Circular Design of a Network Speaker

Abstract: The EU aims to be a circular economy by 2050, which is the driving force behind this master thesis. Circular transformation is one possible strategy to handle the climate crisis and achieve sustainable development. A circular economy is a system that aims to keep the value of products, materials, and resources in use as long as possible while minimising waste generation (Svenskt Näringsliv, 2022). Designing for circularity is important in the development of products, since 80% of the environmental effects of a product are decided in the concept creation phase (McAloone and Bey, 2009). In this master thesis, written in collaboration with Axis Communication, it is investigated how circularity can be implemented in a design process, with the aim to redesign a network speaker with a focus on circular material flows. The development process in this master thesis has followed the design method Double Diamond. The process initiated with an extensive research phase where employees at Axis were interviewed and in parallel, information about the subject was collected. Guidelines regarding designing for reuse were considered, and different concepts were created and evaluated in accordance with Ulrich and Eppinger (2012). Continuing, the project followed an iterative development process where the final concept was improved and developed, to finally generate a prototype. The result is a network speaker designed for reuse, focusing on a modular design consisting of more standardised components and with the possibility to update and change dimensions on the circuit boards. The concept consists of two identical halves that together create the inner side cover, which the speaker driver is mounted on from the outside. Using the same component and adding a middle part, a tweeter, and a port creates a bigger variant of the same model.