a. Technical Contradictions

These occur when improving one aspect of a system negatively affects another. For example:

• Example: You want to make a car’s body lighter to improve fuel efficiency, but this makes the car less safe because lighter materials are often weaker.

b. Physical Contradictions (or Inherent Contradictions)

These arise when a single system or component must have conflicting properties. For example:

• Example: A material needs to be both flexible and rigid at the same time. Flexibility allows the material to adapt, but rigidity provides strength.

2. Approaches to Contradiction Resolution

Several methods and strategies can be used to resolve contradictions without compromising the system’s overall performance:

a. Separation Principles (TRIZ)

In TRIZ, physical contradictions are often resolved through separation principles that allow conflicting requirements to coexist under specific conditions. There are four main separation strategies:

1. Separation in Time: The conflicting properties appear at different times.
   • Example: Glass that changes from transparent to opaque when an electrical current is applied. It’s transparent when you need visibility and opaque when you need privacy.
2. Separation in Space: The conflicting properties exist in different parts of the system.
   • Example: A car’s bumper that is rigid in one area for crash protection but soft in another to absorb impacts.
3. Separation by Condition: Different conditions or states trigger different responses or behaviors.
   • Example: Adaptive headlights in cars that change their angle or brightness depending on weather conditions, speed, or road type.
4. Separation by Scale: Conflicting properties are resolved when viewed at different scales (macro/micro).
   • Example: A material that is rigid on a large scale but flexible on a microscopic level, such as certain composite materials used in manufacturing.

b. Inventive Principles (TRIZ)

TRIZ also offers 40 Inventive Principles that provide guidance for resolving technical contradictions by applying creative strategies. These principles suggest different ways to modify the system to resolve the contradiction.

• Examples of Inventive Principles:
  • Segmentation: Divide a system into smaller, independent parts.
    • Example: Instead of using one large battery, use multiple smaller batteries that can be swapped or charged independently, solving issues of battery life and flexibility.
  • Asymmetry: Change the symmetry of a system.
    • Example: A car mirror is often asymmetric to provide better visibility in blind spots.
  • Merging: Combine multiple functions or systems into one.
    • Example: A phone that also functions as a camera, solving the contradiction of needing both devices separately.
  • Prior Action: Perform an action in advance to reduce complexity later.
    • Example: Pre-heating car seats before entering, so the seats are warm without waiting for the heater to work.