The disassembly evaluation for end-of-life products during the preliminary phases

Abstract

in recent decades, manufacturers have started to orientate towards ecological products given the increasing environmental concerns. In this sense, several design methods have been proposed, including design for disassembly, which aims to ensure a better valorization of end-of-life products.This paper proposes a new method for evaluating ease of disassembly for product recycling during the preliminary design phases, notably the conceptual phase, given its considerable impact on the rest of a product’s life cycle. Indeed, this approach will allow the designer to reduce the number of proposed solutions using the concept of reference concepts based on the following evaluation criteria: type of disassembly tools, accessibility and operator’s posture during disassembly, time and the chosen end-of-life scenarios. The design concepts proposed are then assessed and compared against these reference concepts. Any solution above the thresholds of the four concepts is a rejected solution.