Shaping Design Decisions for Mechatronic Systems by Integrating Environmental Considerations Using Simplified Life Cycle Assessment and Colored Petri Nets

Decisions made during the design phase of mechatronic systems have a considerable influence on their entire life cycle. The persistent calls for environmental protection are driven by global megatrends promoting sustainability. Hence, opting for eco-designed mechatronic systems is now a fundamental cornerstone of manufacturers’ strategies. This paper is a generalization of the environmental assessment step of a sustainable design methodology applied to mechatronic systems with structural design freeze, which is only relevant for a limited set of admissible mechatronic solutions. The approach is adapted to cover any dimension of admissible solutions using hierarchical timed colored Petri nets (hierarchical TCPN) and simplified life cycle assessments (SLCAs). First, the SLCAs results are integrated into the hierarchical TCPN model. Next, a weighting process is introduced to ensure the classification of the heterogeneous impact categories derived from SLCAs according to agreed impact reduction criteria. Then, the candidate ecological solution and its design environmental matrix (DEM) are determined via simulations. The methodology is implemented using a regenerative braking system (RBS) with frozen structural specifications, focusing on its production phase and using CPN tools and OpenLCA software. It enables the selection of the candidate ecological RBS among a large set of admissible solutions. This selection is established without interrupting the normal design process but simply by adding an extra step.