Sustainable Manufacturing

Processes and Tools for Disassembly

Sustainable Engineering

Sustainability in Manufacturing
Recovery of Resources in Product and Material Cycles – Chp. 5
Professor Dr.-Ing. Günther Seliger
Springer
Background
• Disassembly within remanufacturing is a main element of a
sustainable cycle economy.
• Disassembly is needed in maintenance and repair during product
usage phases
• Disassembly enables for an increased use productivity of resources
Disassembly in the following chapters is considered from
different perspectives:
• Materials are regained by developing processes and equipment
for separating non-detachable connections.
• Components are conditioned for further usage phases by non-
destructive separation with respective tools.
• Due to variation of used product, flexible clamping devices are
required
• Innovative cleaning processes help compensating wear effects
and thus setting up components for further usage phases.
Outline
1. Non-detachable connection
2. Detachable connection
3. Clamping systems
4. Cleaning Technologies
5. Hybrid disassembly system
1. Non-detachable connection
➢Drilling
➢Shearing and splitting
➢Jet Technique
➢Cryo-technical hybrid tool
➢Inductive heating and thermal removal
Drilling

• Screw joints represent a major group of joint technology and are in

the focus of disassembly
• The first requirement is a maximum flexibility
• The second requirement is a level robustness of the tool
• Destroying screw by drilling (include thread)
• Without destroying the thread
Shearing and splitting (dividing)

• Includes shearing, splitting, rupture and breaking

• Can only be applied in special case disassembly
• Shearing -> mainly bars, wires, cables and tubes
• Rupture -> tear off screw head by tightening the screw with a tool
until the head comes off
Jet technique • Plasma arc cutting
• Water jet cutting
Cryo-technical • jet cutting -> gas, sparks, smoke or molten mass
hybrid tool • Splitting -> deformations or damage
Inductive heating and thermal removal

• Product with high complexity consists of different material

• Metal, 1000 C
• Plastic, 200 – 400 C
2. Detachable connection
• To enable the reuse of components or products, adaptation
processes must be non-destructive
➢Working Principles
➢Disassembly toll kit
Working Principles

a) Assembling
b) Joining by mechanical means
c) Soldering
d) Gluing
e) Flexible Handling
a. assembling
• Elastic deformation is an oftenused working principle.
• Typical connectors are spring rings, clips, and snap-on connectors
• Snap-on connectors are often used in parts made of plastic or metal
sheet, especially in housings to ease the assembling
b. Joining by mechanical
means
• Most types of joints
belong to this class, and
screws are the most
important (40%)
c. Soldering
• Soldering processes can be
divided into soft, hard,
and high temperature
• Printed Circuit Boards
(PCB), by soft-soldering
processes.
• These joints can be
loosened using thermal
and mechanical processes
d. Gluing
• Gluing can be applied to a
large variety of different
materials.
• The endurance of a gluing
joint depends on the
adhesion between the part
and the glue, on the cohesion
of the glue, i.e. on the
strength of the molecular
bonds in the glue, and on the
dimension of the glued
surface.
• adhesive breaks, i.e. the break takes place between material surface
and
• Cohesive breaks, i.e. the break takes place in glue film
• mixed breaks, i.e. adhesion breaks and cohesion breaks take place at
the same time, and
• Material breaks, i.e. material break first
d. Flexible Handling
3. Clamping systems
• Flexible clamping systems must be able to deal with different geometric dimensions
and shapes of the manufactured workpieces
• The more as agile manufacturing and construction process require an increasing
flexibility towards changes of products
• The time being necessary for the clamping process has to be reduced to a
minimum.
• Especially the set-up-time of a clamping system in case of changing the type of
workpiece has to be as short as possible.
• Bases for the choice, planning and design of the clamping systems for disassembly
are aside from efficiency, quality and productivity:
• the capability to clamp a wide range of products,
• the capability to clamp workpieces independent from the current condition,
• the capability to support the handling,
• the capability to operate in manual and automated systems.
• Clamping is an auxiliary function in the disassembly process.
• These disassembly processes can be subdivided into pre-processes, main
processes
• and post processes.
• Main functions are all separating operations.
• These are processing steps like handling, clamping, or measuring, which
operate in auxiliary process time.
• The duration of these auxiliary functions has to be reduced.
• In particular the set-up time for clamping systems has to be minimized,
because of the small lot sizes in the disassembly.
Dodekapod – parallel kinematic with 12 Axes

• The kinematic structure of the most developed hexapodic machine tools

is designed to move a spindle or a kind of tool placed on the Stewart-
Gough- mainly simulators or positioning systems.
• To move a clamped workpiece by a parallel structure in a disassembly
process is the purpose of the described system.
• The aim is to combine the kinematic system of a machine tool and the
function of its pick-and-place module into one system.
• This new type of clamping system can be called autonomous clamping
system.
• An autonomous clamping system contains the aspects of autonomous
picking and placing of workpieces in a manner that no human decision
or aid is intervening the process of clamping.
Deployment of parallel structured clamping system

• A Dodekapod structure has its advantages where several handling

processes between phases of operation are necessary.
• Dodekapods can be used in production systems with different
workspaces.
• The workpiece can be moved back and forward quickly between two
workspaces of manufacturing subsystems.
• So it is possible to link the workspace of machines (e.g. robots) and
humans.
4. Cleaning Technologies
➢Challenges
➢Blasting
➢Brushing
➢Flexible cleaning centre
➢Laser assisted dry ice blasting
• Cleaning as defined as removal of unwanted substances from the
surface of workpieces up to a required, agreed, or possible degree
(DIN 8592 E)
• Amongst others there are mechanical, chemical and thermal cleaning
processes.
• In the mechanical cleaning process the cleaning effect is realized by a
relative movement of tool and workpiece. Examples are brushing and
blasting
Challenges

• At the moment, mainly chemical and mechanical cleaning processes are

used
• The complexity and amount of the surface treatment equipment and also
the time and energy consumption is very high due to necessary follow-up
procedures as washing and drying.
• Moreover, chemicals, solvents and sound emissions lead to health risks for
workers and environment
• Research is beginning to develop a number of new dry-cleaning processes,
like for example laser, plasma, and environment friendly blasting processes.
• The European industry has recognised the urgent need for action and
cleaning technologies are currently in a state of change.
• It can be assumed that the substitution of conventional cleaning
technologies will continue in the next years and that the application of new
technologies will increase steadily.
Blasting

• Blasting techniques such as compressed air blasting and laser cleaning

prove to be more than alternative.
• Their advantages are low working forces, omni directional processing and
arbitrary starting points.
• Compressed air blasting is used in industry for preparation of metallic
surfaces and for cleaning in order to the reuse and further use of products.
• A blasting agent are classified according to hardness, size, shape, and
material.
• Depending on the hardness ratio between the blasted good’s material and
blasting agents, different changes occur on the blasted surface.
• the cleaning performance
depends on the type of
blasting medium and the
material
• Blasting with carbon
dioxide
• Removal paint from
metal component
• De-coating and cleaning of mounted printed circuit board
• Cleaning exchange engine
Laser cleaning
• contact-free and hence force-free cleaning,
• cleaning of sensitive surfaces,
• high precision,
• no blasting medium and no chemicals used,
• high grade of automation and control, and
• selective cleaning.
Brushing

• The principle of brushing is the mechanical stripping or grinding off of

mainly solid impurities from the component surface.
• The brush hardness must be adjusted to the surface to be cleaned
Laser Assisted Dry Ice Blasting
5. Hybrid Disassembly System
➢Requirements
➢Layout variants
➢Equipment and facilities
➢Unscrewing process
➢Adaptation to different product
➢Information and control
➢Conclusion