Component: Lightbulb

 

Stage 1: Extraction

 

• Filament: Made of tungsten, Mining for ores before undergoing crushing and milling, tungsten is then extracted through a series of chemical reactions. Pure tungsten powder can be obtained by roasting it in the hydrogen atmosphere.

• Glass bulb: 

• Sand: Sand mining is the extraction of sand, mainly through an open pit (or sand pit) but sometimes mined from beaches and inland dunes or dredged from ocean and river beds. 

• Soda ash: Natural Soda Ash is produced by mining naturally occurring Trona ore.

• Limestone: Most limestone is mined from open quarries.

- Inert gas: 

• Argon: Argon is industrially extracted from liquid air in a cryogenic air separation unit by means of fractional distillation.

 

Stage 2: Manufacturing and production

• Filament:

1. Tungsten powder is sifted and mixed. A fixed amount is weighed and loaded into a steel mold which is loaded into a press. The powder is compacted into a fragile bar

2.  The fragile bar is placed into a refractory metal boat and loaded into a furnace with a hydrogen atmosphere

3. The bar is loaded into a special water-cooled treating bottle where electric current is passed through it. The heat generated will cause the bar to densify and shrink. Tungsten crystals begins to form within the bar

4. The bar is then put through a swager to reduce the diameter of the bar to 0.10-0.25 inches. The rod must be stress-relieved by reheating

5. The rod finally becomes a wire. The wire is lubricated and drawn through dies of tungsten carbide or diamond. As the wire is drawn, fibers again elongate and tensile strength increases

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Glass: 

• Sand: By using a furnace to heat the sand at high temperatures, glass is made

• Soda ash: After mining soda ash is processed via a simple process of filtering, concentration, crystallisation and drying into Soda Ash which can be sold.

• Limestone: A limestone purification method comprises the steps of: making crushed materials by firstly breaking raw limestone; making powdered samples by secondly breaking the crushed materials; making an ore-bearing solution by suspending the powdered samples in a solution and grinding the powdered samples; and injecting a frothing agent and a collector using one of thiophosphate, xanthate, dithiophosphate, and the mixture of dithiophosphate and thiocarbamate, into the ore-bearing solution and then, floating and sorting the powdered samples to remove color impurities including at least one of quartz, pyrite, oxide, and muscovite contained in limestone.

• Argon: When nitrogen gas is heated up by hot calcium or magnesium , a nitride is formed leaving behind argon as an impurity.

 

Stage 3: Packaging

 

• Assembling the lightbulb: Once the filament and glass bulb are made, they are fitted together by machines. First, the filament is mounted to the stem assembly, with its end clamped to the two lead-in wires. Next, the air inside the bulb is evacuated, and the casing is filled with the inert gas argon. The gas ensures a longer life for the filament.

 

     Stage 4: Distribution

• Get transported to dealers/ distributors / shops in many countries, ready to be sold to consumers.

• Warehousing and retailing are also considered as part of this stage.

 

     Stage 5: Use

• Being installed in our Terrarium, to provide light for the plants. 

 

     Stage 6: Disposal  

• Landfill: The lightbulb parts that are unrecyclable can be disposed into the rubbish bin provided the rubbish goes to the landfill.

• Recycle: the glasses of the lightbulb can be recycled to make other glass products

• Reuse: The lightbulb as a whole can be reused to create aesthetic designs of mini gardens or vases to decorate a household.

 

Component: Tank 

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Stage 1: Extraction

• Polycarbonate:  Manufactured by condensation polymerization between bisphenol A and either carbonyl chloride or diphenyl carbonate

 

Stage 2: Manufacturing and production

• Polycarbonate:   The polycarbonate is melted and formed into the desired shape of the tank.

 

Stage 3: Packaging

• Polycarbonate: The polycarbonate tank is assembled with the cooler and the lightbulb then finally packaged into a box 

 

Stage 4: Distribution

• Polycarbonate : The polycarbonate tank is then delivered to the buyer

 

Stage 5: Use

• Being used to as a tank to store the soil and plants

 

Stage 6: Disposal

• Recycle: Polycarbonate is fully recyclable and can be made into a new material.

 

Component: Cooler

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Stage 1: Extraction

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Compressor:

• Cast iron

Mined out of the ground, raw ore is a mixture of materials called ore proper and loose earth called gangue. It is made by reducing iron ore in a blast furnace. The liquid iron is cast, or poured and hardened, into crude ingots called pigs, and the pigs are subsequently remelted along with scrap and alloying elements in cupola furnaces and recast into molds for producing a variety of products.

 

Condenser:

• Copper

Copper mining is usually performed using open-pit mining, in which a series of stepped benches are dug deeper and deeper into the earth over time. First, the ore is treated with dilute sulphuric acid. This trickles slowly down through the ore, over a period of months, dissolving copper to form a weak solution of copper sulphate. The copper is then recovered by electrolysis. 

 

Evaporator:

• Copper

Copper mining is usually performed using open-pit mining, in which a series of stepped benches are dug deeper and deeper into the earth over time. First, the ore is treated with dilute sulphuric acid. This trickles slowly down through the ore, over a period of months, dissolving copper to form a weak solution of copper sulphate. The copper is then recovered by electrolysis.
 

Capillary tube:

• Stainless steel

Stainless steel metal is formed when the raw materials of nickel, iron ore, chromium, silicon, molybdenum, and others, are melted together. Stainless steel metal contains a variety of basic chemical elements that, when fused together, create a powerful alloy.

 

Thermostat​:

• Iron

Mined out of the ground, raw ore is a mixture of materials called ore proper and loose earth called gangue. Iron is made by heating hematite or magnetite in a blast furnace along with a form of carbon called "coke" as well as calcium carbonate (CaCO3), better known as limestone.

• Brass

An alloy composed of zinc, tin, lead and copper, should be made by forming the three first metals into an alloy and casting them into ingots, then melting the copper, and adding this alloy to it

 

Stage 2: Manufacturing and production

Outer cabinet and door

• Pieces of sheet metal are either welded or clinched together. Clinching is a process closely resembling stapling in that the two pieces are crimped together under pressure, though no additional pieces such as staples are added. If the part of the cabinet is to be visible, it will be welded and ground down to appear as one piece. The extent to which the welding process is automated depends on the company and the number of refrigerators being produced.

 

• If the sheet metal was not purchased in precoated form, it is now painted. Some manufacturers use spray equipment to lay a uniform coat of paint on the metal. Others dip the parts in a paint/solvent mixture before heating them to bake the paint onto the surface.

Inner cabinet

• The inner cabinet is sometimes made from sheet metal very similar to the outer shell. Any seams are caulked to improve insulation and looks. Some manufacturers use plastic for inner liners; for example, the inner door is almost exclusively made from plastic today. The plastic liners are vacuum formed. In this process, a thick piece of plastic slightly larger than the finished part has its outer edges clamped and is then heated. The hot plastic is then pulled by vacuum into a mold and cooled. After trimming, the resulting part is ready for assembly.

• The inner cabinet is inserted into the outer cabinet, and the two are snapped together before the fixtures are inserted. Some tubes and wires are run through the gap between the two before it is filled with insulation. A dispensing device inserts foam between the walls. When heated in an oven, this foam expands to add rigidity and insulation to the cabinet. 

Cooling system

• The refrigeration components are attached to the cabinet using screws and clips. The tubing is soldered together, and a protective coating is sprayed on the joints. The copper tubing from which the coils have separately been cut, bent, and soldered is then attached to the refrigerator as a unit.

• The seal on the refrigerator door is created by means of magnet laden gaskets that are attached to the doors with screws. Handles and hinges are also screwed onto the door before its hinges are screwed onto the cabinet.

 

Stage 3: Packaging

• Package cooling systems can include closed-circuit evaporative fluid coolers or air-cooled fluid coolers, depending on the application. The systems from some manufacturers can be skid mounted and prewired, including pumps and control panels, so installation requires only external piping and electrical power connections. However, some manufacturers will have to assemble the compressor, condenser, evaporator, capillary tube and thermostat into a box with external wiring and connections to enable its function. This box containing everything is the cooler and will then be connected to the terrarium.

 

Stage 4: Distribution

• Transported to different stores and made ready to be sold to consumers.

 

Stage 5: Use

• Being installed in our terrarium to reduce the temperature of the air inside, to make it more suitable for the plant to grow in.

 

Stage 6: Disposal

• Recycle: The components that make up the cooler can be recycled to make other products as it is mostly made of metal.

• Reuse: The components of the cooler can be reused if it is not faulty. The component can be used to build a new cooler or even a different product.

• Landfill: If the cooler is faulty, it can be disposed of at the landfill

 

Cradle-To-Cradle Design:

 

1. Nutrients become Nutrients again

• The mini-terrarium consists of recyclable parts. The soil in the terrarium tank is recyclable and can be reused for different plants, it can also be put into other pots for the growth of other plants. For the transparent tank, we use polycarbonate as the material and since polycarbonate is a 100% recyclable material, it can be recycled and made into new material without harming the environment.

 

1. Use of renewable energies

• The self-sustaining “ecosystem” uses energy such as solar energy and hydropower. The solar energy is used to power the light source in the tank while the water is used to power the cooler. The water is collected via the droplets by the sides from the tank formed due to condensation