Abstract
In order to quantitatively evaluate and improve the sustainability of machining systems, this paper presents an emergy (the amount of energy consumed in direct and indirect transformations to make a product or service) based sustainability evaluation and improvement method for machining systems, contributing to the improvement of energy efficiency, resource efficiency and environmental performance, and realizing the sustainability development. First, the driver and challenge are studied, and the scope and hypothesis of the sustainable machining system are illustrated. Then, the emergy-based conversion efficiency model is proposed, which are (1) effective emergy utilization rate (EEUR), (2) emergy efficiency of unit product (EEUP) and (3) emergy conversion efficiency (ECE), to measure and evaluate the sustainable machining system from the perspectives of energy, resource and environment. Finally, the proposed model is applied to a vehicle-bridge machining process, and the results show that this paper provides the theoretical and method support for evaluating and improving the sustainable machining processes to decouple the resources and development of the manufacturing industry.
Highlights
Manufacturing industry, as an important part of the national industry, consumes a large portion of energy in the total energy consumption [1], and results in serious environmental pollution in the transformation process from manufacturing resources to products [2]
In order to improve the sustainability of machining processes, a method to realize the sustainability can be measured, evaluated and improved for the machining systems were proposed based on emergy
In view of the following problems, the concept of emergy-based conversion efficiency model was proposed, which is a new tool for analysing and assessing the energy consumption, material consumption, service consumption and waste discharged in the machining process
Summary
Manufacturing industry, as an important part of the national industry, consumes a large portion of energy in the total energy consumption [1], and results in serious environmental pollution in the transformation process from manufacturing resources to products [2]. Emergy can measure the energy, materials, services and waste of the machining system, recognize the conversion efficiency of the machining system from the perspective of emergy, and realize the comprehensive evaluation of the economic, social and environmental benefits of the mechanical processing system. The emergy-based conversion efficiency model is a comprehensive evaluation of the efficiency of energy, material, service and waste in the process of machining systems, and clearly quantifies the economic benefit, social benefit and environmental benefit of machining systems. This evaluation model accurately characterizes the sustainable development ability of the machining systems without incomplete and metrics tinkering. This study provides a theory and method to improve the sustainability of the manufacturing industry
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