Assessing the disassembly performance of washing machines through the design for circular disassembly methodology

Authors: Giovanni Formentini, Thorvald Alrø Martiny, Christian Møller, Teodor Vernica and Devarajan Ramanujan

Abstract: To enable the circular economy paradigm, it is important to design easy-to-disassemble products. A new method, known as Design for Circular Disassembly (DfCD), has been proposed to enhance product disassembly performances toward circularity. The method was tested on a small-sized product, showing promising results. However, its applicability to medium-sized products remains unclear. The goal of this article is to assess the effectiveness of DfCD on medium-sized products, particularly washing machines. Results showed DfCD can be extended to medium-sized products, increasing model complexity.

Keywords: circular economy, design for x (DfX), reparability, disassembly, product design