37_4 Factors applicable for designing and developing of household equipment

Nowadays we use many types of equipments to assist us in dayto- day work. These equipments help us to save time and energy as well as to do work more efficiently. In this article, word ‘equipment’ refers different type of machines and tools used in household applications. Some of the equipments used in household applications are blender & mixer, washing machine, sewing machine, refrigerator, electric iron, cooking oven, vacuum cleaner, electric fan, pressure cooker, dishwasher, treadmill and grass cutter machine. Apart from that we use some power tools like drilling machines, screw drivers and power saws to do simple repairs at home by ourselves.
In this article, we discuss factors, which equipment designer should consider in designing and developing them.
These main factors are physical ergonomics & health, energy saving, operational safety, easiness to clean, guarantee and durability, cost, quality, technology, physical size and weight, user friendly, easy to repair and availability of spare Factors Applicable for Designing and Developing of Household Equipment parts, environmental friendliness and Versatility.

• Physical ergonomics & health

When operating equipment, users should be possible to use them easily in neutral postures without excessive effort to operate them. That helps people to work easily with equipments by protecting their good health.
Physical ergonomics refers to the science of designing user interaction
with equipment to fit the user. Principles of physical ergonomics comprise of below;
• Work in neutral postures
• Reduce excessive force
• Keep everything in easy reach
• Work at proper heights
• Reduce excessive motions
• Maintain a comfortable
environment
For an example, when designing a grass cutter for garden use, need to consider machine height to fit with operator’s height, machine mass for easy movements and quality of engine exhaust gas for breathing healthy air.

• Energy saving

Energy conservation has a significant interest today due to decaying resources. Hence, designers have to develop and use low energy consuming & high efficient power sources in designing equipment. Use of Brushless Direct Current (BLDC) motors is an example of high efficient power sources.

• Operational safety

When operating an equipment safety is an essential requirement. Hence, in equipment designing safety measures need to be included. The electrical insulation, emergency stops, safety breakers, guards for moving parts and using non-hazardous material in machine construction are such safety measures. In addition, a safety operations instruction manual needs to be included with every equipment.

• Easy to clean

Mostly in household equipment cleaning after operation is necessary. For an instance, equipment in kitchen applications should be cleaned after use. Easy dismantle of washable parts and well cleaning without remaining food particles are more important in hygienic designs in food processing machines.

• Guarantee and durability

Guarantee refers the assurance of working the equipment without failure and defects for a specified period. The warranty is the written and legal form of guarantee and it is a major requirement for selling the product. In machine designing safety factors, endurance limit and operation cycle time will be determined to set operation hours without failure.

• Cost

The cost of the product is the most important factor for marketing the product. Nowadays, due to competition among similar products most manufacturers tend to sell their products with low profit margins. When designing products for household application lowest cost will be considered to reduce the price of a unit and consequently increase selling quantity. As measures to reduce the cost of the product, many companies use strategies like manufacturing outsourcing, supply chain management strategies like just in time (JIT), lean manufacturing, waste reduction, elimination of nonvalue added processes, reduction of manufacturing overhead and use of automation.

• Quality

The quality of the product plays an important role in marketing the products and to keep sales in a competitive position. As given in definition, quality means to incorporate features that have a capacity to meet customer needs and give customer satisfaction by altering products to make them free from deficiencies or defects. The quality control in machine manufacturing process and follow quality standards will help to maintain good quality.

• Technology

The technology applied in the equipment is very important to exist the product in the market. Products with outdated and inappropriate technology has no demand. In addition, products with the latest technology, provide more benefits to customers like speediness, high efficiency, less power consumption, versatility and handiness. Hence, the application of latest technology in machine design is an essential requirement.

• Physical size and weight

Handiness is an attractive feature of any equipment. When an equipment is handy and low weighted, customers like to purchase it due to operational and transport comfort and visual appearance.

• User friendly in operation

User-friendly operation is vital for any machine. If any machine is able to operate simply with one button, it will be in more demand than machines operated with few buttons and confusing operational procedure. Hence, when designing machines, operation method should be set as much simple to be able to understand a person with any level of intelligence.

• Easy to repair and availability of spare parts

Easy maintenance, replace wearable parts and spare parts availability are key factors to select and repurchase the product by customers. Hence, when designing equipment, special attention should be drawn to the ability of unfixing wearable components, access to spare parts locations and simplicity of fixing spare parts.

• Environment friendliness

Environment friendliness of the product in other words, save the environment has first priority for the existence of earth and creatures. Hence, not only the emissions from machines, while in operation, but also the disposal of used machines becomes an equally important aspect considerable in designing those machines. Biodegradable and recyclable material usage is vital to reduce the environmental pollution.

• Versatility

Versatility refers to the possibility of using the same equipment for multipurpose applications. In this way, the user could use one equipment for different purposes instead of buying several equipment. For an instance, grass cutter may be used for weed control applications or flower bush trimming purpose in another mode. Consideration of above mentioned factors in designing equipment for household applications will be beneficial forusers themselves as well as forenviron mental protection.

Image sources:
https://amlprintingservices.com/for-what-kind-of-home-ervices-we-can-contact-a-company https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200776484_200776484

Eng S.D.S.P. Solangaarachchi
Principal Research Engineer
NERD Centre of Sri Lanka