Application of an eco-design toolbox to the design of a mechatronic system

In this project, we are interested in applying eco-design practices to the development of a modular mechatronic system for educational purposes. The aim of the project is to identify and apply an eco-design toolbox to reduce the environmental impact of the system. The product will be entirely designed and manufactured at ÉTS using 3D printing and standard off-the-shelf components.

More specifically, a first task will be to determine which eco-design practices are the most relevant to implement for the prototype. The literature documents several of them, such as TRIZ, life cycle assessment, quality function deployment (QFD), Design for X practices, functional analysis, or more recently, model-based systems engineering (MBSE). It may be appropriate to carry out further research on the subject in order to build up the “toolbox” that will be used in this project. The elements of this toolbox will then be implemented and exemplified on the project. For example, it would be appropriate to calculate the impact of the choice of material between different plastics or alloys (possibility of using SimaPro or SolidWorks Sustainability), to minimize the quantity of material required (making cut-outs in unconstrained areas), to work on the modularization and repairability of the system or its disassembly (e.g. avoiding glued assemblies). Through this concrete example, the aim is to help students understand the impact of design on environmental aspects and the rest of the product life cycle.

Ultimately, the documentation related to the design project will be used to feed design courses at ÉTS, and in particular to introduce and exemplify notions of eco-design and low-tech. In this case, an exemplification of technical user-friendliness is sought, oriented towards openness (open-source/open-hardware), autonomy and simplicity. This project and its documentation will help raise concrete discussions with future engineers about sustainability, responsibility and user-friendliness. In the end, this design exercise should enable students to question and re-examine their perception of technology as a tool for progress.