Article Archive Contact Features List 10

Media Pack Subscribe Privacy Policy

Construction Computing Online Training Map Recruitment

News

Review

From CAD User Mechanical Magazine  Vol 22 No 2 - FEBRUARY/MARCH 2009

Imagine being able to chart your product's carbon footprint as it is developed, says David Chadwick

How does your product affect the environment? We are not just talking about using bio-degradable material instead of some pernicious alternative, but about taking all of the factors involved in producing a product, from the industrial processes that mine and produce the materials with which it is made in the first place, to the energy involved in manufacturing it, the length of life it is likely to have, and the energy it will consume during that life - throwing them all in the melting pot, and coming out with a result that indicates that one particular path is more environmentally friendly than another.

That raises two major issues. Where can we find the data that will support such a far-reaching decision process, and how can the information be made readily available to design engineers at the important first stages of a product's development? To be effective, and to be adopted as a serious attempt to rationalise sustainable product development, it has to be pretty comprehensive. The amount of work that is necessary to accumulate, evaluate and prepare such a body of data cannot be done overnight, and has to be conducted by a company with an impeccable reputation in environmental studies.

Fortunately, Dassault Systèmes, SolidWorks' parent company, has found such a partner in the German company PE International, and its US division, PE Americas. They are the largest and oldest network of sustainability experts in the world. You may already have seen their input in various environmental initiatives in the IT hardware industry in Europe over the last twenty years, or so.

That is how long PE International has been gathering data to perform lifecycle assessments, using detailed information

about materials and processes used to enable it to develop its product impact models, on which Sage is based.

The models are the bedrock of the company's GaBi software, which is the world's most comprehensive tool for quantifying the environmental performance of materials, processes, products and infrastructure. PE has put together over 100,000 impact scenarios, which cover sustainability from the perspective of greenhouse gases, energy, most environmental impacts, lifecycle costs and even social impacts.

THE SAGE DASHBOARD

This brings us to the second big issue making PE's data readily available to design engineers, so that they can see, at a glance, the environmental impact that their designs will have - and more importantly, see instantly how modifications to the design will alter its sustainability performance.

The solution is quite simple - a dashboard that is displayed at the bottom of the SolidWorks user interface, providing information about a design's prospective carbon footprint, air impact, water impact and energy consumed in its manufacture. To make it even easier to understand, each of these is graphically illustrated by a small pie chart - or button - which shows bright red if the product is deemed unsustainable, and which turns gradually green as changes to the design turn it into a more environmentally favourable product. As with traffic lights red means 'Stop' and green means you can proceed an apt similarity!

The idea is for design engineers to create a 'baseline' product, and then set about varying the materials and the design, comparing each successive model with previous designs. As different materials,

processes or designs are used, the impact is reflected on the dashboard.

And you don't have to just rely on the 'traffic lights' as users can drill down into dashboard data, highlighting the effects that each part of the process has upon its sustainability. If it is the material, alternative materials can be found and tested, if the manufacturing process, part of that might be offset against end-of-life disposal, or the re-use of materials.

Rick Chin, the Director of product and marketing innovation for SolidWorks, has been heavily involved in the introduction of Sage. He explains that DS and SolidWorks has made a “good-faith effort to honestly represent the most significant factors in sustainability. The goal is to give designers and engineers solid, actionable information with which they can confidently make sound design decisions.”

He says that, for the first time, Sage gives design engineers a snapshot of the carbon footprint of their products, whilst they are working, without additional effort.

Sage will be available in two versions: an Xpress version, which will come with every license of SolidWorks 2010 - which will enable users to analyse the carbon footprints, etc., of single material components - and the Professional version, which can handle multi- component models, rolling up the impact of an entire designed product across its environmental lifecycle and which will include information on energy consumption throughout its entire life.

The last word comes from Rick Chin. “Engineers live to solve problems, and they are in a uniquely powerful position to make a positive impact on the environment, making good decisions that significantly reduce the environmental impact of the products they create.” www.solidworks.com

Review

Click here for a Print Friendly Version

©2006 Business and Technical Communications Ltd. All rights reserved.
No part of this site may be reproduced without written permission of the owners.
www.CADUser.com