A FRAMEWORK FOR VIRTUAL DISASSEMBLY ANALYSIS

Product reuse or recyclability is enhanced by designing the product fo r inexpensive and efficient disassembly. However, accomplishing enhanc ed product design requires design for disassembly (DFD) tools. This pa per presents a disassembly framework that consists of design modules; both of these are embodied in the geometric DFD tool. These modules co nsist of different tasks including: selection of the appropriate disas sembly method; producing an optimized disassembly sequence; evaluating a disassembly sequence for cost; producing design change recommendati ons. These considerations make a product easier to disassemble and the refore have potential benefit to the environment.