1,720,983 research outputs found
Eco-design of cooking appliances based on food habits and diets
No full textEnergy efficiency standards in the context of cooking appliances are an important strategy to preserve electric energy consumption and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Although successful standards and labels have been launched in many countries, the implementation of eco-design directive does have not a unique structure, energy policy and consumers understanding. The aim of this study is to describe the environmental performance of cooking appliances in real use conditions derived by the analysis of food habits and diets in EU countries. The final goal is to link cooking performance and the environmental features (i.e. energy consumptions, emissions) in different cooking conditions. The work is structured in three phases: (i) definition of recipes based on food habits in EU countries, (ii) development of energy consumption tests for each recipe, and (iii) characterization of eco-design actions considering the diet specificity. The outcome of this study provides interesting insights in the development of sustainable products for different markets as well as the definition of dedicated eco-design initiatives
Design for manufacturing and assembly methods in the product development process of mechanical products: a systematic literature review
Full text linkThe design for manufacturing and assembly (DFMA) is a family of methods belonging to the design for X (DfX) category which goal is to optimize the manufacturing and assembly phase of products. DFMA methods have been developed at the beginning of the 1980s and widely used in both academia and industries since then. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no systematic literature reviews or mapping has been proposed yet in the field of mechanical design. The goal of this paper is to provide a systematic review of DFMA methods applied to mechanical and electro-mechanical products with the aim to collect, analyse, and summarize the knowledge acquired until today and identify future research areas. The paper provides an overview of the DFMA topic in the last four decades (i.e., from 1980 to 2021) emphasizing operational perspectives such as the design phase in which methods are used, the type of products analysed, the adoption of quantitative or qualitative metrics, the tool adopted for the assessment, and the technologies involved. As a result, the paper addresses several aspects associated with the DFMA and different outcomes retrieved by the literature review have been highlighted. The first one concerns the fact that most of the DFMA methods have been used to analyse simple products made of few components (i.e., easy to manage with a short lead-time). Another important result is the lack of valuable DFMA methods applicable at early design phases (i.e., conceptual design) when information is not detailed and presents more qualitative than quantitative data. Both results lead to the evidence that the definition of a general DFMA method and metric adaptable for every type of product and/or design phase is a challenging goal that presents several issues. Finally, a bibliographic map was developed as a suitable tool to visualize results and identify future research trends on this topic. From the bibliometric analysis, it has been shown that the overall interest in DFMA methodologies decreased in the last decade
Eco-design actions to improve life cycle environmental performance of face masks in the pandemic era
Full text linkFace masks are currently considered essential devices that people must wear today and in the near future, until the COVID-19 pandemic will be completely defeated through specific medicines and vaccines. Such devices are generally made of thermoplastic polymers, as polypropylene and polyethylene and are single use products. Even if in this period the sanitary emergency must have the maximum priority, the world society should not completely forget the environmental problem that are causing more and more obvious climate changes with correlated damages to ecosystems and human health. Despite the well-known correlation among anti-COVID protective equipment (or more generally medical devices) and environmental issues, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and eco-design-based studies in this field is very scarce. The present study aims to derive the most important environmental criticalities of such products, by using LCA and product circularity indicators of five different common masks. The final aim is to provide eco-design guidelines, useful to design new face masks by preventing negative impact on the environment
Engineering design in food-packaging industry: The case study of a tuna canning machine
Full text linkFood packaging industry requires machines able to perform different tasks and carry out several functions. Machine modularization allows to feed customer's needs creating a set of equipment with different features and technology. Module derivation is particularly important at the conceptual phase where main decisions are taken and where the degree of freedom are higher, avoiding subsequent costly modification. This study aims at investigating the adoption of engineering design process for the development of a tuna canning machine, deriving main modules for a definition of a product platform. The possibility to have a modular framework in this type of products allows to satisfy constraints coming from different markets and applications (i.e., product quality, adaptability, upgradability, assemblability, compliance with standards where the machine is installed, etc.). Modules were derived based on state-of-art approaches used for product development (i.e., functional analysis, module derivation and morphological matrix) and two examples (i.e., Cutter and Compactor & Shaper modules) were detailed to explain the developed design solutions. Results highlight how different design options can be adopted to overcome several issues (i.e., assemblability, upgradability) and fulfill requirements of different markets (i.e., product quality and aesthetic)
Environmental implication of personal protection equipment in the pandemic era: LCA comparison of face masks typologies
Full text linkIn the present global health emergency, face masks play a key role in limiting the diffusion of the COVID-19 pandemic, by acting as physical barriers to avoid droplets and filtrate exhalations coming from infected subjects. Since the most widespread devices are disposable products made of plastic materials, this means that relevant quantities of fossil resources will be consumed, and huge amounts of wastes will be generated. The present paper aims to compare the environmental performances of five different typologies of face masks (i.e. 3D printed reusable mask with filter, surgical mask, filtering face-piece masks-FFPs with and without valve, washable masks), considering an average Italian use scenario and the whole mask lifecycle: materials, manufacturing processes, use, sanitization, and disposal. The Life Cycle Assessment methodology has been used to assess the environmental impacts in terms of both ReCiPe midpoints and endpoints. Reusable masks and masks with interchangeable filters could potentially contribute to improve the environmental performances in all the considered impact and damage categories. Eco-design actions can be developed starting from the study results
Challenging the engineering design process for the development of facial masks in the constraint of the COVID-19 pandemic
Full text linkThe most effective ways to mitigate the diffusion of the COVID-19 pandemic are social distancing and the use of face masks as barrier to avoid droplets and to filtrate exhalations coming from infected subjects. Currently used face masks are products developed to be used by workers, both in health care and other contexts, where their use is limited in time and the disposal scenario is properly managed. Their use in a pandemic situation can be thus considered a remedial action due to the emergency. New masks or mask families are needed based on the desirable requirements retrieved by the analysis of the current worldwide situation and covering the gap observed in the market. The present paper aims to describe the complete product development process of a new facial mask (or mask family) for a daily use on a pandemic situation. It challenges the time constraint of the COVID-19 pandemic by adopting a four-step approach and concurrent development of the first phases (definition of requirements and functional derivation). The engineering design process allows to derive two different solutions able to fulfil all the requirements (demands and wishes) of final users, by assuring high ergonomic performance, as well as environmental, economic, and social sustainability
A Framework to Collect and Reuse Engineering Knowledge in the Context of Design for Additive Manufacturing
Full text linkDesign for AM (DfAM) requires the definition of Design Actions (DAs) to optimize AM manufacturing processes. However, AM understanding is still very blurred. Often designers are challenged by selecting the right design parameters. A method to list and collect DfAM DAs is currently missing. The paper aims at providing a framework to collect DfAM DAs according to a developed ontology to create databases (DBs). DBs were tested with two real case studies and geometric features to improve identified. Future developments aim at widening the database to provide all-around support for AM processes
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
- …
