DeMaMech:
EU-Japan Collaboration in Higher Education Student Exchange Program
Offer of
Research Topic
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Offer from |
University |
Delft University of
Technology |
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Faculty/Department/Institute |
Faculty of Mechanical,
Maritime and Materials Engineering, Department of Biomechanical Engineering |
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Group Name |
Intelligent Mechanical
Systems |
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Research Theme |
Developing Innovative
Product Life Cycles |
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Brief Explanation |
Product life cycles
must be optimized for minimum environmental impacts while generating maximum
economic performance. For example, if a product is 100% recyclable, material
consumption is not influenced by the life span of the product. Thus, it might
be even environmentally interesting to design a product with a shorter
lifespan, because they can benefit from the technological advances in energy
saving during the operational stage. This is against the common perception
that a longer product life is favorable for environmental performance. While
products that can be recycled 100% are unrealistic, this still suggests that
environmental gains can be possible, because energy saving coming from
technological advances might compensate or even gain extra energy consumption
for more recycling coming from shorter life cycles. This study will examine a
possibility of such "non-conventional" life cycles using product life cycle
simulation technology. |
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Research Steps |
1. Literature survey (one
month) 2. Developing life cycle
models of various products on the simulator (two months) 3. Evaluation of the
simulation results (one month) 4. Innovative life cycle
design (one month) |
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Period |
5 months. |
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Necessary Background,
Knowledge, Skills |
Fundamental knowledge
about manufacturing systems and discrete event simulation. If necessary, some
references can be specified. |
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Further Information |
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Contact Person |
Prof. Dr. Tetsuo
Tomiyama (t.tomiyama@wbmt.tudelft.nl) |
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