Low-carbon design based on conceptual design methods for mechanical and electrical products

This paper presents a conceptual product design method that considers the carbon emission factors of mechanical and electrical products. This method aims to consider low carbon issues prior to product design. Based on a comprehensive analysis of conventional product design procedures, the study extracts design information related to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, itemizes and quantifies the information, and ultimately uncovers the relationship among carbon emissions, function, and economic factors of newly designed products. This study explains the proposed concepts of carbon efficiency (CE) and carbon factor and combines them with the product design process to present a low-carbon design process of mechanical and electrical products. Furthermore, this paper presents a low-carbon design method of mechanical and electrical products, drawing on the product family design idea, with GHG efficiency and cost constraint. In particular, GHG efficiency pays attention to product function realization efficiency and economic factors. The potential value of the method is demonstrated in a case study of a tomato picking robot.