Design and development of a pervaporation membrane separation module

This thesis contributes to the design and development of a new pervaporation membrane separation module based on axiomatic design theory and Design for X methodology. The overall design process consists of needs generation, task analysis, knowledge preparation, design methodology selection, conceptual design, detailed design, working drawings, manufacturing arrangement, prototyping and design evaluation. The conceptual design was executed on four levels to form the basic configurations and features under the guidance of axiomatic design theory. Thereafter, the detailed design was performed based on Design for X methodology. The design incorporates the customer requirements, cost, manufacturing, performance, structure, maintenance, reliability, schedule and human factor considerations, etc. Numerous innovative design features have been incorporated in the module and have been made to obtain the best combination of various design concepts which have been validated by prototyping. Recommendations for the further improvement of the module are addressed.