Students know techniques to reduce the environmental impact of their future designs. System design will follow both effectiveness (e.g. recycle, reuse, repair) and efficiency (e.g. reduce, reshore) principles. This includes rapid tooling (3D-printing), lightweight construction of housings, use of fully recyclable materials, and solutions to make systems easy to repair and recycle.
Students can apply the basic principles of smart materials to reduce the environmental impact of their designs (e.g. shape memory actuators, PCM materials for thermal management).

None

The module covers the following topics/contents:

• Rapid tooling and 3D-printing techniques for the in situ production of tools, housings and smart parts
• Fusion 360 for the topological optimization of parts (incl. design and fabrication of one demonstrator at CUAS Smart Labs)
• Selection of recyclable materials (metals, polymers, ceramics and composites)
• Design solutions for quick assembly and disassembly of parts and products
• Smart materials for a greener industry (incl. shape-memory-alloys-based smart actuators, PCM-based thermal management systems for Li-ion batteries, compliant mechanisms)
• Robotics and artificial intelligence as technologies to increase the sustainability of systems
• Recent trends in green electronics

• M. Robertson, Sustainability principles and practice, Routledge, 2021
• T. Clayton, N. Radcliffe. Sustainability: A Systems Approach, Routledge, 2018

Lectures, facilitated group work, case studies

Integrated module examination
Immanent examination character: Participation, presence, homework, written or oral exam, project-like exam, project work