Novel Method to Predict the Energy Consumption of Machined Parts in the Design Phase to Attain Sustainability Goals

To reduce CO2 emissions, besides the automotive industry, manufacturing industries are increasingly under pressure to optimize processes and procedures for energy efficiency. These optimizations mainly involve the production processes, where most energy demand occurs. Alternatively, when most of this energy demand can be determined during the product design phase, the product designer can make energy-efficient decisions in the design phase. Most product designers are unaware of their decisions’ significant impact on a product’s energy demand. Therefore, this paper presents a workflow and novel method for predicting the energy demand of parts of their machining operation during the design phase. For this purpose, 29 energy consumption models for machining processes are examined, and the data published in the literature are summarized. Four resulting comprehensive process maps are derived, which enable the prediction of a part’s energy consumption due to machining, specifically, the milling operation, based on the geometric features of the part. This was further verified on three machined parts. The workflow and methods presented in this paper are some of the first steps to facilitate conscious decisions already in the product design phase. The benefits of the method were demonstrated in a final survey: Both product designers and machine operators showed in this survey that their estimation of the energy consumption of the parts investigated differed by orders of magnitude.