Community Micro-Ambulance Design Based on QFD and TRIZ Theories

In recent years, with the sharp rise in the number of vehicles in China, traffic congestion is becoming increasingly serious, affecting the rapid passage of ambulances. In addition, it is common that vehicles are generally parked indiscriminately in some old communities, which also hinders ambulances into residential areas and reduces rescue efficiency. Apart from external factors, the root cause is that existing ambulances are too large to easily pass narrow roads. Besides, there are problems such as frequent empty runs and serious homogenization in traditional ambulances. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the design of traditional large ambulances. First, the user needs of different users for ambulances were determined through questionnaires and user interviews; then, the need judgment matrix of ambulances was constructed by using the analytic hierarchy process to rank user needs by weight, so as to determine the direction for new type ambulance design. Through quality function deployment, the user’s demands were transformed into the technical demands of ambulances, and the conflicts were found. Meanwhile, top-ranked needs were analyzed by using theory of inventive problem solving to seek the corresponding feasible solutions quickly, and innovative design of ambulances was conducted on this basis. However, many designers have not considered the product validation link when using these three methods for innovative design. On the contrary, in this improved ambulance design, the FCE is introduced to score the new design, find the deficiencies, and improve them, thus completing the missing link in the traditional design and forming a complete set of scientific design process. The traditional large ambulance with standard length, width, and height of 5,800 mm, 2,000 mm, and 2,600 mm is modified into a mini-ambulance with length, width, and height of 3,500 mm, 1,600 mm, and 2,250 mm. Simultaneously, various details are optimized to design a community micro-ambulance that truly meets the needs of users and enhances user satisfaction. Quantifying and ranking users’ various functional needs for ambulances by using the AHP/QFD/TRIZ theory and providing corresponding feasible solutions have identified the breakthrough direction for the research on innovative design of community ambulances and have also provided references for the design of other products.