REVIEW ARTICLE


Optimal Configuration Algorithm for Mechanical Products Based on the Constraint of Carbon Footprint



Wei Bo*, 1, Li Renwang2, Zheng Hui1, Zong Xianliang1
1 College of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, 300222, P.R. China
2 Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, P.R. China

Article Information


Identifiers and Pagination:

Year: 2015
Volume: 9
First Page: 312
Last Page: 319
Publisher Id: TOMEJ-9-312
DOI: 10.2174/1874155X01509010312

Article History:

Received Date: 26/5/2015
Revision Received Date: 14/7/2015
Acceptance Date: 10/8/2015
Electronic publication date: 29/5/2015
Collection year: 2015

© 2015 Bo et al

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the College of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, 300222, P.R. China; Tel: 18920203303; E-mail: weibotj@163.com


Abstract

The concept of carbon footprint controllable product is proposed to assess carbon footprint during the stage of product development and configuration. It’s different from carbon footprint assessment afterwards. As a result, the control objectives can be quantified accurately and realized easily. Relations among product characteristics, which include carbon footprint, are uncertain. In order to obtain the optimal product configuration scheme based on constraint of carbon footprint, three-stage theory is proposed. These three stages refer to functional configuration, compliance evaluation of carbon footprint, and optimal comprehensive evaluation. Using this theory, functional feasible solution set, carbon footprint conforming set and the optimal scheme are generated respectively. Grey relation analysis is verified as an effective method for comprehensive benefit evaluation. Reducer design is used as a case study to illustrate the proposed concept.

Keywords: Product configuration, Carbon footprint, Grey relation analysis, Multi-objective decision-making.