Academic literature on the topic 'Circular design strategies'

Limited global resources, climate changes, growing population, combined with demand for sustainable products, indicate the need for change of existing production and consumption practices. In order of achieving more regenerative, restorative, and circular economy, design has been recognized as a catalyst for moving away from the traditional linear economy model (take-make-dispose). As shifting focus from quantity to quality, and finding new ways of working in cooperation with the nature, slowly becoming paradigm, it is important for designers committed to sustainability to have in mind environmental, social and economic performance of product design. This paper aims to address position of different product design strategies correlated with circular economy concept, as well as the opportunities for designers’ to shift their mindset from the position of creators to solution providers.

Abstract The circular economy is an approach to help reduce global sustainability pressures. In circular economy it is important to involve design from the beginning of the product lifecycle, including product ideation and material selection. Involvement of consumers and users into circular economy is very important and enables change in purchase patterns and product utilization. The paper methodology consists of a profound literature review and analysis in area of circular economy, circular design and consumer or user influence on circularity. The goal of the paper is to provide insights into the consumer involvement into a circular economy and changes in users’ behavior. The research results in discussion of design strategies to slow down “resource loops”, to close “resource loops”, and to “narrow material flow” to enhance circular economy and business models, as well as consumer involvement in circular economy. We outline desired consumer and user behavior leading to circular economy.

This paper focuses on how the Internet of Things (IoT) could contribute to the transition to a circular economy (CE), through supporting circular business model and design strategies. While literature has highlighted the opportunities for IoT to support circular strategies in business, little has been published about actual implementations in practice. The aim of this study was therefore to understand how companies to date have implemented IoT for circular strategies, and how these implementations compare to the range of opportunities described in literature. To that end, a two-step approach was followed. Firstly, building on academic literature, a framework was developed which categorizes different IoT-enabled circular strategies. The framework recognizes tracking, monitoring, control, optimization, and design evolution as IoT capabilities. Efficiency in use, increased utilization, and product lifetime extension are distinguished as circular in-use strategies, while reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling are distinguished as circular looping strategies. The framework complements previously published work, as it adds additional detail to the categorization, and allows for easy mapping of diverse cases. Secondly, 40 cases from practice were analyzed and mapped to the framework. This way, practice-based insights were derived about the current distribution of IoT-enabled circular strategies implemented in practice. The results show that current implementation of IoT-enabled circular strategies mainly supports two strategies in the use phase: efficiency in use and product lifetime extension. Only a small number of the reviewed cases display IoT-enabled looping (reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling). Similarly, few cases describe ‘design evolution’ for CE, i.e., the feedback of data from products in use to support circular design. Based on these results, this study identifies the need for future research to further investigate why IoT-enabled looping strategies and design evolution for circular strategies have not been implemented to scale.

Composite materials are an attractive material choice as they enable lightweight, low-maintenance products with a long lifespan. Recycling these materials, however, remains a challenge. Homogeneous material composition and the use of thermoset matrices complicate reprocessing, and result in low-grade recyclate. This means that closing the loop for these materials in a circular economy remains challenging, especially for glass fibre-reinforced thermoset composites. For a circular economy, products need to be designed to preserve product functionality, material properties, and economic value for as long as possible. However, recovery strategies, design aspects and their interconnectedness are currently largely unexplored for products containing fibre-reinforced polymers. The aim of this study was to identify circular strategies and determine design aspects for products containing composites. To achieve this, we conducted a systematic literature review and consulted experts. The circular strategies are largely similar to generic circular economy strategies as far as product integrity is concerned. However, on a material level, we identified additional approaches, the most notable of which is structural reuse, which preserves the material quality and thereby value. The design aspects were clustered and positioned along the product design process to support implementation. Finally, the strategies and design aspects we identified were brought together in a framework to support product design and design research for products containing composite materials in the context of a circular economy.

AbstractProduct service systems (PSS) are frequently cited as key strategies in the transition towards the circular economy (CE). The main aim of the CE is sustainable development (SD), hence, this paper intends to highlight the importance of considering the territory in the design and implementation of circular PSS strategies for ensuring SD. This research is in an early stage, thus, a literature review was conducted to define the main characteristics of circular PSS, and the concepts of the territory, territorial and local resources from a PSS perspective. In addition, an analysis of the state-of-the-art approach of the integration of the territorial scale in the design and development of PSS strategies was conducted. This study contributes to the understanding of the territory and its relevance in the local value creation in circular PSS strategies. Furthermore, the results highlight the relevant role of collaboration and the importance of intangible resources in the mobilisation of other resources in the design of circular PSS strategies.

Product design and development are key to moving towards a circular economy; however, the majority of products and components that are currently recirculated have not been designed for circulation of any sort. Circular economy business models and closing the loop can be functional only if the products and services are designed for circularity. This paper presents a set of generic design guidelines for different circular strategies. The guidelines are then used to map companies’ circular product design initiatives in the early stages of product design and development. The guidelines have proved to support decision-making and enhance the circularity of products. The guidelines were developed, validated, and tested at four companies within the Nordic countries through an action research approach. Sourcing raw materials, recycling, and ensuring the robustness of products for the use phase are the most common strategies used by the studied companies. There is an ongoing transition towards other recirculation strategies, such as repair, remanufacture, and reuse.

Background: The Circular Economy model came as an alternative to the linear “use and dispose” production system. It argues to promote an economic order that can address the waste of aftermarket goods and a more efficient use of resources and raw materials. It further promises economic gains from a more efficient resource management and extended use of products lifecycle, in conjunction with new employment opportunities that arise as a result of new business models and industrial processes. Whilst the Circular Economy is surely a departure from traditional economic systems, there has been not enough debate on the full impacts as well as possible unintended consequences of its implementation.    Purpose: The purpose is to examine the Circular Economy adoption approach in the Jönköping county in Sweden and how this approach contributes to sustainability improvement.  Purpose: The purpose is to examine the Circular Economy adoption approach in the Jönköping county in Sweden and how this approach contributes to sustainability improvement.  Method: This is an exploratory research which is based on a qualitative design with an inductive approach and interpretive paradigm. The research follows a case study of a pilot project to help SMEs in Jönköping county - Sweden, to implement Circular Economy. The primary data is collected through semi-structured interviews with the project coordinators.  Conclusion: The Circular Economy Project in Jönköping takes into consideration all three resource loops on their implementation of CE based on Bocken et al (2016) resource loops. Embedding all three loops in the implementation of CE is a comprehensive and advanced form of circularity. Combined with the project high-level of sustainability awareness and their effort to integrate the social aspect into their Circular Economy, this research has placed the sustainability profile of the Project at the third level of the corporate sustainability stages presented by Landrum (2018), which is systemic sustainability.

Today, circular economy is becoming more and more important to think about when developing new solutions, and considering the growing and aging population it may be extra important when it comes to the design of solutions for health care. This thesis aims at exploring how a digital health technology solution for incontinence care can be designed to contribute to a circular economy. In order to achieve the aim, a case study is performed with the intention to answer four different research questions. To gather data and information, the study also uses methods such as interviews, surveys, and a literature study. The first conclusion that can be drawn is that there are eight different circular design strategy categories, each category with a unique focus area, that are assessed to be suitable to investigate for the given purpose. Three examples of focus areas of these categories are to reuse resources, to influence the user behaviour, and to prolong the use phase for a solution somehow. Furthermore, the users and the production company are seen as the most significant actors for the studied digital health technology solution, and together they have ten important requests including needs regarding provision of knowledge, easily understandable solutions, and peace of mind to mention some. Based on the conclusions regarding circular design strategies and important requests, three concepts are developed which in different ways are assessed to contribute to both circularity and to fulfilling actor requests. One of the concepts focuses on prolonging the use of some components by providing an adapted cleaning kit to keep the components at a high hygienic standard. Another concept focuses on encouraging correct usage of the whole solution through giving the users personal statistics and notifications related to monetary and environmental costs. The last concept aims at providing a simple way to return reusable components to the company in order to enable reuse by another user. Finally, conclusions regarding positive and negative aspects of the three developed concepts are presented, focusing on attributes such as circularity and value creation. The thesis presents different ways regarding how circular design strategies can be applied to a digital health technology solution, which can inspire and aid organisations in their way towards providing solutions that are adapted to fit a circular economy.

L’agricultura urbana (UA en anglès) està en constant creixement a causa dels múltiples beneficis que ofereix a més de reduir l’impacte ambiental relacionat a el transport d’aliments des de fora cap a dins de les ciutats. Seguint la iniciativa d’economia circular (CE en anglès), actualment hi ha estudis per millorar l’acompliment ambiental i l’eficiència en l’ús dels recursos de la UA mitjançant l’aprofitament de fluxos d’aigua, nutrients i gasos, com en el cas dels hivernacles als terrats (RTG en anglès). No obstant això, el flux de les deixalles sòlides agro-urbans (AUSW en anglès), que representen un nou tipus de deixalles dins de les ciutats, encara no ha estat estudiats de el tot per al seu aprofitament. Tampoc han estat clarament tipificats dins dels residus gestionats a nivell municipal, el que a futur podria representar un nou problema per al sistema de gestió de residus dins de les ciutats. L’objectiu general de la present dissertació és identificar quin tipus de AUSW té el potencial de ser aprofitat in situ per continuar amb els beneficis que ofereix la UA i generar conceptes d’aplicació per al residu mitjançant una metodologia interdisciplinària basada en l’eco-disseny per a la generació d’un eco-material amb valor afegit (upcycling) mitjançant tècniques de “Hagalo vostè mateix (DIYen anglès)”. L’anterior usant com a estudi de cas cultius de tomàquet de RTG amb sistema de fertirrigació sense terra. A més, d’aquesta manera es pretén visibilitzar una nova tipologia de residus aportant dades que serveixin de guia per plantejar directrius i normatives de gestió a nivell local. Els resultats de la investigació mostren que, les deixalles sòlids orgànics (OSW en anglès) o biomassa, és la fracció més crítica respecte a l’volum i temporalitat de la seva generació particularment les tiges de tomaquera. A més, d’acord amb l’escenari futur de creixement de la UA, l’augment previst de l’volum de OSW dins de les ciutats podria ser d’un 20% per a l’any 2030. Es van realitzar dos cultius experimentals d’enciam utilitzant tiges de tomaquera com a substrat en RTG per identificar la viabilitat d’aquesta forma d’aprofitament in situ per tancar el cicle de la UA. Seguint amb la metodologia utilitzada, es va realitzar la caracterització física, química i mecànica de les tiges de tomaquera. Es van identificar materials amb característiques similars, per tal d’identificar possibles àrees d’aplicació per a l’aprofitament de les tiges utilitzant el mètode d’Ashby. Es va determinar que les tiges de les tomaqueres són similars a la família de materials tipus fusta i d’aquesta manera es van identificar possibles tècniques de processament i àrees d’aplicació. Posteriorment es va realitzar una sessió creativa de generació d’idees amb especialistes en les àrees d’UA, disseny de producte, eco-materials, i materials alternatius per a la construcció. Es van generar 3 conceptes resultants d’aplicacions viables per a l’aprofitament de les tiges. Aquests conceptes van ser avaluats qualitativament pels participants i finalment es va realitzar una avaluació semiquantitativa dels conceptes resultants. D’aquesta manera es va determinar que la metodologia proposada des de l’enfocament de CE és útil per identificar aplicacions viables per al upcycling dels AUSW de forma local mitjançant tècniques de DIY. Això degut en gran part a la “naturalesa creativa” de l’eco-disseny, el que permet adaptar la metodologia a diferents contextos, de manera que es pugui solucionar problemes globals partint de l’escala local. A més, el present estudi aporta dades de caracterització de les tiges de tomàquet, que també són aplicables per a l’aprofitament dels residus generats per l’agricultura convencional considerant el gran volum que genera.
La agricultura urbana (UA en inglés) está en constante crecimiento debido a los múltiples beneficios que ofrece además de reducir el impacto ambiental relacionado al transporte de alimentos desde fuera hacia adentro de las ciudades. Siguiendo la iniciativa de economía circular (CE en inglés), actualmente hay estudios para mejorar el desempeño ambiental y la eficiencia en el uso de los recursos de la UA mediante el aprovechamiento de flujos de agua, nutrientes y gases, como en el caso de los invernaderos en las azoteas (RTG en inglés). Sin embargo, el flujo de los desechos sólidos agro-urbanos (AUSW en inglés), que representan un nuevo tipo de desechos dentro de las ciudades, aún no ha sido estudiados del todo para su aprovechamiento. Tampoco han sido claramente tipificados dentro de los residuos gestionados a nivel municipal, lo que a futuro podría representar un nuevo problema para el sistema de gestión de residuos dentro de las ciudades. El objetivo general de la presente disertación es identificar qué tipo de AUSW tiene el potencial de ser aprovechado in situ para continuar con los beneficios que brinda la UA y generar conceptos de aplicación para el residuo mediante una metodología interdisciplinar basada en el eco-diseño para la generación de un eco-material con valor agregado (upcycling) mediante técnicas de “Hagalo usted mismo (DIYen inglés)”. Lo anterior usando como estudio de caso cultivos de tomate de RTG con sistema de fertiirrigación sin suelo. Además, de esta forma se pretende visibilizar una nueva tipología de residuos aportando datos que sirvan de guía para plantear directrices y normativas de gestión a nivel local. Los resultados de la investigación muestran que, los desechos sólidos orgánicos (OSW en inglés) o biomasa, es la fracción más crítica respecto al volumen y temporalidad de su generación particularmente los tallos de tomatera. Además, de acuerdo con el escenario futuro de crecimiento de la UA, el aumento previsto del volumen de OSW dentro de las ciudades podría ser del 20% para el año 2030. Se realizaron dos cultivos experimentales de lechuga utilizando tallos de tomatera como sustrato en RTG para identificar la viabilidad de esta forma de aprovechamiento in situ para cerrar el ciclo de la UA. Siguiendo con la metodología utilizada, se realizó la caracterización física, química y mecánica de los tallos de tomatera. Se identificaron materiales con características similares, con el fin de identificar posibles áreas de aplicación para el aprovechamiento de los tallos utilizando el método de Ashby. Se determinó que los tallos de las tomateras son similares a la familia de materiales tipo madera y de esta forma se identificaron posibles técnicas de procesamiento y áreas de aplicación. Posteriormente se realizó una sesión creativa de generación de ideas con especialistas en las áreas de UA, diseño de producto, eco-materiales, y materiales alternativos para la construcción. Se generaron 3 conceptos resultantes de aplicaciones viables para el aprovechamiento de los tallos. Estos conceptos fueron evaluados cualitativamente por los participantes y finalmente se realizó una evaluación semicuantitativa de los conceptos resultantes. De esta manera se determinó que la metodología propuesta desde el enfoque de CE es útil para identificar aplicaciones viables para el upcycling de los AUSW de forma local mediante técnicas de DIY. Esto debido en gran parte a la “naturaleza creativa” del eco-diseño, lo que permite adaptar la metodología a diferentes contextos, de forma que se pueda solucionar problemas globales partiendo de la escala local. Además, el presente estudio aporta datos de caracterización de los tallos de tomate, que también son aplicables para el aprovechamiento de los residuos generados por la agricultura convencional considerando el gran volumen que genera.
Urban agriculture (UA) is constantly growing due to the multiple benefits it offers in addition to reducing the environmental impact related to the transport of food from outside to inside cities. Following the circular economy (CE) initiative, there are currently studies to improve environmental performance and efficiency in the use of AU resources by taking advantage of flows of water, nutrients and gases, as in the case of rooftop greenhouses (RTGs). However, the flow of agro-urban solid waste (AUSW), which represents a new type of waste within cities, has not yet been fully studied for its use. Nor have they been clearly classified within the waste managed at the municipal level, which in the future could represent a new problem for the waste management system within cities. The general objective of this dissertation is to identify what type of AUSW has the potential to be used in situ to continue with the benefits provided by the UA and generate application concepts for waste through an interdisciplinary methodology based on eco-design for the generation of an eco-material with added value (upcycling) through techniques of “Do it yourself (DIY)”. The foregoing using RTG tomato crops with soilless fertigation system as a case study. In addition, in this way it is intended to make visible a new typology of waste by providing data that serve as a guide to propose guidelines and management regulations at the local level. The results of the research show that organic solid waste (OSW) or biomass, is the most critical fraction regarding the volume and timing of its generation, particularly tomato stems. Furthermore, according to the future growth scenario of the AU, the projected increase in OSW volume within cities could be 20% by 2030. Two experimental lettuce crops were carried out using tomato stems as substrate in RTG to identify the viability of this form of use in situ to close the UA cycle. Following the methodology used, the physical, chemical and mechanical characterization of the tomato stems was carried out. Materials with similar characteristics were identified, in order to identify possible areas of application for the use of the stems using the Ashby method. It was determined that the stems of the tomato plants are similar to the family of wood-type materials and in this way possible processing techniques and areas of application were identified. Later, a creative session was held with specialists in the areas of UA, product design, eco-materials, and alternative materials for construction. 3 concepts were generated resulting from viable applications for the use of the stems. These concepts were qualitatively evaluated by the participants and finally a semi-quantitative evaluation of the resulting concepts was carried out. In this way, it was determined that the methodology proposed from the CE approach is useful to identify viable applications for the upcycling of AUSW locally using DIY techniques. This is due in large part to the “creative nature” of eco-design, which allows adapting the methodology to different contexts, so that global problems can be solved starting from the local scale. In addition, this study provides data on the characterization of tomato stems, which are also applicable for the use of waste generated by conventional agriculture considering the large volume it generates.

There is a growing economy of services that leverage networked solutions to enable peers to rent, re-sell, lend, trade or share assets among each other. We see a few widely successful examples of this, but there are many more that are not taking off. This thesis aims to identify barriers that hinder transactions from taking place in the sharing economy. The technological nature of these services allows HCI design to be a tool to mitigate these barriers. The literature review, a set of interviews and a workshop form data for the formation and analysis of the barriers. By categorizing the services as sharing, collaborative or on-demand economy services the barriers and the different motivations for using the services are explored. The associated values with the motivations for using the different service types are considered in a novel strategy to mitigate hard to reach barriers. The results from this thesis will be material for the proposed implementation of a local marketplace for sharing economy services. This implementation will be done in a proposed VINNOVA supported project in Stockholm, Sweden. The knowledge about the barriers and the strategies to mitigate them will hopefully be of value to other developments in the sharing economy. By designing with the barriers in mind the user experience will hopefully improve and lead to more transactions taking place.
Det finns en växande ekonomi av tjänster som utnyttjar nätverkslösningar som vill möjliggöra det för användare att hyra, återsälja, låna eller dela tillgångar mellan sig. Vi kan idag se ett fåtal väldigt framgångsrika exempel på detta, men det finns många fler som inte lyckas etablera sig. Denna avhandling fokuserar på att identifiera barriärer som hindrar transaktioner att ske inom delande-ekonomin. Den teknologiska kopplingen hos dessa tjänster tillåter MDI-design att vara ett viktigt verktyg för att motverka barriärerna. Litteraturstudien, ett antal intervjuer och en workshop ligger till grund för data till definierandet och analysen av dessa barriärer. Genom att kategorisera tjänster som delande-, kollaborativa- eller on-demand-ekonomitjänster kan motivation för användande och dess barriärer utforskas. Värden som kan associeras till motivationen för användandet av de olika tjänsterna används i en ny typ av strategi för att motverka de annars svårtillgängliga barriärerna. Resultatet från denna avhandling blir underlag för en implementation av en lokal marknadsplats för delande-ekonomitjänster. Denna implementation är en del i ett föreslaget projekt med stöd från VINNOVA i Stockholm, Sverige. Kunskap om barriärerna och strategier för att övervinna dom kan förhoppningsvis vara till värde för andra utvecklingsområden inom delande-ekonomi. Genom att designa med barriärerna i åtanke kan användarupplevelsen förbättras och leda till att fler transaktioner äger rum.

Relatives are omnipresent in cancer care and commonly accompany cancer patients to physician consultations, increasing the complexity of the resultant communication. Relatives can provide important collaborative history, support, and advocate for their loved one, as well as have their own needs addressed. Relatives may also desire to protect their loved ones, and challenges arise if they invite the clinician to collude in keeping secrets. Optimally including relatives in a consultation is a complex task. Specific skills—for instance, asking permission, using circular questions and offering summaries—can enrich triadic communication. When breaking bad news, strategies for three-person consultations that have been used in communication skills training deliver benefits to both patients and their relatives. The successful accomplishment of three-person consultations is one hallmark of the mature clinician. It requires skill and time, but can certainly promote optimal patient care.

AbstractProduct eco-design includes several methodologies aimed at supporting companies in the development of sustainable products. Currently, this theme is assuming an important role in both the academia and industry worlds due to the increasing attention to environmental problems and the need for a transition toward circular economy business/organizational models. In this context, the present paper focuses on the industrial sector of espresso coffee machines manufacturing which has several unexploited potentialities. The analysis of the sector specificity (internal and external contexts), as well as of the product lifecycle allowed to define an eco-design framework to guide companies involved in the design and production of espresso coffee machines. Effective eco-design strategies should include the combined use of specific methods, tools and metrics to manage all the most important lifecycle phases (beginning of life, middle of life, end of life) during the design activities in order to set preventive actions that avoid future potential environmental impacts. Only in this way, the environmental and economic benefits of the circular economy paradigm (e.g. remanufacturing/reuse of selected components) can be practically exploited in real industrial contexts. The presented case studies confirmed that the application of design for disassembly rules positively contributes to increase the product performances during maintenance and end of life, while a re-design oriented to component modularity could be a key strategy to pursue remanufacturing for boilers, a key and expensive component included in espresso coffee machines.

This chapter analyses the guiding principles that companies in the tourism sector should follow to implement a management model that conforms to the new paradigm of the circular economy. To do this, the authors contextualise this new model in the important sector of tourism, creating the concept of circular tourism, and they argue that many of the innovations being incorporated in this sector are oriented to eco-innovation. They also discuss the case of a Spanish urban hotel that has opted for circularity and sustainability, and finally, they propose, in line with the British Standard BS 8001:2017, that the application of the principles of system thinking, innovation, stewardship, collaboration, value optimization, and transparency will help companies in the tourism sector to focus on the new paradigm of the circular economy.

This chapter gives a good grounding in view of the development of innovative technological solutions that enhance the valorisation and efficient use of marine resources through the integration of value chains, in a logic of circular economy, articulating food industry, biotechnology, and fisheries. Economy is a business model that extends the circular economy principles of sustainability and reuse to activities influencing the world's aquatic ecosystems, not only seas, oceans, and coastlines, but rivers and lakes, too. Both combine concepts of design out waste and pollution, keep products and materials in use, regenerate natural systems, sustainability, and share economy. However, the blue economy goes further to strengthen competitiveness by lowering costs and pursuing a more effective economy of scale. Consequently, the circular economy is becoming increasingly tinged with blue. The aim of this chapter was to present two case studies on sustainable business strategies for the circular blue economy.

This chapter has the objective to analyze the elements of urban green innovation based on the guarantee of the public interest to decentralize the infrastructure to democratize the territory and innovate the institutional design to address the complexity of the challenges in the city. The method employed is the critical analysis supported by a review of the literature and consultation of experts in the field. It is concluded that the urban green innovation capacity planning has a critical role in urban innovation development in specific areas of economic growth, social inclusion and equality, environmental sustainability, health, education, business, etc. To achieve these aims, urban green innovation requires one to guarantee the public interest, the democratization of the territory, and the new institutional design.

Digitalization is a topic of circular economy in the context of the ReSolve framework. The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the context of social organizations can provide added value in order to foster integrative solutions. The aim of this chapter is aligned with the literature about ICT, circular economy, and sustainability to present the design of a prototype that fits homeless person integration strategies and addresses concerns in the various dimensions of sustainability supported by ICT. The authors use the design science research methodology in order to communicate the prototype results for the integration of homeless people. The prototype will be developed under the assumption of use in an organizational context by a multidisciplinary team, aiming to allow the cooperation of the various entities involved. This is a contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The main results of this research suggest how to develop, in partnership with local organizations, solutions to solve social problems supported by a sustainable perspective.

One of the major Strategic Innovation Theme and corresponding Research Priority for the next years is Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency, according to Euratex. Recently, the European Commission launched the new "Industrial Strategy for a globally competitive, green and digital Europe", that will help deliver on three key priorities: maintaining European industry's global competitiveness and a level playing field, at home and globally, making Europe climate-neutral by 2050 and shaping Europe's digital future. In this context, innovation and market potential of the European textile and clothing industry involve the frequent use of the terms “Circular Economy”. Forward, the sector will operate according to a globalised and efficient circular economic model which maximises the use of local resources, exploits advanced manufacturing techniques and engages in cross-sectorial collaborations and strategic clusters. Although the benefits of the circular economy are fairly well understood, in reality there are few industrial examples of companies that have implemented a circular economy paradigm. Circular product design provides long-term sustainability performance for products, by applying the principle of "designing out waste". This paper presents the application of circular product design assessment for clothing, by using two practical tools to assess products' circularity: HotSpot Mapping and Circularity Calculator (developed by Delft University of Technology, Netherlands). Generally, clothing products need major redesign to fit the circular economy, so it is essential to assess the potential of the various circular strategies such as Reuse, Repair, Remanufacture and Recycle.

In order to solve global environmental issues, we should construct stable circular product lifecycle systems. For this purpose, lifecycle design plays a crucial role; especially, it is necessary to determine lifecycle strategies at the early stage of lifecycle design. In the current practice of eco-design, for example, a designer increases the disassemblability of a product for recycling, although the product is shredded without disassembling. For avoiding such a situation and realizing stable circular product lifecycle systems, appropriate lifecycle strategies should be determined and implemented by designing both a product and its processes. This paper proposes a method for supporting design of a product lifecycle. The main approach is to support a designer to determine a lifecycle strategy by describing a lifecycle scenario, at early stage of lifecycle design. We define a representational scheme of the lifecycle scenario and develop the support system based on the idea of cognitive design process model so that a designer can examine various possibilities of lifecycle strategy. After this stage of lifecycle design, the product and its lifecycle processes should be designed so as to realize the strategy. In order to embody the strategy in the later stages, the system derives requirements for the product and process design. A case study indicates that the lifecycle scenario is successfully represented on a computer and a designer can easily determine lifecycle strategies by using this system.

This work investigates the influence of several modal geometric imperfections on the nonlinear vibration of simply-supported transversally excited cylindrical shells. The Donnell nonlinear shallow shell theory is used to study the nonlinear vibrations of the shell. A general expression for the transversal displacement is obtained by a perturbation procedure which identifies all modes that couple with the linear modes through the quadratic and cubic nonlinearities. The imperfection shape is described by the same modal expansion. So, a particular solution is selected which ensures the convergence of the response up to very large deflections. Substituting the obtained modal expansions into the equations of motions and applying the standard Galerkin method, a discrete system in time domain is obtained. Several numerical strategies are used to study the nonlinear behavior of the imperfect shell. Special attention is given to the influence of the form of the initial geometric imperfections on the natural frequencies, frequency-amplitude relation, resonance curves and bifurcations of simply-supported transversally excited cylindrical shells.

This paper describes a study of strategies used to limit the flow generated noise encountered in the outlet diffusers of high velocity heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) duct systems. A circular jet of air was expanded using a 7° conical diffuser with a variety of outlet configurations and pipe lengths. Sound pressures were recorded for a jet diameter of 50 mm and a jet velocity of 15–60 ms−1 using a dual room reverberation suite. The design of the diffuser outlet was found to have a pronounced effect on the noise spectrum radiating from the duct outlet. The length and shape of the outlet duct downstream from the diffuser directly affect the noise radiating from it. Results are presented for a variety of outlet pipe lengths and geometric configurations. A numerical simulation of airflow through the conical diffuser was also completed using a large eddy simulation (LES) turbulence model for a range of jet velocities. An acoustic post processor was then used to predict the corresponding far-field sound pressure and sound power levels.

A modified version of the Edinburgh Duck wave energy converter has been studied recently at the University of Edinburgh. From the design point of view the key innovation was a modification of the wetted profile. Wave energy is converted into useful work by the same pitching motion as in the original Duck, but by means of a circular cylinder with an off centred axis of rotation. This recent study was focused on a Duck version designed for vapour compression desalination rather than electricity production. An hydrodynamic numerical model (WAMIT) was used to predict first-order hydrodynamics quantities and to select and optimize configurations. The results obtained showed that it was possible, following the appropriate control strategies, to obtain similar energy absorption capabilities as the in the cam shaped original Duck. A 1:33 scale model was built to validate the numerical predictions. This paper extends the already published numerical predictions and experimental results obtained with this model. Experimental tests in random waves and measurements of the mooring forces for different submerged volumes will be reported for the first time.

Realistic modeling of cost of manufacturing is essential for estimating cost of a product as well as for optimizing alternate manufacturing strategies. There are many factors that affect cost of manufacturing but the single most important parameter for estimating the cost of manufacturing is tolerance (deviation from the nominal size). In the past, most of the cost formulations were based on some inverse power function of a single tolerance parameter. However, it has been shown in our earlier work that when geometric tolerances are used to control the features, it is very difficult (and may not always be feasible) to establish a single tolerance parameter that can be used for estimating the cost. In our earlier work, we have established generic cost formulations based on the deviations of all features of a part and the mating relations between parts. It has been shown that the deviation based cost formulations could be used to establish cost of manufacturing at various geometric tolerancing conditions and the deviation parameters could be mapped to the geometric tolerancing specifications as per ASME Y14.5. In this paper results from manufacturing experiments carried out to establish process-specific machining parameters for the cost functions are presented. The parameters that have been considered are: turning operations at various combination of speed, feed and depth of cut on cylindrical rods (planar circular face) of specified nominal size and tolerances. The deviations of the machined surfaces (surface roughness) are then measured using a digital profilometer and the data from these measurements are analyzed for generation of best fitted planes for establishing the deviation parameters for the specified tolerance conditions. Results from these experiments are presented and applicability and limitations of these cost models are discussed. Future research steps for development of parameters for other remaining features (conical, spherical, etc.) are discussed.

Due to machine tool imprecisions during manufacturing, the actual product cannot be the same as the nominal model. The product’s geometric variations influence the geometrical requirements of functionality and assembly [6, 8]; this remains a problem of industrial performance and plays a major role in the quality and cost of products; hence the need for a reliable strategy to evaluate errors in the final inspection of part quality. Among all the geometric characteristics, the circular characteristic is very common on most parts. Therefore, the measurement and evaluation of circularity with a high degree of accuracy is of utmost importance. Size, form and orientation are the basic descriptors of the geometric quality of the objects. The recent publication of ISO 14405-1: 2016 defines the size as the fundamental geometric descriptor; it described a new set of specification tools for the size of part characteristics that directly apply to the ideal geometry of the component [13]. These tools present new challenges for an inspector using a coordinate metrology system. The study of the influence of form defects on the identification of dimensional and geometrical requirements seems necessary. This paper studies four modifiers ISO 14405-1:2016 (Minimum circumscribed size (GN), Maximum recorded size (GX), least squares size Minimum (GG) and Minimum area (MZ)) will be studied. This paper presents simple and effective algorithms for evaluating the circularity error of a large number of points using four specification modifiers of ISO 14405-1:2016, and a study on the influence of measurement system strategies on different algorithms for the evaluation of these new specifications. An analysis software was developed to compare the sensitivity of different parameters (number of points, noise amplitude and circularity defect) on ISO 14405-1:2016 modifiers.

Die Kreislaufwirtschaft wird von den verschiedensten Seiten als wichtige Strategie für eine nachhaltige Zukunft gefordert und gefördert. Schon seit einiger Zeit setzt sich die Erkenntnis durch, dass eine Bewegung weg von Geschäftsmodellen, die auf Produktverkäufen basieren, hin zum Angebot von Produkt-Dienstleistungssystemen das Implementieren von Kreislaufwirtschaft unterstützen kann. Diese These wurde erneut in der Arbeit der Circular Economy Initiative Deutschland (CEID) diskutiert und in Berichten dieser Initiative dokumentiert. Die Autorin, die auch Mitglied der Circular Economy Initiative war, beleuchtet in diesem Text den Zusammenhang und beschreibt anhand von Ergebnissen aus früheren Forschungs- und Beratungstätigkeiten, wie Produkt-Dienstleistungssysteme (Product-Service Systems, PSS) die Circular Economy unterstützen können und wie diese PSS gestaltet werden können, damit das möglichst nachhaltig, also ökologisch, sozial und ökonomisch vorteilhaft, wirkt. Prozesse, Methoden und Tools für PSS Design und Evaluierung werden vorgestellt und durch Fallbeispiele illustriert.

20 years ago a concept of “Green Chemistry” was formulated by Paul Anastas and John Warner, aiming at an ambitious agenda to “green” chemical products and processes. Today the concept, laid down in a set of 12 principles, has found support in various arenas. This diffusion was supported by enhancements of the legislative framework; not only in the European Union. Nevertheless industry actors – whilst generally supporting the idea – still see “cost and perception remain barriers to green chemistry uptake”. Thus, the questions arise how additional incentives as well as measures to address the barriers and impediments can be provided. An analysis addressing these questions has to take into account the institutional context for the relevant actors involved in the issue. And it has to reflect the problem perception of the different stakeholders. The supply chain into which the chemicals are distributed are of pivotal importance since they create the demand pull for chemicals designed in accordance with the “Green Chemistry Principles”. Consequently, the scope of this study includes all stages in a chemical’s life-cycle, including the process of designing and producing the final products to which chemical substances contribute. For each stage the most relevant legislative acts, together establishing the regulatory framework of the “chemicals policy” in the EU are analysed. In a nutshell the main elements of the study can be summarized as follows: Green Chemistry (GC) is the utilisation of a set of principles that reduces or eliminates the use or generation of hazardous substances in the design, manufacture and application of chemical products. Besides, reaction efficiency, including energy efficiency, and the use of renewable resources are other motives of Green Chemistry. Putting the GC concept in a broader market context, however, it can only prevail if in the perception of the relevant actors it is linked to tangible business cases. Therefore, the study analyses the product context in which chemistry is to be applied, as well as the substance’s entire life-cycle – in other words, the six stages in product innovation processes): 1. Substance design, 2. Production process, 3. Interaction in the supply chain, 4. Product design, 5. Use phase and 6. After use phase of the product (towards a “circular economy”). The report presents an overview to what extent the existing framework, i.e. legislation and the wider institutional context along the six stages, is setting incentives for actors to adequately address problematic substances and their potential impacts, including the learning processes intended to invoke creativity of various actors to solve challenges posed by these substances. In this respect, measured against the GC and Learning Process assessment criteria, the study identified shortcomings (“delta”) at each stage of product innovation. Some criteria are covered by the regulatory framework and to a relevant extent implemented by the actors. With respect to those criteria, there is thus no priority need for further action. Other criteria are only to a certain degree covered by the regulatory framework, due to various and often interlinked reasons. For those criteria, entry points for options to strengthen or further nuance coverage of the respective principle already exist. Most relevant are the deltas with regard to those instruments that influence the design phase; both for the chemical substance as such and for the end-product containing the substance. Due to the multi-tier supply chains, provisions fostering information, communication and cooperation of the various actors are crucial to underpin the learning processes towards the GCP. The policy options aim to tackle these shortcomings in the context of the respective stage in order to support those actors who are willing to change their attitude and their business decisions towards GC. The findings are in general coherence with the strategies to foster GC identified by the Green Chemistry & Commerce Council.