Investigation of Sub-Assembly of Product for Environment Impact Assessment: Quantitative Evaluation of Shroud Fan Cover assembly and Cylinder Head Cover assembly

摘要

We live in a changing world. In many countries the systems are under change. The changes are largely driven by environmental considerations and one driving force is the threat of global climate change. When making new strategic decisions related to manufacturing any product it becomes important to consider the environmental implications. The total consumption of materials and energy during the Life cycle of product is greatly affecting the environment. The proper selection of engineering materials for manufacturing of a product can minimize the environmental impact. The environmental impact of products and processes has become a key issue that has led companies to investigate ways to minimize their effects on the environment. LCA is a means of deriving a quantitative evaluation of environmental impact of product design and thereby refining product quality and characteristics. The overall aim of the present work is to evaluate the environmental impact of some important sub-assemblies of a two wheeler for main stages of life cycle i.e. manufacturing stages of raw material and part manufacturing. An investigation has been done on two sub-assemblies of engine group of Activa i.e. shroud fan cover and cylinder head cover. It has been presented using EDIP (Environmental Design of Industrial Product) as LCA method as per ISO 14040. The study reveals that the environmental impact is more in the case of manufacturing of steel and rubber parts as compared to plastic and aluminium parts of selected subassemblies and eco-toxicity and human toxicity is more as compared to other impact categories.