber System as fourth stage Separator
  • Process Design of an Enzymatic Catalytic Aldol Condensation Reaction
  • Conceptual Design of Selective Oxidation of Propane
Program

Program