Abstract
Evolutionary Trends is a set of powerful TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) tool for problem solving and other usage. There have been two popular sets of trends by GEN3 Partners and Darrell Mann separately without cohesion. This research integrates the two major evolutionary trends - GENS enhanced classical Trends of Technical Systems Evolution and the Darrell Mann's technical trends into a cohesive integrated set of Trends of Engineering Systems Evolution. Relevant attributes and functional advantages of each stage of the trends are identified. A mathematical problem-solving tool based on similarities between the problem characteristics and the trends characteristics is established to identify relevant trends for probable solution directions as models of the solutions. By encoding the 'knowledge' embedded in the integrated trends, a piece of excel-based software is written to identify the relevant trends for problem solving quickly and objectively without needing to rely on expert experience and knowledge. The contributions of this research include: 1) Integrating the prevailing GEN3 classical TRIZ trends and Darrell Mann's trends into a complete set of evolutionary trends with the relevant attributes and functions of each stage identified conducive to using trends for problem solving; 2) Constructing the structural diagram for the new set of evolution trends for better understanding of the relationships among the trends; 3) Constructing a mathematical model that can automatically and quickly identify the relevant trends for problem solving reducing the reliance on experts knowledge and subjective judgment.