A Computer Aided Strategy for More Sustainable Products

This article presents a methodological study on the potential use of structural optimization strategies for eco-design to support engineers during the design process of green products. The structure of the traditional process of eco-design now depends on the personal skills of the designer and his ability to integrate in the traditional design process the requirements of eco-sustainability. The objective of this study was to address guidance on integrating environmental aspects into a computer aided inventing product design and development extending the functionality of the traditional design process to green product design. The proposal arises combining eco-inventive principles with the design approach based on structural optimization tools so creating a knowledge–rich CAE process linking CAD, FEM, Optimization tools and LCA based tool. CAI tool is used to generate unconventional geometries and to trace the best promising direction of intervention. LCA integration allows the user in real-time to measure the environmental impact of his design choice calculated as a variation on the main indexes of environmental sustainability. A case study about the eco improvement of a steering plate for trial motorcycles is presented and discussed with the aim to introduce potential benefits of such an inventive eco design approach.