Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T19:41:49.707Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

UPCYCLING OBSOLETE MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT INTO INNOVATIVE LABORATORY TEST RIGS: A LOW-COST SOLUTION OR A SUSTAINABLE DESIGN APPROACH?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2021

Nikolaos Rogkas ,
Eustratios Tsolakis ,
Christos Kalligeros ,
Georgios Vasileiou ,
Christos Vakouftsis ,
Georgios Kaisarlis ,
Angelos P. Markopoulos  and
Vasilios Spitas
Nikolaos Rogkas*
Affiliation:
National Technical University of Athens, School of Mechanical Engineering
Eustratios Tsolakis
Affiliation:
National Technical University of Athens, School of Mechanical Engineering
Christos Kalligeros
Affiliation:
National Technical University of Athens, School of Mechanical Engineering
Georgios Vasileiou
Affiliation:
National Technical University of Athens, School of Mechanical Engineering
Christos Vakouftsis
Affiliation:
National Technical University of Athens, School of Mechanical Engineering
Georgios Kaisarlis
Affiliation:
National Technical University of Athens, School of Mechanical Engineering
Angelos P. Markopoulos
Affiliation:
National Technical University of Athens, School of Mechanical Engineering
Vasilios Spitas
Affiliation:
National Technical University of Athens, School of Mechanical Engineering
*
Rogkas, Nikolaos, National Technical University of Athens, Department of Mechanical Design and Automatic Control, Greece, [email protected]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Circular Economy (CE) and the potential of reusing and recycling the products after the end of their life, becomes imperative for environmental, economic and social reasons. Especially during the 4th Industrial Revolution that is taking place nowadays, an increasing number of out-of-date equipment has to be replaced, which constitutes a chance and necessity to be reused, through recycling, redesigning and remanufacturing. The paper presents proof-of-concept studies regarding upcycling of obsolete and outdated equipment into novel test rigs mainly addressing research activities. Three such case studies are presented, namely the upcycling of an injection moulding machine into a modular test bench for power hydraulic components, the upcycling of scrap components into a hybrid hydraulic/ ICE powertrain rig and the functional augmentation of a gear roll tester to accommodate single and double flank tests. Significant savings in cost, raw materials and time are demonstrated in all cases and adherence to the CE objectives are observed.

Keywords

Circular economyDesign for X (DfX)UpcyclingSustainabilityRetrofitting
Type
Article
Information
Proceedings of the Design Society , Volume 1: ICED21 , August 2021 , pp. 3309 - 3318
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

References

Ali, A.K., Wang, Y. and Alvarado, J.L. (2019), “Facilitating industrial symbiosis to achieve circular economy using value-added by design: A case study in transforming the automobile industry sheet metal waste-flow into Voronoi facade systems”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Elsevier Ltd, Vol. 234, pp. 1033–1044.10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.06.202CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bendikiene, R., Ciuplys, A. and Kavaliauskiene, L. (2019), “Circular economy practice: From industrial metal waste to production of high wear resistant coatings”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Elsevier Ltd, Vol. 229, pp. 1225–1232.10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.05.068CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bridgens, B., Powell, M., Farmer, G., Walsh, C., Reed, E., Royapoor, M., Gosling, P., et al. (2018), “Creative upcycling: Reconnecting people, materials and place through making”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Elsevier Ltd, Vol. 189, pp. 145–154.10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.03.317CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chouinard, U., Pigosso, D.C.A., McAloone, T.C., Baron, L. and Achiche, S. (2019), “Potential of circular economy implementation in the mechatronics industry: An exploratory research”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 239, available at:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118014.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
EMF. (2015), “Towards a Circular Economy: Business Rationale for an Accelerated Transition”, Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF), p. 20.Google Scholar
Geissdoerfer, M., Savaget, P., Bocken, N.M.P. and Hultink, E.J. (2017), “The Circular Economy – A new sustainability paradigm?”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Elsevier Ltd, Vol. 143, pp. 757–768.10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.12.048CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jawahir, I.S. and Bradley, R. (2016), “Technological Elements of Circular Economy and the Principles of 6R-Based Closed-loop Material Flow in Sustainable Manufacturing”, Procedia CIRP, Elsevier B.V., Vol. 40, pp. 103–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kutz, M. (Ed.). (2007), Environmentally Conscious Mechanical Design, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, USA, available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470168202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De los Rios, I.C. and Charnley, F.J.S. (2017), “Skills and capabilities for a sustainable and circular economy: The changing role of design”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Elsevier Ltd, Vol. 160, pp. 109–122.10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.10.130CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mihelcic, J.R., Crittenden, J.C., Small, M.J., Shonnard, D.R., Hokanson, D.R., Zhang, Q., Chen, H., et al. (2003), “Sustainability Science and Engineering: The Emergence of a New Metadiscipline”, Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 37 No. 23, pp. 5314–5324.10.1021/es034605hCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nilakantan, G. and Nutt, S. (2015), “Reuse and upcycling of aerospace prepreg scrap and waste”, Reinforced Plastics, Elsevier Ltd., Vol. 59 No. 1, pp. 44–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pigosso, D. and McAloone, T. (2017), “How can design science contribute to a circular economy?”, Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering Design, ICED, Vol. 5 No. DS87-5, pp. 299–307.Google Scholar
Ramani, K., Ramanujan, D., Bernstein, W.Z., Zhao, F., Sutherland, J., Handwerker, C., Choi, J.K., et al. (2010), “Integrated sustainable life cycle design: A Review”, Journal of Mechanical Design, Transactions of the ASME, Vol. 132 No. 9, pp. 910041–9100415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reh, L. (2013), “Process engineering in circular economy”, Particuology, Chinese Society of Particuology, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 119–133.Google Scholar
Sauerwein, M., Doubrovski, E., Balkenende, R. and Bakker, C. (2019), “Exploring the potential of additive manufacturing for product design in a circular economy”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Elsevier Ltd, Vol. 226, pp. 1138–1149.10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.108CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tolio, T., Bernard, A., Colledani, M., Kara, S., Seliger, G., Duflou, J., Battaia, O., et al. (2017), “Design, management and control of demanufacturing and remanufacturing systems”, CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology, Vol. 66 No. 2, pp. 585–609.10.1016/j.cirp.2017.05.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, P., Li, W. and Kara, S. (2018), “Dynamic life cycle quantification of metallic elements and their circularity, efficiency, and leakages”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Elsevier Ltd, Vol. 174, pp. 1492–1502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar