The strategic value of design for remanufacturing: a case study of professional imaging equipment

Remanufacturing offers an approach to extend product lifetime beyond its first use. After restoring products to original quality, they are reintroduced to the market. To make products more suited for this approach, and to increase resource-efficiency, design for remanufacturing can be incorporated for new product development. Academic...

The technical or biological loop? Economic and environmental performance of circular building components

The construction sector can become more sustainable by applying the Circular Economy concept, which distinguishes two main pathways: substituting materials for biological materials, or optimizing the use or reuse of technical materials. Practitioners sometimes choose one pathway over the other, but knowledge of which of these pathways yields...

Structural reuse of wind turbine blades through segmentation

Composite materials offer many advantages during the use phase, but recovery at the end of a lifecycle remains a challenge. Structural reuse, where an end of life product is segmented into construction elements, may be a promising alternative. However, composites are often used in large, complex shaped products with optimised material...

Structural reuse of high end composite products: A design case study on wind turbine blades

Composite materials, in particular fibre reinforced polymers, present a challenge when reaching their end of life. Current recycling processes are unable to capture the high-end material quality, thus challenging (re)use of composite materials in a Circular Economy. Structurally reusing segmented parts of end-of-life products as construction...

Quantifying Life Cycle Environmental Benefits of Circular Steel Building Designs: development of an environmental assessment tool for reuse of steel members in building designs for the Netherlands

The re-use of building components and structural elements is an underdeveloped practice which could be an important strategy in the global paradigm shift towards a circular economy. Steel is one of the most important structural building materials which combines incredible strength, favourable mechanical properties and excellent durability...

Towards design strategies for circular medical products

The framework of design for the circular economy is increasingly used in industry to improve product sustainability and decrease costs, and in academia various models have been developed to guide circular design. However, in the medical sector, although it generates a large amount of waste, application of circular design principles is...

The circular pathfinder: Development and evaluation of a practice-based tool for selecting circular design strategies

The Circular Pathfinder tool, which provides guidance to companies looking for appropriate circular design strategies, was developed based on OEM (original equipment manufacturer) case studies. Ease of use was one of the main requirements during development of the tool, resulting in a software-based guide that asks a maximum of ten product...

A design tool for refurbishment: Generating industry specific design rules

This thesis presents the results of a single case study performed at Philips Refurbished Systems, focusing on a medical imaging system: interventional X-ray, which enables Image Guided Therapy (IGT). The goal of the study was to add value to the refurbishment activities at Refurbished Systems by developing design rules for refurbishment. This...