Pro-active life cycle engineering support tools

The extending responsibility of manufacturers regarding their products' environmental impact has led to the development of a wide range of Life Cycle Engineering tools and techniques. However, their efficiency has yet been limited by the need for detailed input data, typically unavailable in the early conceptual phases of design, when most far-reaching improvements can be achieved. This problem particularly holds true in a design environment of one-of-a-kind products, such as in many automation and machine design projects, where no previous generation products are available to provide the required analysis feedback. This paper presents a set of pro-active support tools that are specifically developed for the early design phases and cover the analytical as well as the creative steps of design. On the one hand, Eco-Cost Estimation Relationships form the core of the Eco-PaS system, which estimates the technical parameters, needed as input for most assessment tools, as a function of the functional parameters available in the concept development phase. On the other hand, the Ecodesign Knowledge System classifies both knowledge and user situations according to a common set of domain models in order to supply, at any time, adequate Life Cycle Engineering guidance, tailored to the specific user situation.