Design System Laboratory pursues the development of design support systems based on mechanical engineering to help designers and engineers perform their work, foster idea generation, and enhance their capacity to create products.

In order to help achieve a sustainable world, current research in the Laboratory focuses on the development of design support systems that facilitate computational simulations based on computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided engineering (CAE) to enhance "design at an early phase" --- which is also referred to as conceptual and embodiment design.

Systems we develop will be applicable to product design in various industries such as automobile, airline, building, and home appliance. We hope our research will lead to help designers make their dreams come true.

To reduce the environmental load attributed to mass production, mass consumption, and mass disposal, a method for environmentally conscious upgrade product design is required. Recently, even technologically innovative products, such as personal computers and smartphones, are discarded if they deteriorate in value, although they are still fully functional and durable. Hence, we have proposed a method of upgrade product design, which has been developed to increase product value and extend value lifespan by exchanging components closely related to deterioration in value.

Reuse of old automobile parts has gained much attention recently. When scrapping old automobiles, many parts are still functioning and can be recovered for reuse. These parts are called reuse parts. In general, reuse parts not only considerably reduce the costs but can also reduce the negative effects on the environment. However, the quantification of these effects has not been assessed yet.
This study focuses on the determination of the amount of CO₂, which is one of the greenhouse gases causing global warming. We calculated the amount of CO₂ emission generated during the life cycle from the procurement of the materials for producing automobile parts to the manufacture of automobiles and scrapping. This study aimes to calculate the amount of CO₂ emission from the reuse parts during their production, which is the first step to quantify their impact.