scholarly journals Implementation of an Object-Oriented Life Cycle Assessment Framework Using Functional Analysis and Systems Engineering Principles

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shantanu Gadre ◽  
Marcos Esterman ◽  
Brian K. Thorn
Keyword(s):  
Functional Analysis ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Systems Engineering ◽  
Object Oriented ◽  
Integrated System ◽  
Design And Development ◽  
Training Requirements ◽  
Development Phases ◽  
Early Phases

Given that a significant percentage of a product’s impacts are defined during design and development, there is a need to effectively integrate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) into these early phases. However, the lack of standardized practices, the lack of appropriate modeling approaches, data issues, special training requirements for designers, and uncertainties in the results make it difficult to apply LCA in these early stages. In order to address this gap, this work builds on previous research that integrated system engineering and functional analysis into LCA to develop an object-oriented framework for LCA. The framework is applied to a consumer product and the results of the approach demonstrate the potential for an easy to update and scalable LCA model that facilitates comparability. Each module in this model can be developed separately and integrated effectively into a larger model guided by functional analysis techniques. This framework holds the promise to better integrate LCA into the design and development phases.

scholarly journals Analysis of Potential Relationships between Functional Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment

Procedia CIRP ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 390-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulina Rodriguez Moreno ◽  
Serge Rohmer ◽  
Hwong-Wen Ma
Keyword(s):  
Functional Analysis ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle

A Framework for the Integration of System Engineering and Functional Analysis Techniques to the Goal and Scope of Life Cycle Assessment

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcos Esterman ◽  
Maria E. Fumagalli ◽  
Brian Thorn ◽  
Callie Babbitt
Keyword(s):  
Functional Analysis ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Functional Unit ◽  
System Engineering ◽  
Identification System ◽  
Boundary Definition ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Goal And Scope

With the increased concern over the impact that product and processes have on the environment several tools for environmental impact assessment have been developed. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is perhaps the most broadly known and used. The use of LCA is common in industry and there is a growing interest to improve the approach since several unresolved problems have been identified with its use. One important issue to resolve is the proper definition of the functional unit. The stated primary goal of the functional unit in LCA is to ensure comparability of LCA results; however, when reviewing the literature, LCA practitioners remark that comparing LCA studies is a very difficult task. The attributed reasons for this problem are the lack of standardized assumptions and practices, including the definition of the functional unit. Even though several unresolved problems present in LCA have had solutions proposed, a clear and actionable solution to the specific problem of functional unit definition is still not available. This paper will introduce system engineering and functional analysis concepts to the goal and scope definition phase of LCA in order to provide a framework for system definition, system boundary definition, and reference flows identification. System engineering principles and functional analysis have been extensively used to aid the design process, yet these approaches have not been effectively applied to the LCA domain. The benefits associated with the proposed framework include improved comparability of LCAs, dynamic updating of LCAs, and the integration of LCA into early stage product development.

scholarly journals Life cycle assessment of future electric and hybrid vehicles: A cradle-to-grave systems engineering approach

2016 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 298-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla Tagliaferri ◽  
Sara Evangelisti ◽  
Federica Acconcia ◽  
Teresa Domenech ◽  
Paul Ekins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Systems Engineering ◽  
Hybrid Vehicles ◽  
Engineering Approach

A Methodology to Quantify Cumulative Damage Function (CuDF) for Integration Into an Object-Oriented Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devdatta Deo ◽  
Marcos Esterman ◽  
Brian K. Thorn
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Failure Modes ◽  
Object Oriented ◽  
Damage Function ◽  
Cumulative Damage ◽  
Remaining Useful Life ◽  
Estimation Methods ◽  
Object Oriented Approach ◽  
Oriented Approach

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is one of the most widely used tools to determine environmental impact of products and processes. One of the main concerns with the life cycle assessment tool is the limited comparability of LCA results due to limitations in defining the functional unit. In response to this, an object-oriented approach has been proposed and further developed by related research. This object-oriented approach relies on the calculation of a Cumulative Damage Function (CuDF) to quantify the amount of consumed life in each item in the bill of materials used in an LCA. The focus of this work is to develop a framework to quantify CuDF that leverages exiting reliability and life estimation methods, namely the concepts of Remaining Useful Life (RUL) and Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA). The framework is applied to a simple example to motivate its use and utility.

Environmental impacts of a rice-beef-biogas integrated system in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam evaluated by life cycle assessment

2021 ◽  
Vol 294 ◽  
pp. 112900
Author(s):  
Akifumi Ogino ◽  
Nguyen Van Thu ◽  
Yasukazu Hosen ◽  
Taro Izumi ◽  
Tomoyuki Suzuki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Mekong Delta ◽  
Integrated System

Research and development of the object-oriented life cycle assessment database

2001 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu Jincheng ◽  
Hao Weichang ◽  
Kou Xinli ◽  
Wang Tianmin
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
Object Oriented

Dynamic Advanced Exergetic, Exergoeconomic and Environmental Analyses of a Hybrid Solar City Gate Station

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Mohammad Hasan Khoshgoftar Manesh ◽  
Mohammad Abdolmaleki ◽  
Hossein Vazini Modabber ◽  
Marc A. Rosen
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Thermodynamic Analysis ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Integrated System ◽  
Exergy Destruction ◽  
Time Step ◽  
High Potentials ◽  
Environmental Emissions

Abstract The use of solar energy to preheat natural gas before a city gate station (CGS) for reducing fuel consumption and environmental emissions is investigated in a real CGS. All analyses are conducted with a one-hour time step throughout the entire year so that seasonal climate changes are accounted for precisely. A thermodynamic analysis of the hybrid system is performed with TRNSYS and verified with THERMOFLEX to ensure reliability. In addition, dynamic exergetic, exergoeconomic, and exergoenvironmental evaluation for the integrated system are performed. A life cycle assessment based on Eco-indicator 99 is performed using SIMA PRO to compute the environmental impacts for each component of the system. The exergetic, exergoeconomic, and environmental analyses are performed in EES. To perform the transient exergetic, exergoeconomic, and environmental analyses, the results of the thermodynamic analysis from TRNSYS are automatically imported into the EES code. The advanced exergetic, exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental evaluation are done to better determine components that have high potentials for improving the system; potentials are considered based on the exergy destruction, exergetic cost of destruction, and environmental impacts associated with exergy destruction.

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