Product modularity for life cycle design

Modular design is an important elemental technique in life cycle design for improving, e.g., maintainability, upgradability, reusability, and recyclability. Appropriate modular structure differs according to applied life cycle options; e.g., while the modular structure for recycling should be based on material kinds, the structure for upgrading should be based on functions to be obsolete. This paper proposes a method for determining modular structure by aggregating various attributes related to a product life cycle and evaluating geometric feasibility of modules. This paper also illustrates the prototype system that implements the proposed method and a case study of a printer.