Product architecture significantly influences environmental impact. Modular architectures aid manufacture and reuse, thereby reducing manufacturing-related impacts and diverting usable waste from landfills. In contrast, modular product architectures may also sacrifice product performance or lead to over-designed products. These side-effects can increase environmental impact. The Black and Decker Firestorm and G5 George Foreman Griddle were studied to uncover and understand the effects of product architecture on energy and material efficiency. Both products incorporate component sharing for fulfilling multiple functions and incur environmental tradeoffs as a result. Experimentation, reverse engineering, and life cycle analysis of these products were used to inspire a number of guidelines for green design of modular product architectures. Difficulties involved the design of interfaces and selection of components for shared modules.
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ASME 2010 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference
August 15–18, 2010
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Conference Sponsors:
- Design Engineering Division and Computers in Engineering Division
ISBN:
978-0-7918-4414-4
PROCEEDINGS PAPER
How Does Modularity Affect Green Design?
James Durand,
James Durand
The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
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Cassandra Telenko,
Cassandra Telenko
The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
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Carolyn Seepersad
Carolyn Seepersad
The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
Search for other works by this author on:
James Durand
The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
Cassandra Telenko
The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
Carolyn Seepersad
The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
Paper No:
DETC2010-28760, pp. 405-415; 11 pages
Published Online:
March 8, 2011
Citation
Durand, J, Telenko, C, & Seepersad, C. "How Does Modularity Affect Green Design?." Proceedings of the ASME 2010 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. Volume 6: 15th Design for Manufacturing and the Lifecycle Conference; 7th Symposium on International Design and Design Education. Montreal, Quebec, Canada. August 15–18, 2010. pp. 405-415. ASME. https://doi.org/10.1115/DETC2010-28760
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