A design methodology to predict the product energy efficiency through a configuration tool

Abstract

During recent years the European Ecodesign Directive has introduced big changes in the design methodology of several energy-using products including consumer goods such as ovens, washing machines and kitchen hoods. Additionally, the introduction of the Energy Labelling Directive pushes manufacturers to implement new energy-saving features in many energy-related products sold in Europe. As a consequence, several companies have been encouraging the improvement of their energy using products paying attention to the related selling cost. Eco-driven products require eco-design tools to support the eco-innovation and the related sustainability improvement. The main scope of the proposed research is the reduction of the time-to-market for the energy-using products such as kitchen hoods. In this context, the paper aims to provide an approach to support a pre-evaluation of the energy labeling related to kitchen hoods. A prototypical software tool has been developed in order to simulate the energy performance of new kitchen hood configurations in term of energy efficiency. The approach also considers the introduction of virtual experiments in order to calculate the performance of virtual modules. This tool makes the product-engineer more aware in the decision-making about the energy-saving. As a test case, different product configurations have been compared analyzing the energy labelling and the overall energy performance.