Fuzzy based sustainability indicator for product design and development process

Traditionally, the remedial ‘end of pipe’ control was applied to reduce environmental impact during a product’s entire life. Unfortunately, this method requires too much time to fix the problem rather than preventing it. Therefore, shifting from corrective into prevention act is more essential in preserving our environment. The environmental consideration during design stage is the best preventive action to reduce the impacts. Additionally, economic and social factors also need to be considered in improving a product’s sustainability performance. Research has established the importance of developing a specific tool to fulfill the needs of a sustainable product. Several tools are available such as Eco Indicator 95 and 99, Life Cycle Index, Ten Golden Rules etc., however most of these tools only focus on one or two sustainability elements whereas sustainability requires the consideration of the environment, economic and social elements and the proposed method considers all three. Furthermore, sustainability elements involve various parameters including pollution, cost and energy, among others which then increase the complexity in decision making process. Subsequently, the quantitative and qualitative data of sustainability parameters further complicate this evaluation. In this study, a comprehensive method for evaluating sustainability is proposed to assist engineers and designers in making better decisions. A fuzzy approach has been applied in the sustainability evaluation because of its capability in reducing data uncertainty and simultaneous handling of qualitative and quantitative data. The sustainability input parameters from life cycle inventory databases such as European Life Cycle Database, Ecoinvent and others are converted into an index value which is known as sustainability indicator. A case study involving an automotive headlamp, passenger car and selection of a sustainable electrical power generation plant is presented. The results are also compared with Eco Indicator 99 to validate the accuracy of the assessment. From the comparison, it is found that the result of the developed sustainability indicator agrees with the Eco Indicator 99 approach. Therefore, the developed sustainability indicator is able to indicate the sustainability performance of a product and also highlight the critical area for improvement

Potential impacts for monitoring sustainability: case study of hollow fiber membrane

Sustainability level is a new indicator of quality and efficiency for product life cycle. Sustainability should be balanced among Triple Bottom Line (TBL) aspects namely environmental, economic and social elements. For monitoring the sustainability of product, a comprehensive framework considering potential impacts for sustainability assessment should be developed. Previously, several studies presented frameworks to assess the sustainability level. However, few studies relate their frameworks with the potential impact of all TBL. Determination of potential impacts with its parameter is important during framework development. Potential impacts for environmental such global warming, acidification and eutrophication should be taken seriously. In this study, potential impacts for each sustainability aspects are shown. For the case study of hollow fiber membrane the potential impacts were obtained from primary and secondary data such product specification, bill of materials, literature reviews and help of GaBi Software

Sustainability in the product design: A review of recent development based on LCA

In order to achieve sustainable product design process, aspects such of environmental, economic and social should be balanced. This paper discussed on sustainability of product design, conceptual basis of life cycle assessment (LCA), review of LCA at several product design, methodology of proposed framework and discussion on strengths and limitations of LCA. This paper proposed to develop a framework for improving the product design process based on LCA tool. The aims is to calculate potential impact of environment, eco-nomic and social aspects during product design process. For environmental aspects, LCA tool will be used. For economic and social considerations, life cycle costing (LCC) and social life cycle assessment will be applied respectively. At the end, proposed framework are able to help designers to improve product design by considering all sustainability aspects

Design and fabrication of a cleaning cum cooling system for downdraft gasifier / Mohd Mahadzir Mohammud... [et al.]

Biomass is the most abundant resources and available in all parts of Malaysia. It has the potential to be one of the best options for providing theon demand renewable fuel that can be utilized in various energy conversion technologies. The producer gas produced from biomass can be used to power electricity, thermal energy, or transportation fuels. However, the producer gas needs to be cleaned before being used. In the present paper the design and fabrication of cleaning cum cooling system is shown. The cleaning cum cooling system is used to filter the unwanted particle such as dust (particulate matter), tar and to absorb moisture produced by biomass gasification. The objectives are to design the cleaning cum cooling system by using SolidWorks 2016 software, to fabricate the mechanism by lab-scaled dimensions and to cool and clean the producer gas. The cleaning cum cooling system consists of three stages of filter (water scrubber, tar absorber and silica gel). Each filter has the same dimension size that is 110mm diameter and 400 mm height. The material used is Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe. The results showed that temperature output of 30.9o C is obtained at point after the cleaning cum cooling system. Other than that, 8.5 grams of particulate matter and 32 grams of concentrated tar were trapped in the water scrubber and tar absorber filters. For the moisture test, 40 grams of water was found in the silica gels. These show that the producer gas has been cleaned where a blue flame was lastly obtained. It showed the producer gas is in a good condition

Augmented reality: capabilities and challenges in machining industry aligned with industry 4.0

Augmented Reality (AR) currently plays an important role to undertake the challenges in integrating technologies to expedite the march towards Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0). Therefore, the machining industry relies on new design concepts and methods of an innovative human–machine interaction application that overlays virtual components on a real-world environment. Nowadays, many potential applications being developed in different fields, from gaming activities to everyday life, education and industrial sectors. This paper reviews and investigates the capabilities of AR as new emerging technologies that will improvise machining operation to embrace Industry 4.0 (I4.0) for product precision, cost and maintenance. Due to the massive implementation, there are still several challenges that lie ahead include resources, facilities and etc. The I4.0 has been considered a new industrial stage in which several emerging technologies are converging to provide digital solutions. In future, AR will change the perception of people viewing the world and its objects and to help us see, hear and feel our environments in various fields. As a result, AR will support and enhance the psychomotor phase in human skills development as well as a tool of cybergogy concept for engaging learners online

Sustainability assessment for Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs) by using fuzzy logic approach: a direction and further research

Sustainability assessment have been studied by several researchers focusing to determine set of criteria on case studies selected. However, only few studies have been done on assessing the sustainability of SMEs in Malaysia. Although there are several studies on sustainability assessment for manufacturing company in Malaysia, they do not provide a comprehensive study that including all Triple Bottom Line (TBL) perspectives. To fill this gap, this study will propose a comprehensive framework for assessing sustainability among SMEs that including all TBL perspectives, which is covering environmental, economy and social aspects in sustainability assessment. Primary and secondary data will be used in this study. For primary data, Delphi study will be conducted to obtain the reliable data. Next, fuzzy inference system (FIS) will be applied in this study as methodology for integrating collected data. As for secondary data, literature review from previous current research work will be summarize for comparison purpose. This study is expected to guide SMEs towards sustainability as well as increase awareness hence to promote a serious path towards a more sustainable business model. In regards, Malaysia Government can monitor the sustainability level among SMEs which is have linked with the Malaysia regulations

Graphical user interface for assessing sustainability by using fuzzy logic: a case study on hollow fiber membrane module

An important consideration during product development is the sustainability level of a product. Thus, several tools and methods have been developed to assess product sustainability. However, most of current tools focus only on the environmental element without considering two important sustainability elements such economic and social elements. Other tools are limited to the cradle-to-gate system boundary, which covers two phases of the product life cycle from raw material extraction to the end of the manufacturing stage. Users need to understand the mathematical calculations and tools needed to achieve this purpose. Hence, this paper developed a comprehensive method for assessing the sustainability of product development considering all sustainability elements from cradle-to-grave. A graphical user interface (GUI) was developed for ease of use from the structured methodology. The developed GUI was embedded with the fuzzy logic calculation under the Matlab GUI platform with codes and callback functions by using fuzzy linguistics. The GUI presented is a user friendly assessment since users no need to understand the mathematical equation embedded. A product was selected as a case study to demonstrate the use of the GUI. The sustainability level of a product can be monitored via the GUI to enable further product sustainability improvemen

Graphical user interface for assessing sustainability by using fuzzy logic: a case study on hollow fiber membrane module

An important consideration during product development is the sustainability level of a product. Thus, several tools and methods have been developed to assess product sustainability. However, most of current tools focus only on the environmental element without considering two important sustainability elements such economic and social elements. Other tools are limited to the cradle-to-gate system boundary, which covers two phases of the product life cycle from raw material extraction to the end of the manufacturing stage. Users need to understand the mathematical calculations and tools needed to achieve this purpose. Hence, this paper developed a comprehensive method for assessing the sustainability of product development considering all sustainability elements from cradle-to-grave. A graphical user interface (GUI) was developed for ease of use from the structured methodology. The developed GUI was embedded with the fuzzy logic calculation under the Matlab GUI platform with codes and callback functions by using fuzzy linguistics. The GUI presented is a user friendly assessment since users no need to understand the mathematical equation embedded. A product was selected as a case study to demonstrate the use of the GUI. The sustainability level of a product can be monitored via the GUI to enable further product sustainability improvemen