The 40 inventive principles and the Contradiction Table are the simplest TRIZ tools. The analysis of more complex tasks revealed that they could only be solved by the simultaneous use of several such principles, together with various physical effects. Such a particularly effective combination of principles and effects forms the system of Standard solutions of inventive tasks.

TRIZ Standards are general laws for the synthesis and transformation of technical systems (TS). They are based on the patterns of evolution of TS. Some of the Standards directly represent the practical application of these laws. The modern system of Standards leads to structured and highly systematic working methods and can further be used to analyse the technical evolution of the systems and products. It consists of 76 Standards, which are classified into 5 classes and 18 groups:

• Class 1: Synthesis and transformation of the technical systems.
• Class 2: Enhancement of efficiency of the technical systems.
• Class 3: Stages of evolution of the technical systems.
• Class 4: Measurement and detection in technical systems.
• Class 5: Assistance in the application of the Standards.
 

Substance-Field Analysis

The Standards operate with abstract models of technical systems, which are easy to build using so-called substance-field analysis. Each technical system can be described in terms of available substances, fields and their interaction. “Substances” are objects or parts of the system regardless of their degree of complexity. The term “field” not only covers the four classical physical fields such as electromagnetic field, gravitational field and the fields of strong and weak nuclear interaction. In TRIZ, the term “field” also includes all other forms of “technical” fields such as the field of temperature, field of centrifugal force, pressure field, the acoustic field, field of smell, etc.

The minimal number of components for a complete substance-field model of a technical system is two substances and one field, which form a triangle through their interaction. Once a substance-field model has been formulated, a suitable standard solution can be suggested as illustrated in the following example.
 

Example 1

Metal balls are transported by compressed air through a system of pipes, which has many bends. As a result of the continuous impacting of the balls, the bends of the pipe ware quickly. Additional coatings (a typical compromise solution) have a higher resistance to the balls but still wear. This means that between two substances of a technical system (balls and pipe), there is an harmful interaction, which has to be eliminated.

To eliminate such harmful effects in technical systems, Class 1 standards are used. A possible solution is detailed in Standard 1.2.2 “Eliminating harmful effects by system resources”:

“If the contact of two substances S1 and S2 leads to harmful effects, a third substance S3 is to be introduced as a modification of one or both of the existing substances”.

The result is shown below. The inside of the pipe bend is lined with a layer of the same type of balls. They are either positioned in a pocket or, alternatively, are held in place by a permanent magnet. The stream of balls no longer hits the walls of the pipe but rather the other balls instead. If one of the balls is knocked out of place, another replaces it.

Example 2

Using the same principle, a problem from another field of industry can be solved. The wings of hydrofoils are often subject to cavitation erosion when passing through water at high speeds. Small imploding air bubbles gradually destroy the hydrofoil’s wings, even if they are made of highly resistant material. There is obviously a harmful interaction between two substances: water and metal, which can be eliminated using the Standard mentioned above by modifying one of the substances present in the process. If we think of ice and vapour as a kind of “modified water”, one of the possible solutions could be found: the part of the hydrofoil wing in question is cooled to a degree where a thin protective, constantly renewable layer of ice is formed.


These examples clearly demonstrate the advantages of modifying one of the existing substances in the process rather than introducing a third substance, which in most cases, leads to further complications.

Author: Dr. Pavel Livotov