Online life cycle assessment for fluid power manufacturing systems – challenges and opportunities

Abstract

Increasing demands for highly flexible production, e.g. mass customization, as well as the production industries’ search for new business models, enabled by big data, pose completely new requirements and challenges for modern components of manufacturing systems. Challenges range from plug and produce to digital twin as well as reconfiguration. To meet the requirements of customers and industry alike, components within a manufacturing line need to be smart to communicate with each other and support the operator during the whole life cycle. In order to optimize the value chain, transparent machine costs as well as the carbon footprint of a component and system are highly relevant. Because of their high power density and controllability, fluid power actuators are prime components in manufacturing systems. In this work, the product life cycle of a modern electro hydraulic actuator for state of the art manufacturing systems is defined. Based on this framework, an assessment is made on state of the art actuators with the focus on life cycle costing and the carbon footprint. Subsequently, requirements for future developments are derived for each part of the product life cycle.