The focus in this project is on machine guards, which will be improved andmade more secure for efficiency and safety. The aim is to design machine guardswith a vertical opening panel for simpler machine access. The work iscorporated with Axelent Engineering in order to meet all standards withsustainability and quality to protect humans and the machine. The aim of thisproject is to examine the specified X-guards to open vertically with the height of1300 mm in order to generate a product that meets the specified standards. Thepurpose of this task is to develop a product that will meet the technicalrequirements and safety standards in order to permit vertical opening for AxelentEngineering’s X-guards.As for the result, the concept generated for the X-guard operates with linearbearings and counterweights, the concept is later presented to AxelentEngineering for manufacturing or further development. The result of the finalconcept is the most suitable of all the concepts generated, proven by usingselection methods.

This thesis describes and demonstrates a method for consolidating, developing, and using green design guidelines for the innovation of greener products. Life cycle analysis (LCA) is one well-accepted tool for quantifying the environmental impacts of a product so designers can identify areas for redesign effort. However, LCA is a retrospective design tool that requires detailed design information that isn’t known until designs are near completion. Alternatively, green design guidelines provide proven techniques for designing greener products. They can be used during the early stages of design, when many decisions fundamental to innovation and environmental impact are made and before LCA is viable. This thesis extends the work already done in green design guidelines, by updating the current knowledge base and introducing a method for extending the set of existing guidelines to encompass new and emerging areas of sustainability. While guidelines have been created from prior experience in design for environment and life cycle analysis, they have not been maintained as a shared and coordinated repertoire of green design solutions. Instead, sets of guidelines are scattered throughout the literature, contain overlaps, operate at different levels of abstraction, and have varying levels of completeness. For example, some areas of green design guidelines, such as design for disassembly, are well established, while other areas of green design guidelines, such as minimizing energy consumption during use, are still being explored. Additionally, while numerous examples of green design guidelines exist, many of the guidelines have no documented validation of their life cycle impacts. The work for this thesis began with the compilation of a dynamic knowledge base of green design guidelines. This set of guidelines is a consolidation and updating of the green design guidelines already available in literature and can be used as a starting poinrt for future improvements and extensions as the field develops. A standard method was then proposed and tested for creating guidelines in currently undeveloped areas of green design, particularly energy consumption during the operation of a product. The method employs reverse engineering techniques and life cycle analysis to identify green requirements and develop corresponding, new green design guidelines. A case study of electric kettles demonstrated the usefulness of the method by yielding four new guidelines and four, corresponding, energy saving re-designs. For this example, the redesigns showed that guidelines can reduce energy consumption, but may incur tradeoffs with other life cycle stages. Calculation of tradeoffs revealed a range of net life cycle impact values that were caused by increased manufacturing demands and variability in consumer use habits. In addition to redesign in the kettle study, the four new guidelines were tested for usefulness in new product design by use of focus groups. Two groups were tasked with designing a new energy efficient toaster concept. Only one group was given the four green design guidelines that were uncovered using the proposed method. The design group using the new green design guidelines produced more viable and practical green features than the design group that did not have the guidelines as a design tool. These preliminary results suggest that the proposed method is useful for creating new guidelines that are beneficial to design teams tackling novel design problems that differ from the original case study. Further work is needed to establish the statistical significance of these results. / text

<p>Volvo Aeros flygmotortillverkning i Trollhättan har infört ett antal nya detaljvarianter i produktionen. Detta har medfört att den robotcell som är avsedd att utföra en avgradningsoperation är i behov av uppdatering av både hårdvara och mjukvara. Denna rapport följer framtagningen av fixturkoncept som möjliggör att robotcellen kan användas även till de nya detaljerna. De förslag som arbetats fram sträcker sig från enklast möjliga till mer avancerade och nytänkande funktioner. Samtliga funktioner och koncept har genomgått gallringar i ett flertal steg. Förslagen har slutligen kombinerats och poängbedömts med konceptgenereringsverktyg till grund.</p><p>Efter en objektiv poängbedömning av sex olika koncept baserad på concept scoring visar sig två huvudgrupper med tre koncept i varje. Den ena gruppen bygger på en mer avancerad konstruktion med behov av två rotationsaxlar. Dessa medför ett flertal fördelar gällande effektivitet, men även påtagliga nackdelar vad gäller ekonomiska aspekter och idrifttagandetid. Den andra gruppen av koncept baseras mer på det befintliga fixturkonceptet. Detta medför fördelar gällande idrifttagandetid och kostnader.</p><p>Ett huvudkoncept som efter poängbedömningen visat sig mest lämpligt presenteras mer ingående och slutligen förs en diskussion gällande resultatets utfall samt rekommendationer till fortsatt arbete.</p> / <p>Volvo Aero’s aircraft engine manufacturing in Trollhättan has introduced a number of detail models into the production. As a consequence the robot cell dedicated to executing a deburring operation is in need of upgrading of both hardware and software. This report follows the development of fixture concepts that enables the robot cell to be used also for the new details. The proposals that have been developed range from the simplest to more advanced including novel functions. All the functions and concepts have gone through selection in multiple steps. The suggestions have finally been combined and evaluated with concept generation tools.</p><p>After an objective selection based on the concept scoring of six different concepts, the result can be divided into two main groups, each consisting of three concepts. The first group is a more advanced design with a need of two axes of rotation. These three concepts have several advantages when it comes to efficiency, but also obvious disadvantages when it comes to economy and production time. The second group of concepts is based on the fixture existing today. These three concepts are advantageous concerning production time and cost.</p><p>After the scoring process one main concept, judged to be the most suitable is presented more thoroughly. Finally the results as well as recommendations for continued work are discussed.</p>

Volvo Aeros flygmotortillverkning i Trollhättan har infört ett antal nya detaljvarianter i produktionen. Detta har medfört att den robotcell som är avsedd att utföra en avgradningsoperation är i behov av uppdatering av både hårdvara och mjukvara. Denna rapport följer framtagningen av fixturkoncept som möjliggör att robotcellen kan användas även till de nya detaljerna. De förslag som arbetats fram sträcker sig från enklast möjliga till mer avancerade och nytänkande funktioner. Samtliga funktioner och koncept har genomgått gallringar i ett flertal steg. Förslagen har slutligen kombinerats och poängbedömts med konceptgenereringsverktyg till grund. Efter en objektiv poängbedömning av sex olika koncept baserad på concept scoring visar sig två huvudgrupper med tre koncept i varje. Den ena gruppen bygger på en mer avancerad konstruktion med behov av två rotationsaxlar. Dessa medför ett flertal fördelar gällande effektivitet, men även påtagliga nackdelar vad gäller ekonomiska aspekter och idrifttagandetid. Den andra gruppen av koncept baseras mer på det befintliga fixturkonceptet. Detta medför fördelar gällande idrifttagandetid och kostnader. Ett huvudkoncept som efter poängbedömningen visat sig mest lämpligt presenteras mer ingående och slutligen förs en diskussion gällande resultatets utfall samt rekommendationer till fortsatt arbete. / Volvo Aero’s aircraft engine manufacturing in Trollhättan has introduced a number of detail models into the production. As a consequence the robot cell dedicated to executing a deburring operation is in need of upgrading of both hardware and software. This report follows the development of fixture concepts that enables the robot cell to be used also for the new details. The proposals that have been developed range from the simplest to more advanced including novel functions. All the functions and concepts have gone through selection in multiple steps. The suggestions have finally been combined and evaluated with concept generation tools. After an objective selection based on the concept scoring of six different concepts, the result can be divided into two main groups, each consisting of three concepts. The first group is a more advanced design with a need of two axes of rotation. These three concepts have several advantages when it comes to efficiency, but also obvious disadvantages when it comes to economy and production time. The second group of concepts is based on the fixture existing today. These three concepts are advantageous concerning production time and cost. After the scoring process one main concept, judged to be the most suitable is presented more thoroughly. Finally the results as well as recommendations for continued work are discussed.

Designers are challenged to manage customer, technology, and socio-economic uncertainty causing dynamic, unquenchable demands on limited resources. In this context, increased concept flexibility, referring to a designer s ability to generate concepts, is crucial. Concept flexibility can be significantly increased through the integrated design of product and material concepts. Hence, the challenge is to leverage knowledge of material structure-property relations that significantly affect system concepts for function-based, systematic design of product and materials concepts in an integrated fashion. However, having selected an integrated product and material system concept, managing complexity in embodiment design-processes is important. Facing a complex network of decisions and evolving analysis models a designer needs the flexibility to systematically generate and evaluate embodiment design-process alternatives. In order to address these challenges and respond to the primary research question of how to increase a designer s concept and design-process flexibility to enhance product creation in the conceptual and early embodiment design phases, the primary hypothesis in this dissertation is embodied as a systematic approach for integrated product, materials and design-process design. The systematic approach consists of two components i) a function-based, systematic approach to the integrated design of product and material concepts from a systems perspective, and ii) a systematic strategy to design-process generation and selection based on a decision-centric perspective and a value-of-information-based Process Performance Indicator. The systematic approach is validated using the validation-square approach that consists of theoretical and empirical validation. Empirical validation of the framework is carried out using various examples including: i) design of a reactive material containment system, and ii) design of an optoelectronic communication system.

The project aimed at conceptually develop a solution that is able to automatically transfer an already stacked and measured heap of goods from an order tote into an erected corrugated cardboard box, whereas the dimensions of the corrugated cardboard box and the stack are allowed to vary within a specified interval. The method for this project consisted of five main parts: feasibility study; concept generation; concept choice; design; and evaluation. The project was initiated by a feasibility study where the problem was clarified and knowledge regarding the problem was gathered. The feasibility study resulted in an user requirement specification and a product requirement specification. The product requirement specification was utilized in the evaluation processof the final developed concept. The concept generation was conducted according to structured methods prescribed by Ulrich and Eppinger. The concept choice was done by the use of Pughs concept choice matrix. The result of this project consists of a conceptual proposal of how the previously described problem may be solved. The final developed concept resulted in a cad model. The evaluation showed that the concept did not fulfill the product requirement specification, despite this it is assessed that the concept in its working principle has good merits that are worth further investigation. Further development of the concept remain and validation of the working principle is needed. Further choices concerning form, material, and components remain. The report contributes to a foundation for further development of an automated filling mechanism for erected corrugated cardboard boxes.

The electric vehicle market has rapidly expanded due to technological advancements for the last decade and a key enabler is the development of high-performance batteries with greater energy density, faster charging, and longer lifespan. The construction equipment sector faces unique challenges in electrification, including high power demands, extended operating hours, and the need for minimal downtime. To address these challenges Volvo Construction Equipment is investigating a battery swap system solution that allows for quick battery swaps, reducing downtime and a decoupled lifetime from the machines. The aim for this study is to design a battery pack used for the battery swap system while answering the following research questions: RQ1: What configuration of battery modules, rack and auxiliary systems achieve the highest energy density when designing a battery pack for construction equipment? RQ2: What factors should be considered when designing the battery modules, rack, and auxiliary systems to achieve the highest energy density of a battery pack for construction equipment? This project followed a limited version of Ulrich et al.'s (2019) product development process, focusing on concept development and system-level design for a battery swapping system. An inductive research approach was taken, gathering qualitative and quantitative data from interviews, literature, documents, and meetings to create a holistic understanding of the project challenges. A structured literature review was conducted using relevant keywords across multiple databases, employing techniques like forward and backward snowballing. Data analysis methods, including conversation analysis, were employed to structure and analyze collected data, ensuring validity and reliability through triangulation, and cross-referencing with experts at Volvo. Empirical studies were conducted through benchmarking and a case study, providing quantitative data on specifications and qualitative insights from internal documentation and communication with product developers. The findings formed an iterative concept generation process, emphasizing the importance of exploring diverse possibilities in the early stages. The design process involved evaluating previous battery pack solutions, working within predefined constraints like using a specific shell, internally developed battery modules, auxiliary components while satisfying a set of stakeholder needs. Some auxiliary components and a rack that supports the battery modules were also developed as there is a new internal layout of the battery pack. This resulted in a conceptual battery pack that theoretically have a 30% higher energy density than the previous battery pack solutions. The proposed solution enables Volvo Construction Equipment to offer machines with longer runtimes and increased productivity by maximizing the energy storage capacity within the given constraints.

隨著台灣資訊科技系統大廠往自有品牌方向發展，接受委託代工製造業務之營運比重減少，自有品牌產品業務比重逐漸增加，然而發展自有品牌與替他人代工製造服務的新產品開發模式有所差異，自有品牌產品的產品規格與概念多半需由廠商自行定義，若只是參考他人之產品規格發展新產品，則生產出來的產品無特殊性，消費者的品牌印象與品牌認同也不強，並不符合發展自有品牌的目標；而若觀察全球資訊科技的品牌大廠，SONY與Apple皆有其成名代表作，代表作品皆為自行定義產品規格與概念的創新產品，而如何發想創新產品的概念遂成為本研究的研究目的。 近年來台灣電腦公司華碩，與日本遊戲機公司任天堂相繼在2006年及2007年推出足以對公司品牌印象貢獻良多的代表產品，遂成為本研究的研究對象，藉由對兩家公司的質性個案研究，蒐集與整理次級資料，並佐以公司訪談彌補次級資料不足的部分，嘗試找出這兩家雖屬不同產業的公司，在什麼市場環境背景下，新產品開法團隊如何發想新產品概念。而於研究結果發現，個案公司發起新產品開發專案皆有改變市場競爭狀況的動機，並期望用新產品創造新的市場，藉由在先進入新市場獲得優勢而爭強自己的市場競爭力；且當時市場上既有產品的某項屬性有性能過度提供的情形，因此個案公司跳脫產業對該產品屬性原有的技術路徑規畫，及性能與功能的追求，以使用者為中心，參考市場上既有產品的產品屬性及市場反應，與產品開發者獲取的使用者資訊發想產品概念。雖初期沒有外部使用者介入，但由於產品開發者同時具有使用者的身分，加上產品開發者平時對於使用者生活型態與行為多有觀察，或是在新產品開發後期，將測試原型提供給一般使用者試用，從此兩方面陸續取得使用者資訊；另外，個案公司若沒有強烈「與別人不同」的企業文化，獨立於原有組織主流運作方式與文化，且由跨部門成員組成的新產品開發團隊，將有助於產品創新。 / As Taiwan's information technology systems manufacturers to develop its own brand business, and the proportion of the OEM & ODM business gradually decreased as the proportion of own-brand business increased, but the way to develop new products in own-brand business is quite different from the way in OEM business, a innovative own-brand manufacturers usually generate the new product concepts or specifications by itself to make differentiation from other competitors. If someone just follow the concepts or specifications written on the orders by clients or imitating what others have done before, the new products are non- uniqueness to consumers, and firms can’t build strong consumer brand image and brand identity, does not comply with the objectives of the development of own-brand. Taking a look at global brand IT firms like SONY and Apple, we can find that they have their representative products, and the concepts and specifications of products are generated and defined by firms their self. Thus, how to make concepts of innovative products becomes the purpose of this study. In recent years, Taiwan's computer company ASUS launched its new product in 2007,and the Japanese gamesole company Nintendo launched its new product in 2006, both products were successful and made a great impact on the market, contributed so much to their brand image, and became each firm’s representative product. So these two products are qualified to be the cases of this study. For these two cases, the use of qualitative case study approach, through the collection of secondary data and interviews with company information to make up for lack of secondary data, trying to find out the new product development team of these two companies how to generate concepts of new product and the relation between new product development project and market environment at that time. The result of this study indicate that two companies both have motivations to change their market competition, want to create new markets then enter new markets through earlier access to get advantage and enforce market competitiveness. Some dimension of products already on the market in technology performance oversupply situation at that time, so the case companies are user-centered rather than following the industry usual technology planning path of pursuing performance and function, taking the consumer responses and concepts of products already on market as reference and the user information obtained by new product developer to generate product concepts. Although there is no user involved in the beginning of new product development, developer also can get user information because they also represent a kind of user, observe user daily lifestyle and even hold a user test with prototype in the later of new product development. Furthermore, the study results also indicate that if there is no strong corporate culture like “like no others”, a new product development team which is independent of the mainstream mode of operation of the existing organization and culture, and with cross-department members will contribute to product innovation.

Arbetet utfördes vid Norden Machinery i Kalmar. Norden Machinery blev år 1979 ett själv- ständigt bolag och är idag en världsledande leverantör av högpresterande tubfyllningsmaskiner. Processen i maskinerna är helautomatiserad och behandlar främst tuber av olika plastlaminat. I processen fylls tuben med sitt innehåll och överkanten värms sedan upp tillräckligt mycket för att den delvis smälta plasten ska kunna pressas samman och därmed försluta tuben. Innan överflödig plast i toppen på tuberna slutligen klipps till behöver tuberna kylas ner tillräckligt mycket för att inte lämna en dålig klippning. Norden Machinery vill idag se över kylstationens prestanda samt jämföra den mot alternativa lösningar. Syftet med arbetet var att genom teoretiska och praktiska utredningar undersöka olika koncept för att kyla tuberna före klippstationen. Prestandakriterier som utvärderades var kylförmåga, kostnad för ingående detaljer, förbrukning av tryckluft samt ljudnivå. En fördjupning i Nordens nuvarande lösning gjordes genom att mäta temperaturer på tubens överkant före och efter de olika stationerna i tubfyllningsmaskinen. Arbetet följde sedan en konceptgenereringsprocess där ett antal koncept skapades, testades och utvärderades med avseende på de uppsatta prestandakriterierna. De koncept som togs fram begränsades till att ersätta den del i tubfyllningsmaskinen som idag fungerar som kylstation. Ett framtaget koncept som tillsätter vattendimma till den kylande tryckluften visade sig genom mätningar kunna förbättra den kylande prestandan med närmare 15 % vid 25 % lägre luftflöde. Även ljudnivån påverkades positivt. Lösningen är mer komplex än nuvarande, och kräver vidare utvecklingsarbete, men har potential att klara särskilt krävande tuber som idag inte kan kylas tillräckligt effektivt. Ett slutligt koncept som likt dagens lösning kyler med tryckluft presenterades. Istället för runda utloppshål för luften används rektangulära spalter. Med den nya kylprofilen kan tillverknings- kostnaden reduceras med närmare 45 %, framförallt genom att färre moment och verktygsbyten krävs vid tillverkningen. / This work was conducted at Norden Machinery in Kalmar. Norden Machinery became an independent company in 1979 and is today a world-leading supplier of high-performance tube filling machines. The process in the machines is fully automated and handles mainly various types of laminated plastic tubes. In the process, the tube is filled with its content, the top of the tube is heated to partially melt the plastic and the top is then pressed together in order to seal the tube. Before any excess plastic at the top of the tubes is cut in the final step, the tubes need to cool down enough to not leave a bad cut. Norden Machinery wants to examine their current cooling station and further compare it with alternative solutions. The purpose of the work was that through theoretical and practical investigations examine different concepts of cooling. Performance criteria to be evaluated were cooling ability, cost of manufacturing, consumption of compressed air and noise level. Norden’s present solution was examined by temperature measurements at the top of the tube before and after the different stations in the tube filling machine. A concept generation process then followed, where a number of concepts were created, tested and evaluated with regard to the performance criteria. The concepts generated were limited to replacing the part of the tube filling machine that today serves as a cooling station. A generated concept that adds water mist to the compressed airflow could by measurements be demonstrated to increase the cooling performance by nearly 15 % at 25 % less airflow. The noise level was also positively affected. The solution is more complex than the current, and further development is needed, but the concept has the potential to cope with particularly demanding tubes that today cannot be cooled sufficiently. A final concept was presented, in which similar to the current solution compressed air is used for cooling the tube. Rectangular air outlets are used instead of round holes. With the new cooling profile, manufacturing costs can be reduced by close to 45%, mainly due to fewer operations and tool changes during the manufacturing.

This work proposes a framework of concept generation and evaluation that takes into consideration the benefit of creativity and innovation in current market trends. By educating engineers in how to increase creativity in concept design and assess it quantitatively, the next generation of designers will be a step ahead of the market. This research begins with an in-depth survey of current creativity assessment methods in engineering in order to determine where the limitations currently lie in this field of study. The limitations discovered based on this unique analysis were used as motivation for the development of the proposed creativity assessment method. Specifically, we introduce a set of metrics that break down concepts to their component and subfunction level to assess the novelty and quality of component solutions ��� called the Comparative Creativity Assessment (CCA) Method. Secondly, we break down market-tested innovative products to isolate innovation information to utilize in concept generation inspiration ��� called the Repository of Innovative Products (RIP). Finally, revisions to the initial CCA method and RIP are proposed and analysis of past data results are compared to the new revised results. Revisions to the CCA method include additional metrics that factor in interaction effects from function pairing and component assemblies deemed innovative as well as eliminate evaluator subjectivity in the analysis. Observations from the experiments conducted are presented in a Lessons Learned chapter. / Graduation date: 2013