An Extenics-Based Scheduled Configuration Methodology for Low-Carbon Product Design in Consideration of Contradictory Problem Solving

Shedong Ren,Yanwei Zhao,Fangzhi Gui,Min Zhan,Wanliang Wang,Jianqiang Zhou

doi:10.3390/su13115859

Shedong Ren, Yanwei Zhao + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su13115859

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Abstract

Low-carbon product design involves a redesign process that requires not only structural module modification, but more importantly, generating innovative principles to solve design contradictions. Such contradictions include when current design conditions cannot satisfy design requirements or there are antithetical design goals. On the other hand, configuration tasks in the reconfiguration process are interdependent, which requires a well-scheduled arrangement to reduce feedback information. This study proposes an effective configuration methodology for low-carbon design. Firstly, configuration tasks and configuration parameters are designated through quality characteristics, and the directed network along with the associated values of configuration tasks are transformed into the design structure matrix to construct the information flow diagram. Then, the Extenics-based problem-solving model is presented to address design contradictions: low-carbon incompatibility and antithetical problems are clarified and formulated with a basic-element model; extensible and conjugate analysis tools are used to identify problematic structures and provide feasible measures; the Gantt chart of measures execution based on the information flow diagram is constructed to reduce feedback and generate robust schemes with strategy models. The methodology is applied to the vacuum pump low-carbon design, the results show that it effectively solves contradictions with innovative design schemes, and comparative analysis verifies the performance of Extenics.

Highlights

To accommodate population growth and global economic development, sustainability research has become increasingly important to more efficiently use material resources and energy; on the other hand, the consumption of material resources and energy produces a large amount of greenhouse gas (GHG), especially from industrial production, which accelerates global warming and brings a significant threat to human survival [1,2]
This study presents an Extenics-based design-contradiction-solving method, which helps designers produce strategies and ideas to address low-carbon design incompatibility and antithetical problems; on the other hand, the information flow diagram of the configuration tasks is constructed along with the Gantt chart of measures execution for design contradiction solving, which improves the efficiency of the low-carbon configuration
The low-carbon design incompatibility and antithetical problems are emerging from the configuration process; designers need to solve design contradictions and put forward new principle solutions

Summary

Introduction

To accommodate population growth and global economic development, sustainability research has become increasingly important to more efficiently use material resources and energy; on the other hand, the consumption of material resources and energy produces a large amount of greenhouse gas (GHG), especially from industrial production, which accelerates global warming and brings a significant threat to human survival [1,2]. The international academy for production engineering (CIRP) established the low carbon manufacturing working group in Paris, France, in 2008. It unified the research work about the design and manufacturing process with respect to energy conservation and emissions reduction and participated in launching a collaborative research project called CO2PE! It unified the research work about the design and manufacturing process with respect to energy conservation and emissions reduction and participated in launching a collaborative research project called CO2PE! [3]

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