Training Mechanical Design for Sustainability through the Development of Systems with End-of-life Components

The goal of this paper is to show that one can teach mechanical design making the students aware about the sustainability issues in mechanical engineering by incorporating obsolete parts. The example herein developed aims at finding viable design solutions by re-using end-of-life components to perform functions that are very similar to the ones for which they were initially designed, with only minor adjustments to make them suitable for their new purposes. A Savonius wind turbine was chosen for our exercise since it is easy to build and assemble, has low manufacturing costs and is appropriate for delivering a small amount of mechanical power.