Six teams are doing eco-design projects for ENGS 171 (Industrial Ecology). The main idea behind the project is to analyze the different phases of product life-cycle and redesign the product such that it becomes more environmentally friendly. The main tool that the teams use is the CES Edupack 2012.
The team of MEM students Amogh Poudyal, Aaryaa Uprety and Shi Xu are working on redesigning the vacuum cleaner. The team had mid-term presentation last week where they disassembled vacuum cleaner and performed eco-audit in terms of materials, manufacturing, transportation, usage and disposal. For disassembling the vacuum cleaner, they used tools from couch lab such as Screwdrivers: Philips and Flathead, Hand saw, Hammer, Pliers, Wire strippers, Wire cutters, Paper blade and Scissors. According to the team, disassembling outer components of the vacuum cleaner was fairly easy as they were big parts and mostly polymers. They mostly used screwdrivers to take out the outer components. However, they had a tough time disassembling motor parts. Amogh mentioned it was especially hard for them to take copper wires out of the motor core and the cables. So, the team took help from colleagues from the instrument shop.
- Aarya Uprety
This project looks pretty intriguing! I run a vacuum review site and this looks like it could change my field!