Page Sustainable Product Development - HGE - Hommel & Graf Environmental

Sustainable Product Development

TIMELY MEETING THE CHALLENGES OF CLIMATE RESILIENCE AND DECARBONISATION

Climate change is the most important challenge of our time. It is happening faster than expected. Public and private sectors are under tremendous pressure to mitigate the effects of climate change over the next decade.

Consumers and investors increasingly recognise the need for sustainable practices and strategies and are willing to accept new technologies to achieve this goal. The integration of sustainable solutions therefore became essential for long-term economic success. Corresponding regulatory frameworks are being issued by authorities worldwide. Manufacturers and consumers are increasingly developing an ecological-ethical awareness determining their purchasing decisions and portfolios. Simultaneously demand for ecological and ethical transparency in manufacturing and supply chains is increasing.

HOMMEL & GRAF ENVIRONMENTAL is an engineering consultancy specialising in digital Virtual Engineering with a scientific and technical focus. We support the development of technological measures for climate change adaptation via the reduction of material-related (embodied) and operational carbon emissions as well as low-energy design.

We directly facilitate the design process by providing Virtual Engineering solutions for complex functional and physical problems via Co-Simulation and Software Integration. Interdisciplinary, procedural and parametric workflows and even generative design are achieved using various AI technologies.

Special attention is paid to circular economy principles including life-cycle related environmental impacts as well as the reusability and recyclability of deconstructed materials.

New products must be developed and marketed climate-neutrally to achieve externally specified and your own climate targets.

We support you in achieving these goals by jointly developing new approaches, concepts and methods for future-oriented and sustainable planning, manufacturing and operational processes.

Key components of our consulting and service are eco-balancing, life cycle assessments, and minimisation of the CO2 footprint. Our strategic guidelines for the sustainable design and development of products as well as for the corresponding manufacturing processes are:

Low energy consumption
Passive functional efficiency where possible
Modularity and reusability of assemblies
Long-lasting, preferably zero-maintenance function and use
Repairability
Application of resource-saving materials
Prevention of the use of pollutants
General impact on the environment
Resource-efficient and low-waste production
High level of recyclability at the end of the product life cycle
Added value by closing the raw material cycle
Promotion of sustainable user behaviour

Our holistic approach to Virtual Engineering comprises following services:

Energy performance and efficiency
Automated optimisation
Overheating risk and cooling losses
Integration of web-based solutions (Digital Green Tech)
CAx connectivity to data-driven Digital Twins and Smart City solutions
Colloborative and immersive visualisation (AR, VR)
Site-based sustainability assessments
Compliance audits based on CFD and FEA simulation
Integrated Environmental Assessments (IEA)
Environmental quality indoors and outdoors
Consideration of terrain effects and geo-information (GIS)
Integration of location-specific weather, climatological factors and long-term climate projections as well as consideration of extreme weather situations
Incorporation of diurnal and seasonal variability of environmental conditions

Climate-resilient innovations are part of the Digital Transformation

Virtual Engineering plays a leading role in the ongoing digitalisation of planning processes and in the digital management of product life cycles. This manifests itself in a rapidly growing need for the integration of data-intensive applications, such as IoT and cloud computing, and the steadily increasing demand for seamless data exchange among different stakeholders.
Methods and frameworks like Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) are accelerating the development of lean and optimised workflows. Fast and integrative design processes become affordable and increase understanding and clarity of planning processes. In addition, people can be transparently involved in decision-making processes - reflecting the creative vision of planners and designers.

Case Study - Automotive OEM

Water vapour condensation in automotive front lights is a long-standing problem. Traditional ways of trying to solve the issue have required complex development cycles in which the product has gone through many design iterations. The prototypes were tested for a long time in special laboratory facilities under controlled and simulated environmental conditions.

Only by applying Virtual Engineering methods using Multiphysics CFD software was it possible to drastically reduce not only the development costs but also the number of design cycles required, including the production of prototypes.