Over the past decades product design has gradually evolved from an art to a more systematically managed business activity. Design evaluation and optimisation techniques are being developed that verify the fitness of proposed designs for different phases of the product life cycle, including manufacturing, assembly, logistics, maintenance, disassembly, etc.
In a Life Cycle Engineering approach, these considerations are integrated in order to achieve an optimal product specification that takes into account all phases of the product life cycle. Moreover, both the total life cycle cost and the overall environmental impact are considered. Since contemporary design and development work is obviously characterised by a very high knowledge-intensity, the development of a new generation of knowledge management systems is another research interest of this research group.
The current research activities of the Life Cycle Engineering Research Group include themes such as life cycle engineering (LCE), product development methodologies, systematic innovation and knowledge management. Recent research was carried out in the area of efficient disassembly techniques to optimise the end-of-life treatment of products; the identification and analysis of energy and resource based environmental and economic improvement potential of manufacturing processes, systematic (biologically-inspired) design as well as in the domain of personalized products through user profiling.
Research Topics:
- ENERGY AND RESOURCE EFFICIENT MANUFACTURING
- SOLID STATE RECYCLING OF SMALL SIZED (INDUSTRIAL) METAL SCRAP
- DE-MANUFACTURING AND RECYCLING PROCESSES
- AUTOMATED DESIGN AND IDEATION METHODS
- PERSONALIZED PRODUCTS THROUGH USER PROFILING
Life Cycle Assessment of lightweight solutions in automotive
The LCE research group has been involved in the environmental impact assessment (LCA) of lightweight vehicle solutions, specifically with respect to the introduction of carbon fibre based composites. Second order effects resulting from body in white weight reduction have been included in these studies, thus setting a standard for this kind of studies.Go to article
Demanufacturing of vehicles in a circular economy context: assuring optimal reuse of components and raw material recycling. Special attention for e-vehicle systems: electric and electronic systems, batteries
Contact details
www.mech.kuleuven.be
