gutowski@mit.edu
In order to evaluate the most promising engineering strategies to address planetary level issues such as climate change, one needs tools that can span the breadth of the size scales involved. In this project we are concerned with energy use in the product manufacturing sector. Our focus is on the factory energy environment that needs to combine manufacturing process performance with building performance. We develop a high level energy model that incorporates the process equipment mainly as internal heat sources, as well as material flows including air exchange rates, and incoming raw materials, subcomponents and packaging, and outgoing products, co- products and wastes. The building model includes work inputs, lighting and other internal heat sources as well as heat transfer through the building envelope. The objective of this model is to provide a high level aggregate quantitative interpretation of the factory energy performance. The model is general enough to apply to any building in any part of the world, provided certain basic parameters are known.
T. Gutowski
D. Sekulic (U. of Kentucky)
R. Pan (U. of Kentucky)
gutowski@mit.edu
As a special case of our building energy modeling, we develop a detailed model for any automobile assembly plant. Using global data we develop a model that is representative of an average global plant and test energy improvement strategies for their effectiveness.
T. Gutowski
S. Raykar
M. Schmieder (RWTH Aachen, Germany)
drcooper@mit.edu
keaton@mit.edu
Rapid and Flexible Forming Technology (RAFFT) is a new sheet metal forming process in which heavy fixed dies are replaced with computer controlled mobile tools.
The project is part of a three-year, $7.04 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to advance next-generation, energy-efficient manufacturing processes. Led by Ford, other collaborators include Northwestern University, The Boeing Company and Penn State Erie. EBM are leading the collaboration in assessing the potential energy, carbon and cost benefits of the technology.
gutowski@mit.edu
drcooper@mit.edu
This project focuses on the energy and resource efficiency of “additive manufacturing” technologies.
By categorizing and studying different additive manufacturing methods, we will compare it with conventional manufacturing and evaluate the feasibility of its application in injection molding tooling. To fully assess the environmental impact of additive technologies, the analysis will include pre- and post-processing.
karineip@mit.edu
mptesta@mit.edu
araymond@mit.edu
Material recovery is an essential phase in the life-cycle of a product which determines its sustainability.
By capturing materials from products at their end-of-life, society can reduce landfilling as well as the depletion of natural resources, thus avoiding the environmental impact associated with the primary production of raw materials.
In one aspect of this project, we worked with the waste management plants that Ferrovial operates all over Spain on increasing the recovery of recyclable materials from municipal solid waste.
To evaluate these materials recovery facilities (MRFs), we formulate a network flow model representing the material flows through their mechanical and manual sorting units.
We validate the model using data from an existing MRF to estimate the separation efficiency parameters.
We then optimize the system design for profit and performance using a developed genetic algorithm.
We also demonstrate the trade-off between recovery rate (quantity) and grade (quality) of recovered material streams, and the impact of varying input composition and separation efficiencies.
In the next phase of the project, we will extend our model to materially-complex products, such as cars and waste electrical and electronic appliances (WEEE).
We will look at how product design choices, such as material selection, affects end-of-life material recovery. Evaluating the quantity and quality of recovered materials will enable us to better estimate the costs and environmental impact using the modeled material, energy and exergy flows.
The following video gives a brief overview of an MRF in the case-studies.
Stephanie Dalquist; Jeffrey Dahmus; Alex Thiriez; Alissa Jones; Matthew Branham; Dusan Sekulic, U. Kentucky; Timothy Gutowski. Sponsors:
National Science Foundation, SKF
Sahil Sahni, MIT Dept. of Material Science & Eng.; Avid Boustani, MIT Dept. of Mechanical Eng.; Malima Wolf, MIT Dept. of Mechanical Eng.; Elsa Olivetti, MIT Dept. of Material Science & Eng.; Steve Graves, MIT Sloan School; Timothy Gutowski. Sponsor: MIT Energy Initiative
Malima Wolf; Natalia Duque Ciceri; Jeffrey Dahmus; Dominic Albino; Phillip Bohr, TU Berlin; Ante Mrkonjic, U. Stuttgart; Brianne Metzger; Timothy Gutowski. Sponsors: National Science Foundation, Hewlett Packard. Collaborators: Roger Morton, Axion Ltd. U.K.; Mike Mankosa, Eriez
Jones, Jeffrey Dahmus; Suganth Kalakkad; Arnaud Uzabiaga, Ecole Polytechnic, Paris; Olivia Grehler, BU; Timothy Gutowski
Amanda Taplett, Anna Allen, Amy Banzaert, Rob Cirinciore, Christopher Cleaver, Stacy Figueredo, Susan Fredholm, Betar Gallant, Alissa Jones, Jonathan Krones, Barry Kudrowitz, Cynthia Lin, Alfredo Morales, David Quinn, Megan Roberts, Robert Scaringe, Tim Studley, Sittha Sukkasi, Mika Tomczak, Jessica Vechakul, Malima Wolf, Timothy Gutowski
Jeffrey Dahmus, Stephanie Dalquist, Alex Thiriez, Timothy Gutowski. Sponsor: National Science Foundation.Collaborators; Jung-Hoon Chun, MIT; John Sutherland, Michigan Tech; Marquita Hill, University of Maine, Orono
Jeffrey Dahmus, Timothy Gutowski
Philipp Bohr, Timothy Gutowski: In the course of this project, an analysis of plausible regulatory incentive schemes to foster sustainable manufacturing of electrical and electronic equipment is conducted. The main emphasis is on closing material loops via reuse, remanufacturing and recycling.
Brianne Metzger, Timothy Gutowski. Sponsor: Hewlett Packard. Collaborators: Tim Frederick and Erin Gately, HP
Olivia Grebler, Timothy Gutowski