Design for Product-Embedded Disassembly with Maximum Profit

Abstract

This paper describes an extension of a method for designing products with built-in disassembly means developed in previous work, as applied to a realistic example of a desktop computer assembly. Given component geometries and revenues, the method simultaneously determines, through an optimization process, the spatial configuration of component, locator and fasteners such that the product can be most economically disassembled via a domino-like "self-disassembly" process triggered by the removal of one or a few fasteners. A multi-objective genetic algorithm is utilized to search for Pareto-optimal designs in terms of four objectives: 1) satisfaction of the distance specification among components, 2) efficient use of locators on components, 3) profit of overall disassembly process, and 4) mass fraction of retrieved components. The method is applied to a simplified model of Power Mac G4 cubereg, and the results inspired a modification to the current design that can improve the ease of disassembly