Q8Electrical Machine Design
Question
Q.8. What are the advantages and disadvantages of synthesis method of computer aided design?
Answer
The synthesis CAD method's advantages are speed and directness (no trial design needed); its disadvantages are limited flexibility for novel designs and no built-in optimization for cost/performance beyond meeting basic specifications.
Advantages of the synthesis method: it generates a complete machine design directly from specifications without requiring an initial trial design, proceeding through a fixed sequence of formula-based calculation steps to quickly arrive at a finished design; it is straightforward to automate for standard, well-established machine types where the design formulas and empirical constants are well documented in design data handbooks; and it does not depend on the designer's prior design experience to propose a good starting trial design.
Disadvantages of the synthesis method: it is less flexible for novel, unusual, or highly customized machine designs, since it relies on pre-programmed formulas and empirical constants calibrated for standard designs, which may not be valid outside their intended range of application; it provides limited design insight or sensitivity analysis, since the designer does not iteratively explore trade-offs the way the analysis method's repeated evaluation naturally reveals; and it lacks a built-in mechanism to actively minimize cost or maximize performance beyond simply satisfying the basic input specifications, unlike a proper optimization-based CAD approach, meaning a synthesis-generated design, while functionally correct, may not be the most economical or highest-performing design achievable for the given specifications.