Appliance Design articles from July 2008

Appliance Design archives from July 2008

All rise for the Green Court.(impact of usage of patio heaters on global warming)(Editorial)
July 1, 2008... A man steps out onto the patio of an English pub, sets down his pint of bitter, and lights a cigarette. He zips up his jacket and grumbles about the damp chill in the air, and that grumbling sets off a chain of events with implications for the...

Shipments.(Statistical table)
July 1, 2008... SHIPMENTS Product April '08 April '07 % Chg. 4 Mos. '08 MAJOR APPLIANCES (Thousands of Units) TOTAL 6,194.4 7,214.4 -14.1% 23,586.4 Cooking-Total ...

Forecasts.(Statistical table)
July 1, 2008... FORECASTS DVD PLAYERS/RECORDERS--Shipments (Thousands of Units) Qtr: 2007 2008 2009 1 2,463.1 2,645.4 2,669.2 2 4,344.6 4,613.1 4,700.7 3 5,679.1 5,912.5 6,054.4 4 ...

Efficiency progress at risk.(NEWS WATCH)
July 1, 2008... Energy efficiency may be the farthest-reaching, least-pollutng, and fastest-growing energy success story of the last 50 years, but this success is also invisible, misunderstood, and in serious danger of missing out on needed future investments....

BSH gets new ceo.(NEWS WATCH)(Michael Traub)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Home Appliances of Huntington Beach, Calif., has named Michael Traub its new president and CEO. Traub replaces Franz Joseph Bosshard who was chosen to manage global business development for the BSH Group. Bosshard will report directly to the...

GE to unload appliances.(NEWS WATCH)
July 1, 2008... In mid-May, the General Electric Co., Fairfield, Conn., announced that it was "reviewing strategic options" for its appliance business, which is based in Louisville. The company said it was considering three possibilities: a strategic...

Enodis deal delayed.(NEWS WATCH)
July 1, 2008... As of press time, the latest bid for Enodis plc offered by The Manitowoc Co., Manitowoc, Wis., was put on hold pending recommendations from the Takeover Panel in the U.K, which oversees acquisitions of U.K. listed companies. Reports in the...

Whirlpool's Thieneman retires.(NEWS WATCH)
July 1, 2008... Mike Thieneman, who served as executive vice president and chief technology officer for Whirlpool Corp., Benton Harbor, Mich., retired as of June 30. The company plans to name a successor at a later date. Thieneman had been with the company for...

Build a better bulb.(NEWS WATCH)
July 1, 2008... The U.S. Department of Energy is sponsoring a competition designed to spur lighting manufacturers to develop high efficiency solid-state lighting products to replace 60 W incandescent lamps and PAR 38 halogen lamps. The Bright Tomorrow Lighting...

LonMark signs deal.(NEWS WATCH)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... LonMark International of San Jose, Calif., has signed a marketing agreement with the NewEnergy Alliance. LonMark is a nonprofit trade association that helps develop and promote interoperability standards. NewEnergy Alliance, a group founded by...

Meetings.(NEWS WATCH)(Calendar)
July 1, 2008... JULY 2008 Annual Product Safety & Liability Conference July 24-25, Milwaukee, Wis. Contact: 262/594-5198 Email: rgoodden@ipslp.com Website: http://randallgoodden.com AUGUST Product Safety & Product Liability Prevention Seminar...

HVAC demand to grow.(NEWS WATCH)
July 1, 2008... World demand for HVAC equipment is projected to rise 5.8 percent per year through 2012 and reach $83.7 billion, according to a new study from the Freedonia Group. Demand in the Asia/Pacific region will outpace the global average, rising 6.9...

Take touch further.(NEWS WATCH)
July 1, 2008... Researchers at Lancaster University are working with DoCoMo Communications Laboratories Europe GmbH (DoCoMo Euro-Labs) to develop new touch technology that will allow users to wave their mobile phones over dedicated readers, writers or tags to...

Electrolux closes plant.(NEWS WATCH)
July 1, 2008... Swedish appliance maker Electrolux AB plans to close one plant in Italy and consolidate production of refrigerators in another plant. The company plans to close its factory in Scandicci, Italy, and move the work to its Susegana, Italy,...

Retailers sued.(NEWS WATCH)
July 1, 2008... Sears Roebuck & Co., Home Depot, Loew's, and HHGregg Inc. were named in a federal lawsuit that claims the retailers ignored fire-hazard warnings by using metal foil and plastic vents when installing dryers. The lawsuit daims that all dryer...

Sanyo buys Sharp LCDs.(NEWS WATCH)
July 1, 2008... Japan-based Sanyo Electric Co. has started purchasing LCD panels from Sharp Corp., also of Japan, for use in its flat panel TVs sold in North America. Sanyo sold about 1 million LCD TVs in North America in the last business year, ending March...

External power demand.(NEWS WATCH)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... The worldwide external power supply (EPS) market is projected to grow from $6.7 billion in 2008 to almost $10 billion in 2013, according to a new report from the Darnell Group. In terms of units sold, the EPS market is expected to grow at a...

Certification program.(NEWS WATCH)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... The Universal Powerline Association (UPA), an industry consortium providing a forum for the design and development of interoperable and open specifications for powerline communications, has launched the UPA Powerline Interop 2008 Certification...

Grilling year round.(NEWS WATCH)
July 1, 2008... BBQ grilling is no longer just a summertime activity as an increasing number of Americans fire up their grills year round, according to The NPD Group, a market research company. NPD's 22nd annual Eating Patterns in America report shows that...

IGO gets connected.(NEWS WATCH)
July 1, 2008... Whirlpool Corp., Benton Harbor, Mich., has added a recharging station for its centralpark Connection refrigerator. The iGo from Mobility Electronics, Scottsdale, Ariz., is a plug-and-play platform for interchangeable consumer electronics...

Green home scores.(NEWS WATCH)
July 1, 2008... Energy- and water-saving appliances from Whirlpool and KitchenAid and electronic items from Panasonic helped National Homebuilder Mainstream GreenHome achieve a historically low score in the Home Efficiency Rating System (HERS) from Energy...

Digital divide.(NEWS WATCH)
July 1, 2008... Roughly one-fifth of all U.S. heads-of-household have never used e-mail, according to the National Technology Scan, a study from Parks Associates. This annual phone survey of U.S. households found 20 million homes are without Internet access,...

Middleby acquisitions.(NEWS WATCH)
July 1, 2008... Foodservice equipment maker, The Middleby Corp. has acquired two European manufacturers of cooking equipment. The company, based in Elgin, Ill., acquired the net assets and related business operations of FriFri aro SA from the Franke Group....

Appliance savings quantified.(NEWS WATCH)
July 1, 2008... The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers has released new data based on 2007 shipments of major appliances, highlighting decreases in home appliance energy consumption since 2000. Refrigerators, dishwashers and clothes washers account...

Appliance ethics.(NEWS WATCH)
July 1, 2008... Whirlpool Corp. was among those listed as one of the world's most ethical companies by the Ethisphere Institute in its second year of such designations. The institute is a think tank dedicated to the research and promotion of profitable best...

Group targets IP routing.(NEWS WATCH)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Executives from Cisco and Arch Rock Corp. are co-chairing a new Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Working Group chartered with developing a framework for using IP-based routing techniques over low-power, "lossy" networks. The networks...

Shopping online.(NEWS WATCH)
July 1, 2008... A new survey of online consumers by PriceGrabber.com, found that more people are using the Web to do research on major products for the home and that more of them are purchasing the products online. According to the survey, 53 percent of the...

Smoothies made easy.(NEWS WATCH)
July 1, 2008... Enodis of Tampa Bay, Fla., has developed an integrated smoothie machine that can make and dispense smoothie drinks in less than 40 seconds. The patent-pending unit features a fully integrated ice system that completely eliminates an operator's...

Fuel cell for the home.(NEWS WATCH)
July 1, 2008... Panasonic has developed a home-use polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) cogeneration system. The fuel cell cogeneration system features what the company calls the world's highest power-generating efficiency of up to 39 percent Lower Heating...

Smart pump.(NEWS WATCH)
July 1, 2008... Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM in Freiburg, Germany, have developed a controllable peristaltic micro-pump system for medicine and other liquids that mimics the human esophagus. The researchers say the...

Diagnosis by cell.(NEWS WATCH)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Researchers are studying how to use cell phones for telemedicine purposes. Researchers at Harvard University and in Brazil released a study describing a simple, inexpensive telemedicine system that uses ordinary cell phone cameras to collect...

Control from the road.(NEWS WATCH)
July 1, 2008... Panasonic has introduced two new HDD Car Navigation System models in Japan. The new high-end Strada F-Class(2) models enable a network link between a car and a home. These models are upgrades of the Strada, which was introduced in 2003 and has...

Conductive clarity: special glass heats transparently.(HEATING ELEMENTS)(electrically heated glass)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Glass is a challenging material for designers to work with, but for applications with see-through requirements, glass is typically the material of choice. The challenge of designing with glass can become more...

Fire it up fast: hot-wire system provides new ignition alternative.(GAS TECHNOLOGY)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Reliable ignition is the top priority for design engineers developing gas appliances, and is of utmost concern for other functions such as marketing, sales, quality assurance, and field service. Until recently, the...

Airing the options: defining air pressure or vacuum needs is key to specifying the right pump.(MOTORS & PUMPS)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For engineers designing pressurized air or vacuum systems, it's important to understand that no single air-pressure or vacuum technology is optimal for all applications, as illustrated by the comparisons shown in...

Responsive refrigeration: evaporator superheat control adapts to changing conditions.(CONTROLS & SENSORS)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] With global energy prices soaring to record high levels and no end in sight, appliance manufacturers struggle to find innovative and effective ways to improve energy efficiency. Among the most energyconsuming and...

Appliance contributions are sustainable.(ASSOCIATION REPORT: AHAM)
July 1, 2008... My last column centered on sustainability because it was the theme of AHAM's annual member meeting in late April. The column discussed how various entities and companies define sustainability. At the meeting, excellent speakers from Bissell,...