Accelerating preliminary eco-innovation design for products that integrates case-based reasoning and TRIZ method

Abstract

While the innovativeness and market potential of a new product is normally emphasized, its environmental impact is often neglected. Despite their ability to help designers reduce the environmental impact of products throughout their life cycle, many eco-design methods focus on the redesign of existing products, necessitating a more innovative design capacity. This work describes a novel model to accelerate the preliminary eco-innovation product design by integrating the advantages of case-based reasoning and the TRIZ method. Previous cases from a database support a novel design to satisfy functional performances under the CBR framework. The innovative principles and evolution patterns of the TRIZ method can enhance the design level of new products to achieve eco-innovation. Four eco-innovation concepts for a PC mouse demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model.