Creating an easy-to-use tool for (re)designing repairable products

This project aims to develop an easy-to-use method to (re)design products for ease of disassembly and subsequently for circular strategies, such as repair, refurbish, remanufacture, etc. Improving repairability is one of the first steps in decreasing the environmental impact of products by prolonging their technical lifespan. This thesis focuses...

Quantifying the total cost of ownership by modelling product lifetime

Consumer products produced in contemporary times face the issue of deteriorating durability, repairability and service life compared to products of yesterday. This deterioration is part of a bigger issue called planned obsolescence. Due to a ‘need’ to buy new products regularly, there is rampant consumerism which has created a decrease in raw...

Modularity in Lattice structures for Circular Product Design

The principles of repair and maintenance, reuse, and repurposing of products in a circular economy aim at further minimizing the environmental impact during the use of products before being processed for recycling. However, studies on lattice structures in various fields focus on mechanical characteristics, design, and manufacturing methods....

Enhancing Consumer Product Repairability: A case study on vacuum cleaners

The European Commission pointed out in 2015, with “An EU action plan for the Circular Economy”, the importance of energy and resource preservation, by respecting Earth’s resilience and renewability (European Commission, 2015). A transition towards Circular Economy is necessary in this sense to create new sustainable advantages, protecting...