Design for disassembly in extension cable manufacturing

Abstract

This research is conducted to propose an extension cable design that meets disassembly concept. At the end of a useful life cycle of extension cables, most of damaged or broken extension cables are thrown away without any consideration to dismantle the product for repair, reuse or any other proper treatment. This is due to the difficulties faced by the users to dismantle the housing of extension cables. With the disassembly concept embedded in the proposed design, repair of damaged or broken extension cable will be easier, and components of extension cables that are still in good condition can be reused. To meet the mechanical and functional properties of the extension cables, analyses on the properties of the mechanism extension cable is applied to the proposed design. Using the simulation function in SolidWorks software, two different simulations are conducted, namely finite element analysis (FEA) and thermal analysis. After the SolidWorks simulation is successfully analyzed, design for manufacturing and assembly (DFMA) analysis is carried out to compare the existing design and the proposed design of the extension cables in terms of costing and assembly efficiency. The results of this research is eventually will lead to a better design of extension cable in meeting the assembly and disassembly purpose. Based on the results obtained, the snap fit mechanism that has been applied on Design B is the best design in this research in terms of DFA index and total manufacturing cost which the value is 30.3 and $1.34, respectively.