Life-Cycle Design for Environmental Quality of Products: Integrated Design System
The research deals with the study of techniques for Life Cycle Design, focusing on methodologies for optimising the life of products, extending their useful life through appropriate servicing programs and the recovery of resources at the end of their working life by the disassembly of parts, reuse or recycling. The main objective was to develop a system able to support design choices in terms of the definition of product architecture, integrating a series of instruments of analysis, calculation and optimisation in the most appropriate manner to provide as complete an approach as possible to the eco-design problem. To achieve this objective, the design tool under investigation was conceived as an integrated system of operational modules, each specific to one of the various aspects of the design problem (modularity, disassemblability, serviceabillity, recovery planning, cost-benefit analysis of recovery strategies), but developed according to a common logic in the methodological bases and the mathematical modelling. This prime objective was complemented by a secondary aim: that of developing the design tool in strict correlation with the parameters of conventional mechanical design, and in particular with those regarding the prediction of component reliability and duration, to highlight the need for and potential of an integrated approach to the problem. The study was integrated by applied analyses undertaken in industrial context. Two case studies conducted concerned the application of the methods and tools developed in two different spheres: the redesign of existing products and the development of new ones.
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| Author | Fabio Giudice |
| Institution | University of Catania, Italy |
| Advisor | Prof. Antonino Risitano |
| Expected graduation | 2000 |