Experiences of Teaching “Life Cycle Design” Course at Tokyo Metropolitan University

Manufacturing ◽  
2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasushi Umeda
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Life Cycle Thinking ◽  
Environmentally Conscious ◽  
Tokyo Metropolitan ◽  
Life Cycle Design ◽  
Teaching Life ◽  
Metropolitan University ◽  
Environmentally Conscious Design

This paper describes the outline of “life cycle design” course the author teaches and illustrates some experiences and findings with results of questionnaires to attendees of the lecture. “Life cycle design” is a half-year course to third-year students at Tokyo Metropolitan University, Japan. The main subject is environmentally conscious design focusing on life cycle thinking. This course intends to establish general and correct viewpoints toward relationship between manufacturing industry and the environmental issues, which are indispensable knowledge as mechanical engineers, rather than to educate environmental specialists. Results of questionnaires indicate that this course succeeded in increasing students’ interest in this area and awareness of importance of the environmental issues. However, some students feel bewildered because of wide variety of topics and, therefore, lack of a central theory.

Comparison of environmental performance between plastic and steel fuel tanks

2002 ◽  
Vol 216 (11) ◽  
pp. 1443-1457 ◽  
Author(s):  
C-y Tung ◽  
M H Wang
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Product Design ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Environmentally Conscious ◽  
Performance Technique ◽  
Life Cycle Design ◽  
Fuel Tanks ◽  
Environmentally Conscious Design ◽  
Whole Life Cycle

Increasing awareness of environmental burdens has led companies and designers to initiate design for the environment (DFE) programmes, which consider the design of products from the ‘cradle to grave’ and is also known as ‘life-cycle design’. In this paper, the use of a novel environmental performance technique to be used at the early stage of product design is presented. This technique, which is to be used as a framework for green product design, is demonstrated in this paper by evaluating the environmental performance between plastic and steel fuel tanks. The fuel tank comparison can be divided into five steps. In the first four steps, a modified house of quality (HOQ) is used to analyse the performance of fuel tanks in terms of requirements of environmentally conscious design. The final step is an overall assessment that synthesizes the results from the previous four analyses. As a result, the comprehensive environmental effects in the whole life cycle of fuel tanks are captured in the early stage of design.

Integrating DFX Tools With Computer-Aided Design Systems

1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uma-Sankar Kalyan-Seshu ◽  
Bert Bras
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Computer Aided Design ◽  
Design Guidelines ◽  
Life Cycle Assessments ◽  
Environmentally Conscious ◽  
Life Cycle Design ◽  
Design Systems ◽  
Environmentally Conscious Design ◽  
Aided Design

Abstract The growing emphasis on environmentally conscious design and manufacturing approaches has placed new burdens on designers. The amount of information available to designers is of great significance in making life cycle assessments on a product. However, well-established commercial CAD systems do not provide means for evaluating most of the different life cycle aspects of the product being modeled. Hence there is a need to have a CAD-environment where the life cycle tools (DFX tools in this work) are integrated with these systems so that life cycle design is made possible. In the research discussed in this paper, the specific focus is to enable the quantification and enhancement of product assemblability, serviceability, recyclability, remanufacturability, de-manufacturability, and life cycle impact during product design. Guidelines for integrating some of the commercially available CAD packages (I-DEAS and Pro/ENGINEER) to these assessment models, and ways to use the input information to some these assessments for making other assessments are developed. A case study is given to illustrate the approach.

Reliability Analysis of Repairable Systems Subject to System Modifications

1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. H. Jiang ◽  
L. H. Shu ◽  
B. Benhabib
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Steady State ◽  
Cost Estimation ◽  
Life Cycle Cost ◽  
Repairable Systems ◽  
Environmentally Conscious ◽  
Reliability Indices ◽  
Reliability Models ◽  
System Reconfiguration ◽  
Environmentally Conscious Design

Abstract This paper approaches environmentally conscious design by further developing a reliability model that facilitates design for reuse. Many reliability models are not suitable for describing systems that undergo repairs performed during remanufacture and maintenance because the models do not allow the possibility of system reconfiguration. In this paper, expressions of reliability indices of a model that allows system reconfiguration are developed to enable life-cycle cost estimation for repairable systems. These reliability indices of a population of repairable systems are proven theoretically to reach steady state. The expressions of these indices at steady state are obtained to gain insight into the model behavior, and to facilitate life-cycle cost estimation.

A Decision Support Model for the Life-Cycle Design of a Family of Oil Filters

1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto A. Ortega ◽  
Uma-Shankar Kalyan-Seshu ◽  
Bert Bras
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Environmentally Benign ◽  
Decision Support Model ◽  
Life Cycle Assessments ◽  
Life Cycle Design ◽  
Oil Flow ◽  
Competitive Prices

Abstract In this paper, a decision support approach for designing a family of environmentally benign products for a ranged set of customer requirements is presented. More specifically, we incorporate environmental issues in order to minimize the environmental impact of products without sacrificing their performance characteristics and keeping competitive prices in comparison to existing products. The example problem consists of the design of a family of environmentally benign oil filters based on a variety of oil flow rate ranges. Environmental issues are represented by Life Cycle Assessments and comparisons of the existing alternatives based on their environmental impact. Emphasis is placed on highlighting the trade-off analysis for including environmental considerations in the design of a family of products and not on the results of the problem, per se.

A Requirement-Centered Design Support System for the Environmentally Conscious Product

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kei Kurakawa ◽  
Kumiyo Nakakoji ◽  
Takashi Kiriyama
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Product Life Cycle ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Design Team ◽  
Life Cycle Model ◽  
Cycle Model ◽  
Environmentally Conscious ◽  
Design Support System ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Environmentally Conscious Design

Abstract We have developed the Green Browser to support a team of designers to collaboratively construct and share the product life cycle information for environmentally conscious design. We developed the ReqC model (Requirement-Centered Model) and the GLC model (Green Life-Cycle Model) for structuring design information in the Green Browser. The system allows the design team to construct the GLC model by chunking discourse and assigning types. It provides a visual presentation of the concept and scenario, and allows the user outside the team to share the model across different computer environments. We used Java2 and CORBA for system implementation. To test implementation of the system, we built a GLC model by using data collected in an industrial design project.

Integrating I-DEAS With Remanufacturing and Assemblability Assessments

1997 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uma-Sankar Kalyan-Seshu ◽  
Bert Bras
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Environmentally Conscious ◽  
Input Information ◽  
Amount Of Information ◽  
Specific Objective ◽  
Design And Manufacturing ◽  
Environmentally Conscious Design ◽  
Effective Design

Abstract A growing concern about the environment, and especially about waste and landfill, has motivated research into environmentally conscious design and manufacturing approaches. This has placed new burdens on designers. In order to aid designers in their new tasks, one of our objectives is to minimize the gathering of information and maximize the utility of existing design information. In the research discussed in this paper, the specific objective is to enable the quantification and enhancement of product remanufacturability. Guidelines for integrating some of the commercially available CAD packages (like I-DEAS, Pro/ENGINEER, CATIA) to remanufacturing assessments, and ways to use the input information to these assessments for making other assessments (like assemblability) are developed. A number of case studies are given to illustrate the approach. Our long term goal is to identify the minimum amount of information needed to do effective design for the life-cycle.

Environmentally-Conscious Design Methods for Manufacturing Firms with Servicification

2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomohiko Sakao ◽  
◽  
Mattias Lindahl ◽  
Anna Öhrwall-Rönnbäck
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Manufacturing Firms ◽  
Design Methods ◽  
Environmentally Conscious ◽  
Economic Implications ◽  
Manufacturing Company ◽  
Environmentally Conscious Design ◽  
Empirical Case Studies

Servicification is a key toward environmental conscious business in the manufacturing industry. After looking at the business and economic implications of Integrated Product and Service Offerings, the paper suggests specifications for methods beneficial for such a manufacturing company. The paper is based on the empirical case studies of 120 Swedish manufacturing firms of different sizes. It is expected to encourage discussion on this crucial theme in mature economies such as those of Europe and Japan.

Probabilistic Graphical Models as Tools for Evaluating the Impact of Usage-Context on the Environmental Performance of Products

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassandra Telenko ◽  
Carolyn Seepersad
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Graphical Models ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Probabilistic Graphical Models ◽  
Environmentally Conscious ◽  
Engineered Systems ◽  
Environmentally Conscious Design ◽  
Usage Context ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Environmentally conscious design is focused on reducing the environmental impact of engineered systems, but common practice in life cycle analysis overlooks the relationship between a product’s usage-context and its environmental performance. Existing studies rarely consider operational variability or the correlation between performance, design, and usage variables. Probabilistic graphical models (PGMs) provide the capability of not only evaluating uncertainty and variability of product use, but also correlating the results with the product’s features and usage context. This discussion explores the use of PGMs as a tool for evaluating operational variability in products and including the results in life cycle inventories. The tool is illustrated for environmentally conscious product design through an example study of an electric kettle.

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