Substance and Field Resources

Last updated July 2, 1997

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Contents

• What are Substance and Field Resources?
• Resources of the alternative system
• Space, time and structure as resources
• Function and resource analysis
• Exercises
• Further reading

What are Substance and Field Resources?

Weīll call resources substances and fields which can be found
in the engineering system or in its environment. Fields are energy, forces, or generally
interactions between substances. Properties of substances and fields are resources, too.

Here we donīt speak of financial or human resources.

Resources of the alternative system

Resources	Feature 1	Feature 2
Resources of original system	+ improves	- worsens
Resources of alternative system	- worsens	+ improves
Ideal system	+ improves	+ improves

Letīs consider the resources of a bicycle. How to improve the bodyshell we have got as an solution
earlier. It is possible to build a light body, giving weather protection, but a new problem appears:
A light and high bicycle, with large surface, has the windsail effect. A new contradiction: we need
a light body for easy riding, and a heavy body for stability. A heavy and stable body is easy to
get making a thick bottom. Why not to use electric batteries as bottom in roofed bybrid? Batteries
give weight and at the same time additional power to the cyclist. We build a matrix:

Resources	Ease of riding	Stability
Light body: form	+ improves	- worsens
Heavy body: weight	- worsens	+ improves
Body- shell: hybrid	+ improves	+ improves

The weight of batteries, which usually is a drawback, is here a positive feature.

Space, time and structure as resources

Resources of a roofed hybrid bicycle:
- space: form, center of gravity
-time: time of riding, parking time (which can be used for recharging batteries); also the
resources of the life-cycle (manufacturing, operation, recycling)
-structure: for example a roofed road for cyclists, a roof in the super-system and is not
needed in a bicycle

Parts of the system: increasing modularity, more product variants from
the smaller number of components

Resources of environment: solar radiation as an additional energy source

Function and resource analysis

According to a function model we can group the resources as follows:
- substance resources of the tool
- field resources
-substance resources of the product

For example a system containing the body (frame) and a wheel:
- body (frame)
- supports
- wheel
Resources of a body: form, weight, center of gravity, strengh, rigidity, elasticity, etc.
Field resources: rotation, friction, heat, etc.
Resources of a wheel: diameter, breadth, form, material, etc.

Exercises

Exercise 2. Analyse the resources of your own system. Which
resources in space, time and structure are available?
Space:
Time:
Structure:

Exercise 3. Analyse the resources of your own system. Build
the function model of the system. Which substance and field resources are available?
Resources of the tool:
Field resources:
Resources of the product:

Exercise 4. Analyse substance and field resources from the economical point of view:
- cost-effectiveness
- market opportunities

Further reading

This TRIZ Page.