506875.pdf (36.97 MB)
Utilisation of embedded information devices to support a sustainable approach to product life-cycle management
thesis
posted on 2011-02-25, 10:31 authored by Khurram KamalThe huge landfills from solid waste generated by the massive utilisation of different
products from domestic sources are badly affecting the environment. About 70% of the
solid municipal waste, two thirds of which comprises of household waste, is dumped as
landfill all over the world. For efficient product lifecycle management via upgrade,
maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, and reclamation of components etc., storage of
product related information throughout its lifecycle is indispensable. Efficient use of
information technology integrated with product design can enable products to manage
themselves in a semiautomatic and intelligent manner. It means that products themselves
should contain information that what to do with them when they are of no use. More
advanced products may locate themselves and communicate with their recyclers through
internet or some other communication technology. This thesis investigates the possible
technologies that can be used to store product lifecycle data; however, the main question
that is addressed in this thesis is the possibility of deployment of an on-chip intelligent
logic that can make product intelligent in the sense to predict its own lifetime against
different usage modes. The other issue that is investigated in this thesis is the bidirectional
communication between the product and its external environment in terms of
information exchange. In addition to this, possibility of storing detailed maintenance logs
into the product itself throughout its whole lifecycle has also been investigated. Different
types of embedded information technologies are described in this thesis. These
technologies are broadly classified as passive embedded information devices and active
embedded information devices. Methods of automatic identification in combination with
information technology can act as passive Embedded Information Devices (EID) to make
products intelligent enough in order to manage associated information throughout their
life cycles. Barcodes, Radio Frequency Identification tags, and a new technology called ibutton
technology are investigated as possible candidates for passive EIDs. The i-button
technology from the perspective of product lifecycle management is presented for the
very first time in the literature. Experiments demonstrated that RFID and i-button
technologies have potential to store not only the static but dynamic data up to some
extent, such as small maintenance logs. (Continues...).
History
School
- Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering
Publisher
© Khurram KamalPublication date
2008Notes
A Doctoral Thesis. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University.EThOS Persistent ID
uk.bl.ethos.506875Language
- en