JP2005332006A - Environment load evaluation system, lca device, design support device, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve a more accurate and effective LCA, by easily and efficiently acquiring basic unit information (LCI data) whose acquisition has been difficult in a conventional LCA processing. <P>SOLUTION: A design support device 200 (department terminal 200) for designing products accumulates part information, LCI data, and classification information in a database. When the design support device 200 specifies parts selected on a CAD screen, it specifies the classification of the parts on part information. The design support device 200 further specifies classification on the LCI data corresponding to the specified classification, based on the classification information, and acquires the LCI data prescribed in the classification. The design support device 200 transmits the acquired LCI data to an LCA device 100 via a communication network 10 as environment load information at the procurement stage of the products. The LCA device 100 collects the environment load information from each department terminal 200 and executes LCA. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an environmental load evaluation system, an LCA device, a design support device, and a program, and more particularly to an environmental load evaluation system, an LCA device, a design support device, and a program that are suitable for performing an efficient life cycle assessment. .

  LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) is known as a method for evaluating the environmental load of a product. In LCA, the environmental performance of a product is objectively evaluated by quantitatively indicating the environmental load throughout the product life cycle (from manufacturing to disposal). A method of performing various processes necessary for performing such LCA using a computer has also been established (for example, Patent Document 1).

  From the product manufacturer's point of view, the life cycle of the product is defined as “pre-process”, “manufacturing process”, “distribution (sales) process”, “use process”, “maintenance process”, “collection / recycling process”, “ It can be divided into stages such as “disposal process”. In order to perform LCA, it is necessary to collect environmental load information at each of these stages. In order to perform an ideal LCA, it is desired to collect accurate environmental load information from each stage without a shortage.

  The “pre-process” in each of the above stages is a stage in which parts and materials (parts, etc.) necessary for manufacturing a product are procured. Here, after the “manufacturing process”, it will be a category that can be grasped by the manufacturer of the product, but since parts etc. will be procured from others (parts manufacturers, etc.), the environmental impact of manufacturing parts etc. Cannot fully grasp. That is, it has been difficult to acquire accurate and sufficient environmental load information related to procurement of parts and the like. Therefore, regarding the “pre-process” (procurement stage), necessary environmental load information could not be obtained or it was often inaccurate, and accurate LCA could not be performed.

  On the other hand, the construction of so-called “LCI data” (LCI: Life Cycle Inventory), in which various articles are classified and the basic unit of environmental load is shown, is progressing in various fields. That is, an environment in which representative values indicating the environmental load of various articles can be obtained is being prepared. Therefore, by using these LCI data (basic unit data), it is also possible to acquire environmental load information about parts manufactured by others.

  In this case, the manufacturer can grasp the environmental load at the procurement stage by acquiring the LCI data on the parts used in the product. Since it is at the product design stage that the parts used in the product are selected, if environmental load information is obtained based on the part selection at the time of design, the environmental load information at the procurement stage can be obtained at the design time. it can. In this way, it can be considered that environmental load information can be acquired more efficiently than inspecting the finished product retrospectively.

However, even though the designer has knowledge about the parts, it rarely has knowledge about the LCI data. For this reason, it is difficult to appropriately select the LCI data by the process of the designer in charge. In other words, it is necessary for a person who has a basic unit data processing skill to select LCI data based on the design by the designer. For this reason, work steps and personnel required for carrying out LCA increase, which is inefficient. Even if the person in charge of design has skills related to both parts and LCI data, if the number of parts becomes large, the amount of processing becomes enormous, and environmental load information is efficiently acquired. I can't.
JP 2002-99674 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an environmental load evaluation system, an LCA apparatus, a design support apparatus, and a program that can efficiently acquire information necessary for LCA. And That is, the present invention realizes more accurate and effective LCA by enabling easy and efficient acquisition of basic unit information (LCI data) that has been difficult to acquire in the conventional LCA processing. For the purpose.

In order to achieve the above object, an environmental load evaluation system according to the first aspect of the present invention includes:
Environmental load information collection means that collects environmental load information at each stage in the product life cycle, and based on the environmental load information collected by the environmental load information collection means, the life cycle assessment (Life Cycle Assessment: LCA) An environmental load assessment system comprising LCA means for
Component information storage means for storing component information for identifying a component;
Classification information storage means for storing classification information indicating the classification of the article;
Basic unit information acquisition means for acquiring basic unit information indicating the environmental load basic unit defined for each classification;
Design support means for generating design information of the product based on a part designated by a user;
Classification specifying means for specifying the classification of the part specified by the design support means based on the classification information,
The basic unit information acquisition means acquires the basic unit information defined in the classification specified by the classification specifying means,
The environmental load information collection means collects the basic unit information acquired by the basic unit information acquisition unit as environmental load information at the procurement stage of the product,
It is characterized by that.

In order to achieve the above object, an LCA apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention provides:
Environmental load information collection means for collecting environmental load information for each product life cycle stage;
LCA means for performing life cycle assessment (LCA) of the product using the environmental load information collected by the environmental load information collection means;
An LCA apparatus comprising:
The environmental load information collecting means collects environmental load information about a part designated by a design support device that designs the product as environmental load information at a procurement stage of the product,
It is characterized by that.

The LCA device
Component information storage means for storing component information for identifying at least a component used in a product to be manufactured;
Classification information storage means for storing classification information indicating the classification of the article;
Based on the classification information, classification specifying means for specifying a classification for a part designated by the design support device;
It is desirable to further include a basic unit information acquisition unit that acquires basic unit information indicating the basic unit of environmental load defined in the identified classification.
It is desirable that the environmental load information collection unit collects the basic unit information acquired by the basic unit information acquisition unit as environmental load information at the product procurement stage.

In order to achieve the above object, a design support apparatus according to the third aspect of the present invention provides:
Component information storage means for storing component information for identifying at least a component used in a product to be manufactured;
Classification information storage means for storing classification information indicating the classification of the article;
Basic unit information acquisition means for acquiring basic unit information indicating a basic unit of environmental load defined for each classification of articles;
Design support means for generating product design information by designating parts;
Based on the classification information stored in the classification information storage means, a classification specifying means for specifying the classification of the part specified by the design support means;
Environmental load information output means for outputting environmental load information of the product based on the basic unit information acquired by the basic unit information acquisition means,
The basic unit information acquisition means acquires the basic unit information defined in the classification specified by the classification specifying means,
The environmental load information output means outputs the basic unit information acquired by the basic unit information acquisition means as environmental load information in the product procurement stage,
It is characterized by that.

The design support apparatus is
Parts discriminating means for discriminating whether the parts designated by the design support means are general-purpose parts or order parts;
It is preferable that the apparatus further includes order part specifying means for specifying a classification of a part equivalent to the order part when the part determination means determines that the part is an order part.

In the above design support device,
The component information stored in the component information storage means includes at least information indicating the material for each component,
The order part specifying means includes:
It further comprises detailed information input means for inputting detailed information including at least the material of the ordered part,
It is desirable to specify a part equivalent to the ordered part based on the detailed information input by the detailed information input means and the part information, and specify the classification of the specified part.

In the above design support device,
The basic unit information acquisition means may output environmental load information based on the acquired basic unit information to a device that performs a life cycle assessment of the product.

In order to achieve the above object, a program according to the fourth aspect of the present invention is:
On the computer,
Obtaining component information for identifying the component;
A part specification step for specifying a part for designing a product;
A part determination step for determining whether the specified part is a general-purpose part or an ordered part;
If the specified part is an order part, specifying details of the order part; and
A classification identifying step for identifying the classification of the part based on the details of the designated general-purpose part or the designated order part;
Basic unit information acquisition step of acquiring basic unit information indicating the environmental load basic unit specified in the classification specified in the classification specifying step;
An LCA step using the basic unit information acquired in the basic unit information acquisition step for a life cycle assessment (LCA) of the product;
Is executed.

  According to the present invention, since basic unit information indicating the environmental load of a part designated when designing a product by CAD or the like is automatically acquired and used for LCA of the product, accurate and sufficient environmental load information can be obtained. It is possible to reliably and easily acquire environmental load information at the procurement stage, which is difficult to acquire, and contribute to more accurate LCA.

  Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, an LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) for a product to be manufactured in an entity (hereinafter referred to as “Entity R”) that manufactures and sells a product (for example, a multifunction device). An example of implementation will be described below. That is, environmental load information is acquired at each stage in the product life cycle (hereinafter referred to as “life cycle stage”), and the environmental load in the entire life cycle is calculated and evaluated.

  Here, it is assumed that a predetermined information processing device collects environmental load information from a plurality of information processing devices used for work for each life cycle stage and performs LCA. In this embodiment, “Procurement”, “Manufacturing”, “Distribution / Sales”, “Use”, “Maintenance”, “Recovery / Recycling”, and “Disposal” are defined as product life cycle stages. Of these, the case where environmental load information at the “procurement stage” is collected will be described below. In the present embodiment, a stage in which parts used for manufacturing a product are procured from an entity other than the entity R (part manufacturer, etc.) is referred to as a “procurement stage”. The “environmental load at the procurement stage” refers to an environmental load related to the manufacture of parts by a parts maker, an environmental load related to parts delivery from the parts maker to the business entity R, and the like. “Environmental impact” refers to, for example, resource consumption, energy consumption, use of hazardous chemical substances, discharge of pollutants that cause air pollution, water pollution, and soil pollution. Is referred to as “environmental load information”.

  The environmental load evaluation system according to the present embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of an environmental load evaluation system 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, the environmental load evaluation system 1 includes an LCA device 100 and a plurality of department terminals 200 interconnected via a communication network 10.

  The communication network 10 is a network that performs data transmission based on a predetermined communication program such as TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol), for example. The LCA device 100 and the department terminal 200 are interconnected, and these Mediate data communication between them.

  The LCA device 100 is configured from an information processing device such as a mainframe or a workstation, and performs LCA in the business entity R. That is, the LCA apparatus 100 is installed in a department (for example, the head office or the business headquarters) that supervises each life cycle stage for the target product, and collects environmental load information from the department terminal 200 to perform LCA. Generate information for evaluating the environmental impact of each product.

  The department terminal 200 is configured by an information processing device such as a workstation or a personal computer, and is used for business in each life cycle stage. The department terminal 200 acquires environmental load information in the life cycle stage and stores it in the LCA device 100. provide.

  In the present embodiment, a case where the LCA apparatus 100 acquires environmental load information at the “procurement stage” of a product will be described below as an example. In this case, it is assumed that the department terminal 200 is a “design support apparatus” used in a business in a design department that performs product design. That is, the design support apparatus 200 is a kind of the department terminal 200. In the present embodiment, the LCA apparatus 100 collects environmental load information from the department terminal 200 for each life cycle stage, but collects environmental load information at the procurement stage from the design support apparatus 200. Hereinafter, the term “department terminal 200” is used when referring to all devices that provide environmental load information, and in particular, the department terminal 200 used for providing environmental load information at the procurement stage is described as “design support apparatus 200”. .

  The design support apparatus 200 is a so-called CAD terminal (CAD: Computer Aided Design) and supports product design work. In the present embodiment, an operator (user) who is a person in charge of design designates parts and their arrangement using the design support apparatus 200, and based on this, the design support apparatus 200 generates design information indicating a design drawing. To do.

  The configurations of the LCA apparatus 100 and the design support apparatus 200 will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  First, the configuration of the LCA apparatus 100 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the LCA apparatus 100. As illustrated, the LCA apparatus 100 includes a control unit 110, a communication control unit 120, an input control unit 130, an output control unit 140, a program storage unit 150, and a storage unit 160.

  The control unit 110 includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a predetermined storage device (RAM (Random Access Memory)) serving as a work area, and controls each unit of the LCA device 100. Each process described later is executed based on a predetermined operation program stored in the program storage unit 150.

  The communication control unit 120 is configured by a predetermined communication device such as a NIC (Network Interface Card), a router, or a modem, for example, and connects the LCA device 100 and the communication network 10 to communicate with the department terminal 200.

  For example, the input control unit 130 connects a predetermined input device 13 such as a keyboard or a pointing device, and transmits an instruction or the like input from the input device 13 to the control unit 110.

  For example, the output control unit 140 connects a predetermined output device 14 such as a display device or a printer, and outputs the processing result of the control unit 110 to the output device 14 as necessary.

The program storage unit 150 is configured from a predetermined storage device such as a hard disk device or a ROM (Read Only Memory), and stores various operation programs executed by the control unit 110. The operation program stored in the program storage unit 150 is used to implement each process described later in cooperation with the OS in addition to an arbitrary OS (Operating System: basic software) that controls the basic operation of the LCA apparatus 100. It is assumed that the following operation program is stored. Processing performed by the LCA apparatus 100 described later is realized by the control unit 110 executing these operation programs.
(P1-1) “Communication control program”: a program for controlling the communication control unit 120 to communicate with the department terminal 200 or the like via the communication network 10 (P1-2) “Information collection program”: the communication network 10 A program for collecting environmental load information and the like from the department terminal 200 via the PDB (P1-3) “DB control program”: collected by controlling input / output of a database (Database: DB) configured in the storage unit 160 Program for accumulating environmental load information and the like (P1-4) “LCA program”: A program for performing LCA of a product using collected environmental load information

When the control unit 110 of the LCA apparatus 100 executes the above program, the LCA apparatus 100 realizes the following functions.
(F1-1) “Environmental load information collection function”: Function for collecting and storing environmental load information at each life cycle stage for each product (F1-2) “LCA function”: Using collected environmental load information Function to perform LCA for each product

  In the present embodiment, the control unit 110 executes the program stored in the program storage unit 150 to realize the above functions by so-called software processing. However, a circuit specialized for these functions (so-called ASIC ( The above functions may be realized by so-called hardware processing by configuring the Application Specific Integrated Circuit)) in the LCA device 100.

  The storage unit 160 includes a predetermined storage device such as a RAM or a hard disk device, and stores various data necessary for performing LCA. The storage unit 160 includes a database and stores environmental load information collected from each department terminal 200. In this embodiment, an “environmental load information DB” as shown in FIG. 3A is configured, and environmental load information is accumulated.

  As shown in FIG. 3A, in the “environmental load information DB”, a record having “processing ID” as identification information uniquely assigned for each LCA to be performed is created as a primary key. For example, items such as “product”, “stage”, “attribute”, and “environmental load information” are prepared. In the item “product”, information (model number, product name, etc.) indicating a product to be subjected to the LCA is recorded. Information indicating the life cycle stage of the product is recorded in the item “stage”. In the item “attribute”, information (for example, department, person in charge, terminal ID of the department terminal 200, collection date / time, etc.) indicating attributes of environmental load information collected for each life cycle stage is recorded. The item “environmental load information” stores environmental load information collected from the department terminal 200 in the life cycle stage.

  In addition, the storage unit 160 includes a “terminal information DB” that accumulates information about each department terminal 200. An example of information recorded in the terminal information DB is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, in the terminal information DB, a record with a terminal ID uniquely assigned to each department terminal 200 as a main key is created, and each record includes, for example, “department”, “address”, Items such as “person in charge” are prepared. In the item “department”, information indicating a department (department) in which the department terminal 200 is used is recorded. In the item “address”, address information (for example, an IP address) for communicating with the department terminal 200 via the communication network 10 is recorded. In the item “person in charge”, information indicating an operator or a person in charge of management of the department terminal 200 is recorded.

  In addition to such an “environmental load information DB”, for example, information indicating the result of LCA is stored in the storage unit 160 as necessary.

  Next, the configuration of the design support apparatus 200 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the design support apparatus 200. As illustrated, the design support apparatus 200 includes a control unit 210, a communication control unit 220, an input control unit 230, an output control unit 240, a program storage unit 250, and a storage unit 260.

  The control unit 210 includes, for example, a CPU and a predetermined storage device (such as a RAM) serving as a work area, controls each unit of the design support apparatus 200, and stores a predetermined operation program stored in the program storage unit 250. Based on this, each process to be described later is executed.

  The communication control unit 220 includes a predetermined communication device such as a NIC, a router, or a modem, for example, and connects the design support device 200 and the communication network 10 to communicate with the LCA device 100.

  The input control unit 230 connects, for example, a predetermined input device 23 such as a keyboard or a pointing device, and transmits an instruction input from the input device 23 to the control unit 210.

  The output control unit 240 connects a predetermined output device 24 such as a display device or a printer, and outputs the processing result of the control unit 210 to the output device 24 as necessary.

The program storage unit 250 includes a predetermined storage device such as a hard disk device or a ROM, and stores various operation programs executed by the control unit 210. The operation program stored in the program storage unit 250 includes the following operations for realizing each process described below in cooperation with the OS in addition to an arbitrary OS that controls the basic operation of the design support apparatus 200. Assume that a program is stored. Processing by the design support apparatus 200 described later is realized by the control unit 210 executing these operation programs.
(P2-1) “Communication control program”: a program for controlling the communication control unit 220 to communicate with the LCA device 100 and the like via the communication network 10 (P2-2) “Information acquisition program”: the communication network 10 A program (P2-3) for acquiring information from the LCA device 100 or other external device via the “DB control program”: controlling the input / output of the database configured in the storage unit 260, Program for accumulating processing results and the like (P2-4) “Design support program”: a program for providing a CAD function or the like and supporting a user's design work

When the control unit 210 of the design support apparatus 200 executes the program, the design support apparatus 200 realizes the following functions.
(F2-1) “Design support function”: a function (F2) that provides a CAD function and the like, generates design information of a product based on designated parts (including general-purpose parts and order parts), and supports design work -2) “Parts information storage function”: Information for specifying general-purpose parts (hereinafter referred to as “general-purpose part information”) and information for specifying materials of ordered parts (hereinafter, “ (F2-3) “Classification data storage function”: classification of articles such as parts and materials used in products, classification specified by basic unit data, etc. Function for storing classification information to be shown in database (F2-4) “Basic unit data acquisition function”: Function for acquiring basic unit data (LCI data) corresponding to parts selected at the time of design based on classification (F2- 5) " Environmental impact information provided function ": The ability to provide the original unit data for have been parts specified at design time in LCA device 100 as the environmental load information

  In the present embodiment, the control unit 210 executes the program stored in the program storage unit 250 to realize the above functions by so-called software processing. A circuit specialized for these functions (so-called ASIC) By configuring the above in the design support apparatus 200, the above function may be realized by so-called hardware processing.

  The storage unit 260 is configured by a predetermined storage device such as a RAM or a hard disk device, and stores data necessary for each function, data obtained by each function, and the like. More specifically, various databases are configured in the storage unit 260, and each data is accumulated. In the present embodiment, a “component information DB”, a “classification information DB”, a “basic unit DB”, and the like are configured. Details of each DB will be described below.

  The “part information DB” is a database that accumulates information (hereinafter referred to as “part information”) for identifying parts of products manufactured by the business entity R. The part information is defined based on, for example, specifications of the business entity R, and a part number or the like of the business entity R is used. An example of component information recorded in the “component information DB” is shown in FIG.

  As shown in the figure, in the “component information DB”, a record having “component ID” which is identification information uniquely assigned to each component as a main key is created, and each record includes, for example, “component name”, Items such as “detailed information” and “classification code” are prepared. As the “component ID” serving as the main key, for example, identification information (such as a component number) used in the business entity R is used. In the item “part name”, information indicating the item or name of the part specified by the part ID is recorded. In the item “detailed information”, detailed information about the component is recorded. Here, for example, information such as a material (material), a unit weight, and a processing method constituting the part is recorded. In the item “classification code”, a code (classification code) specifying the classification to which the part belongs is recorded.

  The “classification information DB” is a database that stores “classification information” for associating the classification on the component information with the classification on the basic unit data. An example of the classification information recorded in the classification information DB is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, in the “classification information DB”, a record having a “classification code” that designates a classification on the part information as a main key is created. Items such as “data classification” are prepared.

  In the item “classification details”, a high-order classification for specifying the classification specified by the classification code is recorded. That is, as shown in FIG. 5B, the item “classification details” further includes items such as “small classification”, “medium classification”, “major classification”, and the classification specified by the classification code. Are shown step by step. In this case, for example, the item “major category” is classified according to the product type (for example, “copier” or “digital camera”), and the item “medium category” constitutes the product designated by the major category. The parts are classified according to the use of the parts, and in the item “sub-classification”, details of the parts used for the use designated in the middle classification are designated.

  In the item “basic data classification”, information indicating the classification on the basic data corresponding to the classification specified by the classification code is recorded. Here, as the basic unit data, for example, data published by a public third party organization or the like can be used. In this case, a plurality of types of basic unit data may be selectively used depending on the purpose and policy of the LCA to be performed. Therefore, classification information corresponding to the type of basic unit data to be employed is recorded in the “basic unit data classification”. That is, in the item “basic unit data classification”, a plurality of items corresponding to the type of basic unit data (for example, “Eco Leaf LCI common basic unit”, “4000 Social Stocks”, etc.) are further prepared. Information indicating the classification on the basic unit data (hereinafter referred to as “basic unit code”) is recorded.

  “Basic unit DB” is a database for storing basic unit data (LCI data). In this embodiment, data published by a public third-party organization (for example, “Eco Leaf LCI common basic unit”, “4000 Social Stocks”, etc.) is used as the basic unit data. Therefore, in this embodiment, it is assumed that the basic unit data acquired from the outside is accumulated in the basic unit DB. In this case, for example, the basic unit data desired by the communication control unit 220 of the design support apparatus 200 can be acquired from the outside via the communication network 10 and stored in the basic unit DB. An example of the basic unit data stored in the basic unit DB is shown in FIG.

  As shown in the figure, a table is created in the basic unit DB for each type of basic unit data. In each table, a record having a primary key of information indicating the classification in the basic unit data (basic unit code) is created, and each record includes items such as “classification name” and “basic unit data”, for example. Prepared. In the item “classification name”, information indicating the name of the classification designated by the basic unit code is recorded. In the item “basic unit data”, information indicating the environmental load basic unit for an article corresponding to the classification specified by the basic unit code is recorded. Here, basic unit data at the procurement stage is recorded. For example, so-called LCI that indicates basic units such as energy consumption, resource consumption, and emission material amount for manufacturing and transportation of parts and the like corresponding to the classification. Data (LCI: Life Cycle Inventory) is recorded.

  In such LCI data, predetermined environmental load information is defined for each of various articles according to the respective standards. Since LCI data provided by a public third party is general-purpose data, it is necessary to cover all articles. For this reason, classification on LCI data is generally not detailed and often does not correspond to each component level. Further, the classification method and classification code are different for each type of LCI data. Therefore, in the present embodiment, by preparing the classification information in which the classification on the component information and the classification on the LCI data are associated with each other, each component information stored in the component information DB, the LCI data, Are associated. That is, if a part is specified, a classification code on the part information is specified, and based on this, a classification on the corresponding LCI data is specified. Therefore, even if the number of parts on the part information is large, the LCI data corresponding to the designated part can be specified and acquired. Further, even when a plurality of types of LCI data are selectively used, the LCI data can be easily acquired simply by specifying a component.

  The basic unit data stored in the basic unit DB can be acquired from a public third-party organization or the like. For example, a business entity R prepares or manufactures parts and materials (part manufacturers, etc.). May be obtained from

  The operation of the environmental load evaluation system 1 configured as described above will be described below.

  First, “environmental load information provision processing” by the design support apparatus 200 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. This “environmental load information provision process” is started when a design support program is started in order to design a product using the design support apparatus 200.

  When the control unit 210 of the design support apparatus 200 executes the design support program, the CAD function is started (step S101), and a CAD screen is displayed on the output device 24 (in this case, a display device; the same applies hereinafter).

  The control unit 210 displays a “classification setting screen CS” (FIG. 7A) for specifying the classification of the parts used in the design on the CAD screen. As shown in the figure, the classification setting screen CS has an input area for inputting the type of product to be designed and the usage of the design location. The user operates the input device 23 to input information (product information) indicating the product to be designed and information (use information) indicating the use of the design location on the classification setting screen CS. The control unit 210 accesses the classification information DB of the storage unit 260, and identifies a component in which the input product information is designated as “major classification” and the input usage information is designated as “medium classification”. Then, the classification codes corresponding to these are acquired and stored in the work area. That is, the classification of the part selected by design is specified (step S102).

  Here, the parts selected at the time of design can be broadly classified into “general-purpose parts” and “order parts”. For example, many electronic parts and assembly parts (for example, nuts) are standardized, and commercially available general-purpose parts can be used. On the other hand, for a part for forming a product shape or a part that cannot be standardized specific to a product to be designed, a specific shape or material (material) is required for each part. Therefore, for such a part, an ordered part manufactured by placing an order with a parts manufacturer or the like is used.

  In the present embodiment, when designing using the CAD function of the design support apparatus 200, a part selected in the design drawing is selected as a “general-purpose part” by selecting a type of drawing (drawing format). Or “ordered part”. As the drawing format, for example, “general part drawing”, “ordered part drawing”, and the like are prepared. The “general-purpose component drawing” is a drawing format for selecting a general-purpose component and creating a design drawing, and is selected, for example, when creating an assembly drawing or an electronic component drawing. The “order part drawing” is a drawing format for creating a design drawing by selecting an order part, and is selected, for example, when designing a part or member peculiar to a product.

  The control unit 210 displays the drawing format menu DF (FIG. 7B) for selecting the drawing format on the CAD screen, thereby allowing the user to specify the drawing format. When the user operates the input device 23 and selects a desired drawing format from the drawing format menu DF, information indicating the selected drawing format is input to the control unit 210. The control unit 210 determines whether the selected part is an ordered part or a general-purpose part based on the designated drawing format (step S103). That is, when “order part drawing” is designated, it is determined that the selected part is “order part”. When “general part drawing” is designated, the selected part is “general purpose part”. It is determined that it is a “part”.

  When “order part drawing” is selected and it is determined that the selected part is the order part (step S103: Yes), the control unit 210 determines the “order part specification screen OP for determining the details of the order part. ”(FIG. 7C) is displayed on the CAD screen (step S104), and the user specifies the details of the ordered part. As shown in the drawing, an input area for inputting the material (material), unit weight, processing method, and the like of the ordered part to be ordered is prepared on the ordered part designation screen OP. The user operates the input device 23 to input information (ordered part information) indicating a desired material or the like for the ordered part.

  The control unit 210 accesses the component information DB of the storage unit 260, and a component in which the same or similar content as the material, unit weight, or processing method indicated in the ordered component information is recorded in the item “detailed information”. And the classification code assigned to the part is acquired and stored in the work area. That is, the control unit 210 identifies a part equivalent to the ordered part based on the material, weight, processing method, and the like, and acquires a classification code assigned to the part. (Step S105).

  On the other hand, when “general-purpose component drawing” is selected and it is determined that the selected component is a general-purpose component (step S103: No), the control unit 210 accesses the component information DB of the storage unit 260 and performs step S102. The component information corresponding to the classification specified in (1) is acquired, and the “component selection screen PS” as shown in FIG. 7D is displayed on the CAD screen (step S106).

  An operator (user) who is a person in charge of design designs a product by operating the input device 23, selecting a part from the part selection screen PS, and designating the arrangement of the selected part. Here, information indicating the component specified on the component selection screen PS is input to the control unit 210. The control unit 210 accesses the component information DB in the storage unit 260, acquires the classification code corresponding to the input component, and holds it in the work area (step S107).

  The design support apparatus 200 generates design information (CAD data) indicating a design drawing based on designation by the user (step S108). That is, CAD data indicating a design part using a custom part designated in the custom part drawing or a general-purpose part designated in the general-purpose part drawing is generated and output to the output device 24 at any time.

  When the creation of the design drawing in the drawing format is completed by an instruction from the user or the like (step S109: Yes), the control unit 210 accesses the basic unit DB of the storage unit 260, and the work area in step S105 or step S107. The basic unit information corresponding to the classification code held in is acquired and stored in the storage unit 260 (step S110). That is, LCI data is acquired for the general-purpose part selected at the time of designing or the ordered part designed. Here, all types of LCI data prepared in the basic unit DB are acquired. That is, corresponding LCI data is acquired from each of the tables prepared in the basic unit DB.

  The control unit 210 controls the communication control unit 220, and the basic unit information acquired in step S110 is transmitted to the LCA apparatus 100 via the communication network 10 as information indicating the environmental load at the procurement stage in which the parts selected at the time of design are procured. Transmit (step S111), and the process ends. Here, the product information specified in step S102, information for specifying the design support apparatus 200 (terminal ID), and the like are added to the LCI data and transmitted to the LCA apparatus 100.

  With the above “environmental load information provision process”, the design engineer automatically acquires environmental load information at the procurement stage for these parts simply by selecting the parts or specifying the details of the ordered parts on the CAD screen. And provided to the LCA apparatus 100 that performs LCA. The transmission of environmental load information from the design support apparatus 200 to the LCA apparatus 100 may be performed by the LCA apparatus 100 instructing the design support apparatus 200.

  The “LCA process” performed by the LCA apparatus 100 provided with such environmental load information will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  The LCA apparatus 100 receives environmental load information from each department terminal 200 including the design support apparatus 200 via the communication network 10 (step S201), and stores it in the environmental load information DB of the storage unit 160 (step S202). ). Here, based on the product information added to the environmental load information transmitted from the department terminal 200, the received environmental load information is stored in an appropriate record in the environmental load information DB. That is, the LCA apparatus 100 collects environmental load information for each life cycle stage from each department terminal 200 for each product.

  When necessary and sufficient environmental load information corresponding to the LCA implementation range is collected for the target product (step S203: Yes), the control unit 110 performs LCA using the collected environmental load information ( In step S204), the execution result is appropriately stored or output (step S205), and the process is terminated.

  Here, the control unit 110 executes a predetermined algorithm using the collected environmental load information and, for example, a predetermined weighting or the like is applied to calculate an LCA result for the product. In this case, the implementation range of LCA can be arbitrary. For example, when performing LCA of the entire life cycle of a product, environmental load information collected from all life cycle stages is used. When some life cycle stages are included in the scope of implementation, LCA may be performed using environmental load information collected from the corresponding life cycle stages. In this case, an implementation result or the like may be transmitted to the department terminal 200 used in the life cycle stage.

  As described above, by applying the present invention as described in the above embodiment, a design person can select a part on CAD and perform product design work, and the environmental load on the selected part can be reduced. The information shown is automatically acquired and can be used to perform LCA. That is, it is possible to automatically acquire environmental load information at the procurement stage of the product. As a result, it is possible to reliably and easily acquire environmental load information at the procurement stage, where it has been difficult to acquire accurate and sufficient environmental load information. As a result, more accurate LCA can be performed.

  Here, the designer only needs to perform design work by CAD as before, so that more accurate LCA can be realized without acquiring knowledge about LCI or preparing personnel with LCI skills. be able to. That is, more accurate LCA can be efficiently performed without increasing the number of steps and personnel required for LCA. Also, even if the part selected at the time of design is an ordered part that is not an off-the-shelf product (commercially available product), environmental load information for similar parts is acquired based on the material (material), weight, processing method, etc. Therefore, even if the product uses various parts, it is possible to reliably and easily acquire environmental load information at the procurement stage.

  The above embodiment is an example, and the scope of application of the present invention is not limited to this. That is, various applications are possible, and all embodiments are included in the scope of the present invention.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the component information DB, the classification information DB, and the basic unit DB are configured in the storage unit 260 of the design support apparatus 200, but the apparatus in which these databases are configured is a design support. It is not limited to the apparatus 200 and is arbitrary. That is, all or any of these databases may be configured in, for example, a server that supervises a plurality of design support apparatuses 200, or may be configured in the storage unit 160 of the LCA apparatus 100. When these databases are configured in the LCA apparatus 100, the design support apparatus 200 sends only information indicating the part ID of the part specified on the CAD, the material of the ordered part, etc. to the LCA apparatus 100 via the communication network 10. And the LCA device 100 may specify the classification and acquire the LCI data.

  In addition, the design support apparatus 200 (department terminal 200) may have an LCA function executed by the LCA apparatus 100. That is, the functions realized by the LCA device 100 and the design support device 200 in the above embodiment may be realized by any device that constitutes the environmental load evaluation system 1.

  Such an environmental load evaluation system 1 may have a management / maintenance function for various data used. For example, when a design change or the like occurs during design using the design support apparatus 200, the design support apparatus 200 or the LCA apparatus 100 automatically prompts the designer to update information related to the design change. Thus, the information stored in the database is updated as necessary, and the latest state can always be maintained. Based on the latest database and history information maintained and managed in this way, environmental load information from the past to the latest can be efficiently maintained and managed.

  In the above embodiment, the environmental load information acquired from the design support apparatus 200 is the environmental load information at the procurement stage. However, for example, it may be used as information indicating the environmental performance of the product at the design stage. That is, when a design drawing is created by the design support apparatus 200, the environmental load information of the design part is acquired and LCA is performed, and the result is compared with the LCA result of the conventional similar product. In other words, the environmental performance of the product is compared with the conventional product at the time of design. As a result, when the environmental performance is lower than that of the conventional product, it is possible to design a product with higher environmental performance by reviewing the design. Similarly to the above-described embodiment, by reflecting the environmental load at the procurement stage, it is possible to design to use parts with a lower environmental load.

  The LCA apparatus 100 and the design support apparatus 200 according to the above-described embodiment can be configured by a general-purpose computer system as well as being realized by a dedicated apparatus. In this case, the general-purpose computer system can be caused to function as the LCA device 100 and the design support device 200 by installing a program for realizing each of the processes in the general-purpose computer system and executing the program in cooperation with the OS. .

  The method for providing such a program is arbitrary, and may be provided via a communication medium such as the Internet as well as being provided by being stored in a recording medium such as a CD-ROM.

It is a figure which shows typically the structure of the "environmental load evaluation system" concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the "LCA apparatus" shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a database configured in the storage unit illustrated in FIG. 2, (a) illustrates an example of information recorded in an “environmental load information DB”, and (b) records in a “terminal information DB”. An example of information to be displayed is shown. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the design support apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the database comprised by the memory | storage part shown in FIG. 4, (a) shows the example of the information recorded on "component information DB", (b) is recorded on "classification information DB". (C) shows an example of information recorded in the “basic unit DB”. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the "environmental load information provision process" concerning embodiment of this invention. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a screen display example in the “environmental load information provision process” illustrated in FIG. 6, where (a) illustrates a display example of a “classification setting screen”, and (b) illustrates a display example of a “drawing format menu”. (C) shows a display example of an “order part designation screen”, and (d) shows a display example of a “part selection screen”. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the "LCA process" concerning embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Environmental load evaluation system 100 LCA device 200 Department terminal (design support device)

Claims (8)

Environmental load information collection means that collects environmental load information at each stage in the product life cycle, and based on the environmental load information collected by the environmental load information collection means, the life cycle assessment (Life Cycle Assessment: LCA) An environmental load assessment system comprising LCA means for
Component information storage means for storing component information for identifying a component;
Classification information storage means for storing classification information indicating the classification of the article;
Basic unit information acquisition means for acquiring basic unit information indicating the environmental load basic unit defined for each classification;
Design support means for generating design information of the product based on a part designated by a user;
Classification specifying means for specifying the classification of the part specified by the design support means based on the classification information,
The basic unit information acquisition means acquires the basic unit information defined in the classification specified by the classification specifying means,
The environmental load information collection means collects the basic unit information acquired by the basic unit information acquisition unit as environmental load information at the procurement stage of the product,
Environmental impact assessment system characterized by that. Environmental load information collection means for collecting environmental load information for each product life cycle stage;
LCA means for performing life cycle assessment (LCA) of the product using the environmental load information collected by the environmental load information collection means;
An LCA apparatus comprising:
The environmental load information collecting means collects environmental load information about a part designated by a design support device that designs the product as environmental load information at a procurement stage of the product,
An LCA apparatus characterized by that. Component information storage means for storing component information for identifying at least a component used in a product to be manufactured;
Classification information storage means for storing classification information indicating the classification of the article;
Based on the classification information, classification specifying means for specifying a classification for a part designated by the design support device;
A basic unit information acquisition means for acquiring basic unit information indicating a basic unit of environmental load defined in the identified classification,
The environmental load information collection means collects the basic unit information acquired by the basic unit information acquisition unit as environmental load information at the procurement stage of the product,
The LCA apparatus according to claim 2. Component information storage means for storing component information for identifying at least a component used in a product to be manufactured;
Classification information storage means for storing classification information indicating the classification of the article;
Basic unit information acquisition means for acquiring basic unit information indicating a basic unit of environmental load defined for each classification of articles;
Design support means for generating product design information by designating parts;
Based on the classification information stored in the classification information storage means, a classification specifying means for specifying the classification of the part specified by the design support means;
Environmental load information output means for outputting environmental load information of the product based on the basic unit information acquired by the basic unit information acquisition means,
The basic unit information acquisition means acquires the basic unit information defined in the classification specified by the classification specifying means,
The environmental load information output means outputs the basic unit information acquired by the basic unit information acquisition means as environmental load information in the product procurement stage,
A design support apparatus characterized by that. Parts discriminating means for discriminating whether the parts designated by the design support means are general-purpose parts or order parts;
If it is determined that the part determining means is an order part, further comprising an order part specifying means for specifying a classification for a part equivalent to the order part;
The design support apparatus according to claim 4. The component information stored in the component information storage means includes at least information indicating the material for each component,
The order part specifying means includes:
It further comprises detailed information input means for inputting detailed information including at least the material of the ordered part,
Based on the detailed information input by the detailed information input means and the part information, specify a part equivalent to the order part, and specify a classification for the specified part.
The design support apparatus according to claim 5. The basic unit information acquisition means outputs environmental load information based on the acquired basic unit information to a device that performs a life cycle assessment of the product.
The design support apparatus according to any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein On the computer,
Obtaining component information for identifying the component;
A part specification step for specifying a part for designing a product;
A part determination step for determining whether the specified part is a general-purpose part or an ordered part;
If the specified part is an order part, specifying details of the order part; and
A classification identifying step for identifying the classification of the part based on the details of the designated general-purpose part or the designated order part;
Basic unit information acquisition step of acquiring basic unit information indicating the environmental load basic unit specified in the classification specified in the classification specifying step;
An LCA step using the basic unit information acquired in the basic unit information acquisition step for a life cycle assessment (LCA) of the product;
A program characterized by having executed.

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