Methodical Approach for Rough Energy Assessment and Compliance Checking of Energy-related Product Design Options

Abstract

Unfortunately, a complete integration of energy efficiency aspects into industrial design practice of Energy-related Products (ErPs) has not yet been achieved. This is in part due to a lack of solutions (approaches, methods and IT tools) that support designers with rapid assessment of design options and checking their compliance with energy-related regulatory constraints. Particularly important for ErPs are limit-value constraints, which are defined by regulatory elements (laws, norms, labels, company-internal regulations, etc.) that directly specify measurable values and/or limits e.g. energy efficiency classes. The goal of this paper is to introduce a method that assists designers in rapidly and roughly performing energy assessments of mass-produced ErP design options and verifying their compliance with energy-related limit-value constraints. The introduced method is the result of the integration of a self-developed approach for compliance checking into a previously developed methodical approach for rough energy assessment. The introduced method has been validated by a case study of two washing machine design options. The long-term goal is to develop method-specific IT support. The requirements for such a support have been considered from the outset.