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Triz40 Principles

Subject : engineering
Instructions:
  • Answer 40 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. Invert the action(s) used to solve the problem (e.g. instead of cooling an object - heat it). Make movable parts (or the external environment) fixed - and fixed parts movable. Turn the object (or process) 'upside down'.






2. Conduct a process - or certain stages (e.g. destructible - harmful or hazardous operations) at high speed.






3. Use gas and liquid parts of an object instead of solid parts (e.g. inflatable - filled with liquids - air cushion - hydrostatic - hydro- reactive).






4. Make an object porous or add porous elements (inserts - coatings - etc.). If an object is already porous - use the pores to introduce a useful substance or function.






5. Divide an object into independent parts. Make an object easy to disassemble. Increase the degree of fragmentation or segmentation.






6. Change an object's physical state (e.g. to a gas - liquid - or solid.) Change the concentration or consistency. Change the degree of flexibility. Change the temperature.






7. If it will be necessary to do an action with both harmful and useful effects - this action should be replaced with anti- actions to control harmful effects. Create beforehand stresses in an object that will oppose known undesirable working stresses l






8. In a potential field - limit position changes (e.g. change operating conditions to eliminate the need to raise or lower objects in a gravity field).






9. Replace a normal environment with an inert one. Add neutral parts - or inert additives to an object.






10. Prepare emergency means beforehand to compensate for the relatively low reliability of an object.






11. Use phenomena occurring during phase transitions (e.g. volume changes - loss or absorption of heat - etc.).






12. Make an object serve itself by performing auxiliary helpful functions. Use waste resources - energy - or substances.






13. Perform - before it is needed - the required change of an object (either fully or partially). Pre- arrange objects such that they can come into action from the most convenient place and without losing time for their delivery.






14. Make a part or object perform multiple functions; eliminate the need for other parts.






15. Change from uniform to composite (multiple) materials.






16. Replace an inexpensive object with a multiple of inexpensive objects - comprising certain qualities (such as service life - for instance).






17. Allow (or design) the characteristics of an object - external environment - or process to change to be optimal or to find an optimal operating condition. Divide an object into parts capable of movement relative to each other. If an object (or process






18. Cause an object to oscillate or vibrate. Increase its frequency (even up to the ultrasonic). Use an object's resonant frequency. Use piezoelectric vibrators instead of mechanical ones. Use combined ultrasonic and electromagnetic field oscillations.






19. To compensate for the weight of an object - merge it with other objects that provide lift. To compensate for the weight of an object - make it interact with the environment (e.g. use aerodynamic - hydrodynamic - buoyancy and other forces).






20. To move an object in two- or three- dimensional space. Use a multi- story arrangement of objects instead of a single- story arrangement. Tilt or re- orient the object - lay it on its side. Use 'another side' of a given area.






21. Replace a mechanical means with a sensory (optical - acoustic - taste or smell) means. Use electric - magnetic and electromagnetic fields to interact with the object. Change from static to movable fields - from unstructured fields to those having str






22. Carry on work continuously; make all prts of an object work at full load - all the time. Eliminate all idle or intermittent actions or work.






23. Use an intermediary carrier article or intermediary process. Merge one object temporarily with another (which can be easily removed).


24. Separate an interfering part or property from an object - or single out the only necessary part (or property) of an object.






25. Make objects interacting with a given object of the same material (or material with identical properties).






26. Bring closer together (or merge) identical or similar objects - assemble identical or similar parts to perform parallel operations. Make operations contiguous or parallel; bring them together in time.






27. Place one object inside another; place each object - in turn - inside the other. Make one part pass through a cavity in the other.






28. Instead of using rectilinear parts - surfaces - or forms - use curvilinear ones; move from flat surfaces to spherical ones; from parts shaped as a cube (parallelepiped) to ball- shaped structures. Use rollers - balls - spirals - domes. Go from linear






29. Instead of continuous action - use periodic or pulsating actions. If an action is already periodic - change the periodic magnitude or frequency. Use pauses between impulses to perform a different action.






30. Change the color of an object or its external environment. Change the transparency of an object or its external environment.






31. Change an object's structure from uniform to non - uniform - change an external environment (or external influence) from uniform to non - uniform. Make each part of an object function in conditions most suitable for its operation. Make each part of a






32. Introduce feedback (referring back - cross - checking) to improve a process or action. If feedback is already used - change its magnitude or influence.






33. Use harmful factors (particularly - harmful effects of the environment or surroundings) to achieve a positive effect. Eliminate the primary harmful action by adding it to another harmful action to resolve the problem. Amplify a harmful factor to such






34. Replace common air with oxygen - enriched air. Replace enriched air with pure oxygen. Expose air or oxygen to ionizing radiation. Use ionized oxygen. Replace ozonized (or ionized) oxygen with ozone.






35. Make portions of an object that have fulfilled their functions go away (discard by dissolving - evaporating - etc.) or modify these directly during operation. Conversely - restore consumable parts of an object directly in operation.






36. Use flexible shells and thin films instead of three dimensional structures. If an object is already porous - use the pores to introduce a useful substance or function.






37. Instead of an unavailable - expensive - fragile object - use simpler and inexpensive copies. Replace an object - or process with optical copies. If visible optical copies are already used - move to infrared or ultraviolet copies.






38. Use thermal expansion (or contraction) of materials. If thermal expansion is being used - use multiple materials with different coefficients of thermal expansion.






39. If 100 percent of an object is hard to achieve using a given solution method then - by using 'slightly less' or 'slightly more' of the same method - the problem may be considerably easier to solve.






40. Change the shape of an object from symmetrical to asymmetrical. If an object is asymmetrical - increase its degree of asymmetry.