A framework for the sustainability evaluation of product configuration design

Sustainable development has taken its place in product design as something that needs to be achieved nowadays, not only to generate profits, meet consumers’ needs, and reduce adverse impacts on the environment, but in consideration of all economic, societal, and environmental aspects, known as the triple bottom line (TBL), over the entire product life cycle. Numerous approaches to sustainable product design have been introduced by integrating sustainability considerations during the preliminary design phase. However, most of them neglect either one of the TBL aspects, do not cover the entire product life cycle, and have difficulty in selecting the best design alternative. Additionally, none of them considers sustainability evaluation as one of the criteria in the configuration design phase. In this study, a framework for selecting the most sustainable alternative configuration design of a part was proposed to assist product designers in decision-making. The proposed framework has been basically developed in two main phases, the first of which presents a new decision tool named the Product Sustainability Evaluation Tool (ProSET) to support the proposed framework, and the second phase encompasses the configuration design process. ProSET provides an indicator called the Weighted Sustainability Score (WSS) for each evaluated alternative configuration design of a part to allow for a quick response and time saving during the decision-making process. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) were applied in ProSET to provide weighting factors and estimate the WSS. Several case studies were conducted involving discrete products to comprehensively demonstrate the application of the proposed framework. Based on the results of sustainability performance evaluation of an armchair by ProSET, the alternative part with the highest WSS among its competitors for each basic element of the armchair has been selected to be a complete product. The results were also compared with commercial software to validate the accuracy of the analysis. From the comparison, it was summarised that both results show a degree of similarity in order to efficiently select the best alternative part configuration design with regard to environmental considerations. Hence, it is suggested that the proposed framework and the capability of ProSET can be easily adopted into the working environment of product designers

A Study on Design of a Drone for Transportation in the Agricultural Sector

A drone is a fast-growing technology that has been used in many applications in the world. The drone also is a new solution for the transportation process in the agricultural sector. The primary purpose of this project is to explore the potential of drone or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to reduce the dependence on fossil-fueled vehicles to transport the crops within the farm and from the farm to the seller. The use of drones will create lower emission of carbon dioxide and toxic gases that are usually generated by fossil-fueled vehicles. Besides, this research is also essential to reduce the health issues that currently appear from agriculture activities. The objective of this project is to determine the parameters to design a suitable drone for transportation in the agricultural sector. In addition, the design of the drone must be able to carry a maximum of 10 kg of payload, which can be analyzed by simulation and analysis. The simulation and analysis are performed by SolidWorks software. The conceptual design of the drone is proposed by following the George E. Dieter model of the design process. In addition, a simulation on the strength of the drone components and analysis on the thrust of the motor have been conducted to verify the proposed drone design concept based on the determined parameters. The cost estimation of the drone is about RM17683.65 and the overall weight is 26.823 kg. In conclusion, the drone design concept for transportation in the agricultural sector is proposed as a preliminary study for future works

A Study On Conceptual Design of a Drone for Transportation in The Agricultural Sector

A drone is a fast-growing technology that has been used in many applications in the world. The drone also is a new solution for the transportation process in the agricultural sector. The primary purpose of this project is to explore the potential of drone or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to reduce the dependence on fossil-fueled vehicles to transport the crops within the farm and from the farm to the seller. The use of drones will create lower emission of carbon dioxide and toxic gases that are usually generated by fossil-fueled vehicles. Besides, this research is also essential to reduce the health issues that currently appear from agriculture activities. The objective of this project is to determine the parameters to design a suitable drone for transportation in the agricultural sector. In addition, the design of the drone must be able to carry a maximum of 10 kg of payload, which can be analyzed by simulation and analysis. The simulation and analysis are performed by SolidWorks software. The conceptual design of the drone is proposed by following the George E. Dieter model of the design process. In addition, a simulation on the strength of the drone components and analysis on the thrust of the motor have been conducted to verify the proposed drone design concept based on the determined parameters. The cost estimation of the drone is about RM17683.65 and the overall weight is 26.823 kg. In conclusion, the drone design concept for transportation in the agricultural sector is proposed as a preliminary study for future works

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

Motorized cart

Motorized cart is known as an effective tool and timeless that help people carry heavy loads. For farmers, it has an especially vital tool for moving goods. Oil palm farmers typically uses the wheelbarrow to move the oil palm fruit (Figure 10.1). However, there is a lack of equipment that should be further enhanced in capabilities. Motorized carts that seek to add automation to wheelbarrow as it is to help people save manpower while using it. At present, oil palm plantation industry is among the largest in Malaysia. However, in an effort to increase the prestige of the industry to a higher level there are challenges to be faced. Shortage of workers willing to work the farm for harvesting oil palm has given pain to manage oil palm plantations. Many have complained about the difficulty of hiring foreign workers and a high cost. Although there are tools that can be used to collect or transfer the proceeds of oil palm fruits such as carts available. However, these tools still have the disadvantage that requires high manpower to operate. Moreover, it is not suitable for all land surfaces and limited cargo space. Workload and manpower dependence has an impact on farmers' income

Design Methodology of Modular-Ann Pattern Recognizer for Bivariate Quality Control

In quality control, monitoring unnatural variation (UV) in manufacturing process has become more challenging when dealing with two correlated variables (bivariate). The traditional multivariate statistical process control (MSPC) charts are only effective for triggering UV but unable to provide information towards diagnosis. In recent years, a branch of research has been focused on control chart pattern recognition (CCPR) technique. However, findings on the source of UV are still limited to sudden shifts patterns. In this study, a methodology to develop a CCPR scheme was proposed to identify various sources of UV based on shifts, trends, and cyclic patterns. The success factor for the scheme was outlined as a guideline for realizing accurate monitoring-diagnosis in bivariate quality control

Improvement of Transfer Wheel Marker Design Using the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) Method for School Field Line Marking

The line marking of sports fields is a must-do activity in every school in Malaysia since most of the schools only have one field that is used for many sports activities. There are many concept designs of sport line markings in the market, but the most common design used in Malaysia is a transfer wheel marker. However, the machine lacks many aspects, including clogging problems due to the loose grass, soil sticking to the marker wheel, and its unstable tyre, which may cause the line marking process time becomes longer and more difficult. Therefore, this study proposes to improve the design of the transfer wheel marker using the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) method. Based on the QFD method, a House of Quality (HoQ) in the first phase was applied, where a questionnaire was created using the information obtained from interviews with school teachers to quantify the needs. The collected data was then analyzed in the HoQ to determine the final ranking of engineering characteristics. With a relative weight of 14.45%, the handle height is ranked first as the characteristic that needs improvement. The second ranking order is the amount of wasted paint at 14.08% and the third ranking is tyre friction which is 11.86% relative weight. Hence, the identified three priority components will lead to the improvement of the transfer wheel marker design

Cheese tart press machine

Tart is a type of baked open-pastry which consists of a shortcrust pastry and a filling over it (Figure 9.1). Shortcrust pastry often used as the base for the tart. The filling may be usually something sweet and savory poured onto the crust, though modern tarts are usually fruit-based, sometimes with custard. In the production of tart, its crust is the main part. In the process of making tart crust, the dough must first be pressed to get the desired shape and size

Ergonomic risk factors associated with muscuslokeletal disorders in computer workstation

Ergonomics Risk Factors (ERFs) at computer works are commonly related to Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) such as repetitive movements, doing work in awkward postures and static postures while prolonged seating at works. The main objective of this study was to investigate the ergonomic risk factors associated with MSDs among employees in computer workstation. In this study, the data were obtained by structured interview using self-reported questionnaire and direct observation. The results show that there is significant association between neck and stress score with musculoskeletal symptoms and among office workers. As a conclusion, by assessing ERFs at workplace, the effectiveness of workplace interventions can be evaluated without waiting for changes in the prevalence of MSDs

Cakar ayam shaping machine

Cakar ayam (Figure 7.1) is one of the Malay traditional cookies that are made from sliced sweet potatoes deep-fried in the coconut candy. In current practice of moulding the cookies, the fried sweet potatoes are molded using traditional manual tools, which are inefficient and less productive for the mass production purposes. “Kuih cakar ayam” associated with the meaning of the idiom means less messy handwriting has a somewhat negative connotation .This cookies may just seem less attractive in shape but still likeable . In fact, this cookie is considered a popular snack even outside the holiday season. The choice of the name of this cookie is more to shape actually resembles former chicken scratches made by the paw the ground while foraging. The value of wisdom, beauty and creativity of the Malays is clearly evident through the Malay cookie. Although it is attacked by the invention of modern cakes that look far more interesting, these cakes will be able to survive a long time until now