Product: SANYO Model DS19380 CRT Television

Audience: Senior Citizens (Retired)

Feedback:

            Reverse engineering is a very useful tool that many engineers throughout the industry are using to better develop their products.  It allows an engineer to learn how a product works and what can be done to make it appeal to a different audience.  That is why many companies in the industry rely on reverse engineering.  Compared to forward engineering, it teaches a person how a product was built and what it is made of.  In forward engineering, they are building their own product blindly.  An engineer does not really know how their product is supposed to work or how it is supposed to look.  Reverse engineering serves as a stepping stone that gives them something to base their product off of.  This also keeps the existing consumers happy as well as helping the company gain new consumers.  Reverse engineering helps engineers do this because it allows them to keep the aspects of the product that the existing consumers like, as well changing the aspects that many people didn’t like. 

            For the new product, it had to be light enough for a senior citizen to be able to carry.  It also had to have great sound and closed caption for the hearing-impaired as well as a great picture with a large screen for the visually-impaired.  I used these criteria to develop my innovation.  The whole purpose of this project was to build a TV that fit these criteria, so by using them I was able to design a product that would better appeal to the senior citizen population.  In the process of using reverse engineering to better design this TV, I determined a few things that needed to be upgraded.  The main thing that needs to be upgraded was the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT).  CRTs are not as common in televisions anymore due to excessive weight.  Instead of using a CRT, I replaced the CRT with a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screen for mobile purposes.  This drastically reduced the weight of this television.  Another thing that needed to be upgraded was the glass screen.  The screen on this television accounted for most of the weight of this product.  LCD does not require a glass screen.  With an LCD, you could use a plastic screen which would further reduce the weight of the final product.  The audio system also needs to be upgraded.  In order to appeal to the hearing-impaired, you need more than one speaker.  With a newer television, I would incorporate two or more speakers.  For this project, I disassembled the television and learned how it worked.  After learning of its inner mechanisms, I set out to find new ways to change how it operated.  Using various websites, I was able to learn about the difference between CRT and LCD and determine which one would be the best to use. 

            My personal opinion of this project is that it is a great learning experience for future Engineers such as myself.  It gave me the opportunity to experience what I might possibly be doing in the future.  It also was a great way to learn what reverse engineering is and how it applies to the industry.  I think it would be a great project for anyone wishing to become an Engineer in the future.