Design for Manufacture & Environment

Final Paper Redesigning Blender

Name: Pratham Shah Due Date: 12/13/2013
Filled jar

Function Structure Blender

Energy Manual; place jar on to the holder Filled jar Signal user notices then ingredients are chopped Filled jar with ingredients chopped Dirty jar

Rotating blades

Energy Manual; putting ingredients in the jar Material Ingredients Energy Manual; pushing power button Energy Electrical; through power supply Signal start button is pressed

Store ingredients

Establish connection between motor shaft and blades inside jar Rotating blades cuts the ingredients Convert electrical energy to rotational De-establish connection between motor shaft and blades inside jar Clean the jar Chopped ingredients

Cleaned jar

Signal off button is pressed Sound Heat Vibration Energy Manual; pushing power button

- Energy - Signal - Material

Function Structure
Assumptions
Conversion of electrical energy to rotational also produces waste energy in the form of heat, vibration and sound. Jar needs to be cleaned after use. The on and off buttons are pressed only once per use. No pulse input is given.

Design Changes
The jar shape is like a rectangular cuboid. These can be converted to a cylindrical (more like conical) shape as shown in fig1. For same volume of these two shapes, the surface area for a cylinder is less than a cuboid and can save material by about 11%. The environmental impact (eco indicator pointer - 510) of production of polycarbonate (PC) is significantly higher than other materials. Instead of using polycarbonate for making, glass can be used. Production of glass has significantly lower environmental impact (eco indicator pointer - 58). The feeder cap can be eliminated by using a feeder slider (fig2) that is a part of the jar lid. These helps to save material (PC) used in making the feeder cap. The base housing is also a bit large compared to all the components that are inside it. There is space wasted inside the housing. The housing can be made cylindrical in shape (fig3) and can still accommodate all the internal components. This can help in saving housing material (ABS). For normal use of 10 minutes per week, a big fan is not required. The fan can be made smaller such that it is sufficient for providing the necessary cooling ventilation (fig 4). It not only helps in reducing the amount of fan material used, but also reduce the housing material used. The highest environmental impact for blender parts comes from steel production (eco indicator pointer - 910). Instead of steel, the fan can be made of ABS (eco indicator pointer - 400) which has significantly lower environmental impact than steel. The highest environmental impact of the blender comes from the use of electricity. Electricity can be saved by used of a better motor with higher efficiency that produces same 450W of power, however with consuming less electricity. A small percentage of electricity use will be reduced by the smaller and lighter fan made of ABS instead of steel. Suppose the electricity usage can be reduced by 15% by these methods. Thus, instead of using 19.5 kWh, the new blender will use 16.58 kWh electricity during its life cycle. The polycarbonate threaded jar nut is made of ABS to slightly improve the environmental impact.

Bill of Materials (BOM)

ID 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 DESCRIPTION Leak-proof lid Jar Sealing Ring Blade Blade Holder Threaded Jar Nut Oster Label Bottom Housing Rubber Feet Bottom Cover Screws Cooling Fan Hexagonal Screws Motor Washer Nut Shaft Screw Shaft Disc Plastic Washer Circuit Board Circuit Board & Buttons Mount Buttons Wires QUANTITY 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 4 1 3 1 4 1 1 1 1 1 4 1 1 6 4 MATERIAL Polyethylene Glass Silicone Rubber Stainless Steel Stainless Steel ABS Laminated Paper ABS Silicone Rubber ABS Stainless Steel ABS Hardened Steel Various Materials Stainless Steel Stainless Steel Stainless Steel Stainless Steel Polyethylene Various Materials Polyethylene ABS Copper, PVC insulation MANUFACTURING PROCESS Injection Molded Blow Molding Extruded and then cut Stamped Drawn, Stamped Injection Molded Printed Injection Molded Casting Injection Molded Cut from bar stock, pressed and threaded Injection Molded Cut from bar stock, pressed and threaded Assembled Stamped Cold Formed and threaded CNC Stamped and Pierced Extruded and then Cut Assembled Injection Molded Injection Molded Extruded copper FINISH None None None Grinding None None None None None None Zinc Plated None None None None None None None None None None None None PRIMARY FUNCTION(s) Covering the glass jar Holding the ingredients Avoid spilling Cutting / blending ingredients Mounting blades Mounting blades and plastic jar Branding, Labeling buttons and their purpose Enclosure, surface for in-mold marking Support blender, reduce vibrations Enclosure Joining Removing heat Joining Rotating blade Distribute load Joining Joining Distribute load on shaft screw Reducing Vibrations Controlling electricity Mounting circuit board and buttons Controlling motor speed Passing electric current

Fig 1

Fig 2

Fig 3

Fig 4

Eco-indicator 99
Purpose
The product being analyzed is an Oster branded 8 speed blender and not any other branded from the same or different brand. The blender has a 5 year lifespan, during which it is operated 1 time/week for 10 min per use. The purpose of the analysis is to study the environmental impacts of different aspects of blender including the materials, processes, usage and disposal in order to recognize the aspects that can be improved upon considering the environmental impact. In addition, the environmental impact of new design is compared with the old design to see the improvements. Only electricity is considered as part of usage Blender power - 450 W Electricity used per blender - 16.58 kWh All steels are high alloy steel. PCB, motor, label and wirings are ignored. All plastic resins are injection molded and all metal parts are stamped. For approximating weight, all plastics and metal density are considered 0.94 gms/cm3 and 8 gms/cm3 respectively. Volume of the materials are estimated using rough dimensional measurements. All disposal is through municipal waste. Mass area ratio of corrugated cardboard 0.05 gms/cm2. Packaging material area = 1300 cm2. Thus, its weight 65 gms Glass density is 2.5 gms/cm3. The method of preparation is assumed as injection molded.

Assumptions

Old Design Production

Material Polyethylene (LDPE) Polycarbonate Silicone Rubber ABS Steel Injection Molding PE,ABS Injection Molding PC Stamping Steel Cardboard Total (mPt) Amount 80 gms 185 gms 7 gms (too less quantity) 310 gms 270 gms 690 gms 184 gms 3000 mm2 (assumed) 65 gms Indicator 360 510 Ignored 400 910 21 44 0.00006 69 Result 28.8 94.35 0 124 245.7 14.49 8.09 0.18 4.49 520.1

Use
Material Electricity Amount 19.5 kWh Indicator 37 Result 721.5

Disposal
Material & Process Municipal waste PE Municipal waste PC Municipal waste ABS Municipal waste steel Municipal waste cardboard Total (mPt) Amount 80 gms 195 gms 610 gms 270 gms 65 gms Indicator -1.1 10 (assumed as of PVC) -1.1 (assumed as of PE) -5.9 0.64 Result -0.09 1.95 -0.67 -1.59 0.04 -0.36

Total (mPt) = 520.1 + 721.5 - 0.36 = 1241.24

Life-cycle
Glass 325 gms PE 85 gms ABS 350 gms Silicone Rubber 7 gms Steel 110 gms

Injection Molding

Stamped

Assembled

Cardboard 65 gms Electricity 16.58 kWh

Packaged

Use

Blender

New Design Production

Material Polyethylene (LDPE) Silicone Rubber ABS Steel Glass Injection Molding PE,ABS Stamping Steel Cardboard Total (mPt) Amount 85 gms 7 gms (too less quantity) 350 gms 110 gms 325 gms 840 gms 3000 mm2 (assumed) 65 gms Indicator 360 Ignored 400 910 58 21 0.00006 69 Result 30.6 0 140 100.1 18.85 17.64 0.18 4.49 311.86

Use
Material Electricity Amount 16.58 kWh Indicator 37 Result 613.46

Disposal
Material & Process Municipal waste PE Municipal waste Glass Municipal waste ABS Municipal waste steel Municipal waste cardboard Total (mPt) Amount 85 gms 325 gms 350 gms 110 gms 65 gms Indicator -1.1 -15 -1.1 (assumed as of PE) -5.9 0.64 Result -0.09 -4.88 -0.39 -0.65 0.04 -5.97

Total (mPt) = 311.86 + 613.46 5.97 = 919.35 Improvement over previous design = (1241.24 919.35) / 1241.24 = 26 %

Results
The use of electricity has highest environmental impact and thus redesign the blender needs to focus on reducing the electrical consumption. The substitution of PC with glass for the jar has significantly reduced the environmental impact of production. Overall 26 % improvement have been brought in environmental impact by the new design. The performance or usability of the new designed blender has not been compromised in any way compared to the old design.