Best 40 TRIZ Principles to Boost Your Design Challenges

For product design engineers. The 40 TRIZ Principles are the solutions to solve the “TRIZ contradictions” in product design problem-solving or to highlight other approaches during your product design brainstorming sessions.

This article focuses on the 40 triz principles to be used with or without the TRIZ methodology.

Refer to TRIZ methods, tips, and tools at the end of this article.

The 40 TRIZ Principles

As these are translations from Russian -that may vary from book to book-, we have taken the most commonly used terminology, and we have regrouped the triz principles by family.

Note: we added complementary principles and technologies in the following chapter.

Highlighted in green is our selection of principles of high interest & frequent usage in Product Design

Different Assembly

This family regroups all means of assembling the components or parts differently. Clearly to be applied during the design choices.

			examples	our comments
#1	Segmentation	Divide an object into independent parts		Good to solve a tech problem or source a component of the shelf, but may lead to complexity & additional costs
#2	Taking out	Separate an interfering part or property from an object, or single out the only necessary part or property of an object		can be very effective, but product intent must be clear to eventually cut into the product specs
#4	Asymmetry	Do not apply force or loads in a uniform or even way		Applied locally frequently permits to reduce of the power and lean the structure (min exception and fatigue)
#5	Merging	Regroups smaller parts or components to achieve the main goal		Depends on context and volume: a dedicated part or component could be more cost and material effective
#7	Nesting	Do you remember the “Matrioshka“, the Russian nested wood-carved dolls?		Modularity, a gain in storage, transport, product variants …
#27	Intermediary	Add an intermediate part or function in the assembly		Not the leanest approach. Is that the only solution?

Adapt To Users or Context

This category regroups all means of changing the product or the system relative to its environment. Mostly at the specification phase rather than later at the design board.

			examples	our comments
#3	Local quality	adapt the level of quality to the strict required, and only at the required place		“Overprocessing” in the 7 wastes of Lean mindset, but for the Design Phase
#6	Universality	Give other usages to an existing part or product		Open new markets at very low effort and environmentally friendly. Not exactly to solve a design issue, but upstream.
#22	Benefit From Harm	By lowering, adding, or increasing the harmful factor, make it a beneficial or secondary function
#23	Feedback	Adapt actuator to effectively required parameter; control loop		Self-leveling & without user intervention.
#25	Self-service	Have the part or product perform other functions, regenerate itself, or produce usable wastes.		When possible, a nice way of value added
#26	Copying	Replace complex and costly components with cheap light and simple copies, or work on an image rather than the costly object itself		(the essence of value Analyses in case you were not using that already)
#27	Consumables	Replace something strong and costly with consumable parts or components		mind the wastes, environment, and new regulations. Other Lean approaches exist

Forms Follow Functions

One of the motos of this site. Read the corresponding post on Forms Follow Functions (fff): regroups all mean that change the shape or space. Usually, the simplest, most reliable, and most cost-effective solutions.

			examples	our comments
#8	Anti-weight	Use the weight to lower other actuators		typically the counterweight in an elevator
#14	Spheroidality, Curvature	Make is round
#17	Another dimension	made 2D what is 1D, and 3D what is 2D		Permits opportunities (gaps, spaces) in the solving
#30	Thin and Flexible	Make heavy structures thin, and eventually flexible if movement is needed		See the plastic tricks design library for molded hinges or thin walls

Time Is The Essence

Family regrouping all TRIZ principles function related to time and new sequence.

Because not visible on the drawing board, solving a technical challenge with a new timed sequence can be overlooked

… but beware of not degrading the user experience with longer or additional steps

			examples	our comments
#9	Preliminary anti-action	Anticipate the harm with a counteraction		ex: preload of concrete beams, before the load itself
#10	Preliminary action	Perform in advance the requirement or change or prepare in advance
#11	Beforehand cushioning	“Prevent rather than cure” before too late		Quality, Lean (…) but for design here
#13	The other way round	Invert the physical principle or the parts relative to each other		ex: on a Peltier module, cool one side instead of heating the other
#20	Continuity of useful action	Do not stop the process or movement		limit operations and WIP & uses inertia
#21	Rushing Through	Perform the action quick		Same logic as applying the force not evenly listed earlier, but on time, to limit the effort, energy, or risk
#34	Discarding and recovering	Use, dispose or reuse at a later time		Environment and production friendly

Physical Properties

TRIZ Principles which are related to either mechanical, physical, or chemical properties of the materials or the environment.

			examples	our comments
#12	Equipotentiality	To conserve energy, limit position changes in a potential field		do not move metal in a magnetic field, or raise parts in a gravity field
#15	Dynamics	Make parts or components move relative to each other
#16	Partial or excessive action	Reduce or increase slightly some specs to reach the conform zone		Pareto: 20% makes the 80%. Or is 95% enough?
#18	Mechanical vibration	Use vibrations rather than big movements		permits very local effect, usually more energy efficient
#19	Periodic action	Replace continuous linear actuators with rotary, pulsating, or repetitive means		link to the previous, depending on the magnitude
#28	Mechanics substitution	Replace Mechanics with magnet or electromagnetism		Refer to our Design with Magnets post
#29	Pneumatics...