Prototype of an idea to support plastic recycling, the CUBITO case
Tipo:
Articulos de Divulgación
Autor:
Champaña-Quijano, G., Rodríguez-Caraballo, P., Barbosa Rodríguez, E., Fernández-Lafuente, R., Díaz-Cruz, V., Durand-González, L., Alomar-Báez, M., Santiago-Ortiz, F., Valdés-Serrano, E., Isaza, C., Cabrera-Ríos, M.
Fecha:
2021-07-01
Descripción:
Recycling entails the partial or total transformation of a product that has already served its purpose into another product for subsequent use. Successful recycling depends on many factors. An often overlooked one is that the post-recycling product needs to be truly useful for the consumer beyond its label of ‘made with recycled material’. This work focused on designing components that could be assembled without the need of additional fasteners onto a cube-like structure. Formally, the intention was to design a Containment Utility Bin Through Insertion and Tucking Operations (CUBITO). The prototype of CUBITO was designed using Siemens NX computer-aided design software and it was 3D printed to test its integrity and functionality when empty as well as with different kinds of loads. This manuscript focuses on this prototyping phase. In the future, CUBITO will be built with components molded from recycled PET. An initial estimation is that one PET water bottle could be melted and molded into one piece to eventually form a CUBITO by putting the several pieces together. An important subjacent point in this work is that, throughout the years it has taken to develop, it has renewed the interest of Industrial Engineering students in manufacturing due to its ultimate goal to have a positive impact to the environment.
Keywords: Engineering Education, 3D Printing, Prototyping, Self-assemblies, Manufacturing.
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