Maintainability approach: Hydraulic pump with external gears explored with design for disassembly and augmented reality

The work carried out has the purpose of improving and optimizing various industrial technical operations, such as preventive maintenance, taken here as an example of application, using the Design for Disassembly (DfD) technique. Therefore, through four metaheuristic methods that have been chosen among the most widespread in the field (described below) to make a comparison between them, the optimal disassembly sequence is sought, if it exists, in terms of time and then costs in order to extract a target component without damaging the other mechanical parts of the assembly. The hypothesis that has been tested throughout this case study is “a responsible application of DfD, not only from the design process of a product but also during the disassembly procedure, can bring substantial benefits to the company”. Interaction with a hypothetical operator in charge of the work to be performed is implemented with the use of augmented reality. In fact, through an application programmed for an Android device (in this case, a mobile phone, hence a handheld device), the operator can be instructed step-by-step on the disassembly sequence in dynamics as an animation. Finally, two virtual buttons were added in augmented reality with which the operator can start and pause/resume the animation at any time to facilitate the understanding of the different steps established by the sequence.