Portneb
2021
The redesign of the Omron Micro Air U100 nebuliser, aimed at reducing its overall carbon footprint.
Portneb Light has employed both quantitative and qualitative analysis to ensure that the redesign process aligns with the goal of reducing the product's overall carbon footprint. The result is a portable nebuliser that is both effective and eco-friendly.
Skills
Sustainable Design, Product Design, Industrial Design, Research
Tools
Rhino, Illustrator, Photoshop, Keyshot, Life Cycle Analysis
Life Cycle Analysis
Qualitative Analysis
Redesign Priority
Development
Life Cycle Analysis
Functional Unit
Functional unit of this product is used for 10 minutes, once a day, for 365 days a year, for 5 years
System Boundaries
The LCA's system boundaries were defined to create a streamlined and simplified study. The system boundary diagram below depicts each stage of LCA and the factors that will be included or excluded from the LCA.
Material
Transport
- Casing and the body: Polycarbonate(PC) through Injection molding
- Electric Copmonents.
- Rubber seal: Polychloroprene (Neoprene, CR) through polymer molding.
- Cold forging: screws.
Shipping
The label on the side reads "Made in Japan." Because shipping from Japan to the UK is the most common mode of transportation, it will be via transporting cargo from Japan to the UK.
Road
It will be transported from the Port of London to the fulfilment centre. From the fulfilment centre product reaches, the user or retail store.
Landfill
Disposal
In this LCA, it was assumed that all the components would end up in landfills as most of the users just throw it out as it can’t be used by any other person.
Quantitative Analysis
Toxicity
Most components end up in landfills. It is powered 2 AA battery with 4 hours battery life, after use they are supposed to be thrown out. Also once used its circuit board cannot be reused or upgraded which can result in a landfill.
Resource Depletion
The most components are made of PC and ABS, both of which are derived from fossil fuels and may end up depleting fossil fuel levels in the future.
Improper Use
It is prone to falling or being damaged if not properly cared for. It can cause damage to its parts and mesh, rendering it unusable if not careful during cleaning.
Maintenance
A nebulizer is a medical device that comes into constant contact with the user's mouth and must be sterilized once a week. This method involves disassembling the mouthpiece and washing it in hot water. The mesh used in nebulisers to break down medicine into small particles is extremely delicate.
Ease of Diassembly
The mouthpiece is connected by a snap-fit joint. A four-pin screwdriver is required to open the body cases. There are some loose small circuit pieces after disassembling the nebulizer that, if not treated properly, may be missing or destroyed, making reassembling the nebulizer challenging.
Wasted Energy
Thermal energy is used when it is sterilize the mouthpiece and the water used in the process is wasted, as this process must be repeated every week. Because the device is silent when in use if the user is not aware, it may consume the entire battery. Nebulizer packaging also includes unnecessary extra components that can be avoided.
Redesign Priority
In LCA, the transport phase had the third highest environmental impact, and qualitative analysis revealed that nebuliser contains unnessary Packaging components, which can also be reduced.
LCA determined that manufacturing contribute only 2.9%of the energy and 3.1% of carbon footprint in manufacturing. As a result, It is a low priority.
In the LCA material has significant environmental impact, accounting for 84.1% of consumption and 84.9% of carbon footpront. Furthermore, materials such as PC and ABS are unstable and end up in the landfill.
The nebulizer is not designed to be upgraded. According to the qualitative analysis, so it ends up in the landfill if there is no proper recycling system in place.
Quantitative analysis revealed the mouthpiece is connected by the snap-fit joint. A4 pin screwdriver is required to open the body cases. After dissasembling the nebulizr, there are some loose small circuit parts that could be lost or damaged if not handled carefully.
Because the nebuliser is for the personal use only, it cannot be shared or reused by another user, however, the material can be recycled if proper information about it’s disposal is provided to the user.
According to the quanlitative analysis, improper use or maintenance of a nebuilzer can result in a deecrease in it’s life span. all of the other phases will have a greater environment impact as product lifespan decreases
The use phase of nebulizer had second greatest environmental impact with 7.26% energy consumption and 6% carbon footprint. In addition, quantitative analysis discovered how user behavior can reduce nebulizer life, whether it is handled with care, sterilizing it, or simply forgetting to turn off.
-high
-low
-Medium
The results of the LCA and the information obtained from the quantitative analysis were used to rank the redesign priorities. During the redesign process, a focus will be placed on the priorities that have been demonstrated through the eco-design radar.
Development
Ideation
Material reduction
The the parts such as screws, mid body, seal band etc have been removed to reduce the material and parts. Keeping it more compact resulting in less quantity of material been used.
Maintenance
The redesign nebulizer includes UV sterilization, which eliminates frequent need to sterilize the components with boiling water.
Charging Port
UV Cleaning
Power Button
To avoid waste batteries ending up in landfills, rechargeable batteries are being used.
Toxicity
UV Cleaning Botton
Redesigned LCA
The results of two LCAs show that the redesign's energy consumption and carbon footprint are significantly lower than that of the original nebulizer. This is attributable to the elimination of certain parts from the initial product and the switch from disposable to rechargeable batteries in terms of energy usage.
Recycle Upgrade Program
The nebuliser can only be used by one person and after its life cycle is over, it should be recycled, and the nebuliser does not have any upgradeable hardware, the company Omron should devise an incentive or exchange programme in which users can return their old nebuliser for recycling in exchange for a new and upgraded version of the same at a reduced price.
Auto Switch
To avoid waste batteries ending up in landfills, rechargeable batteries are being used.
Resource depletion
Materials such as polycarbonate can be recycled and reused using the recycling system.
Ease of Disassembly
The redesign nebuliser is assembled with Snap Fit body that connect to the nebulizer's bottom body. Makes it more easier to product.