EGO ITALIANA S.p.A.

Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

FUSE Application Experiment 24792 Dissemination / Demonstrator document

TEMPERATURE REGULATOR FOR OVENS Microelectronics applied to cooking saves both money and power

AE number: New Technology: Industrial sector: Contact TTN:

24792 Microprocessor Electric Domestic Appliances (2971) COREP

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EGO ITALIANA S.p.A.

Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

Abstract of the Application Experiment EGO Italiana SpA, a 250 employees company with a 30 MECU annual turnover, manufactures and sells electromechanical devices for white goods (thermostats, switches, hotplates, elements) since 1960 The purpose of the AE (application Experiment) has been to develop a new electronic temperature regulator for domestic and industrial cooking equipment (such as ovens, hotplates, highlights plates, etc…), based on a fuzzy logic processor. The new FLTR (Fuzzy Logic Temperature Regulator) regulator controls a non-linear thermal behaviour by means of fuzzy rules and the control is especially aimed to save energy, and to improve the cooking cycles and temperature ramps, to reduce temperature fluctuation during cooking operations and to improve the final user safety. The most important advantage of the whole AE is that it enables the use of high power electronic appliances on simple 16A plugs instead of the heavy and rare 32A plugs that exist only in relatively recent constructions. The fuzzy rules allow an easy software customisation of the regulator to be used in the various applications that can be produced by the equipment manufacturer. The fast turnaround time asked by our customers will be eased with such a product where simple reprogramming or new added ports enable us to react to the market demand very quickly. The currently produced EGO thermostat is electromechanical and operates on the liquidexpansion principle. The market share would be increased of 10-15% in 2-3 years. The economic break even for the FUSE budget is estimated in less than 6 months. from start of production EGO expects to reach a cumulated margin differential 7 times the total sustained investment for the industrialisation in three years only of production.. This proves how strategic is for EGO to move towards microelectronics. With this experience we intend to get the basic know-how to open to a range of electronic products applicable to cooking, washing, heating equipment and, to keep our leadership in the market, we intend to promote a wider use of electronic control systems into the white goods industry in order to generally improve control performance, energy saving and safety. Considering the overcoming of the internal barriers to the use of electronics, the improving in the know-how of the company, and the concrete availability of the prototypes to show to the customers, we can consider the AE as a success. The total cost of the AE is 44 kECU and has been completed in 7 months. EGO is operating in the 2971 industrial sector but the results of this Application Experiment might also be interesting for companies in the field of food & beverage (15) and water supply and distribution (40).

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EGO ITALIANA S.p.A.

Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

Keywords and Signature Keywords: Temperature regulator, fuzzy logic, rules, knowledge base, market concentration, conservative management, domestic and cooking appliances, microcontroller Signature: 2-01415601321-2-2971-2-29-I

1. Company name and address E.G.O. ITALIANA SPA Via per Cameri, 10 28100 Novara ITALY Contact Person: Sergio Guzzetti Phone: +39 321 669811 Fax: +39 321 669827 E-Mail [email protected]

2. Company size EGO Italiana S.pA. is the Italian branch of the E.G.O. group, based in Germany, one of the most important component suppliers for the white goods industry world-wide 250 employees work in the plant located in Novara, of which 3 are electronic engineers. Turnover in 1997 was around 30 MEUR Three persons represented the electronic experience inside the company. Two of them came from the silicon process sector and had experience mainly in wafer technology. One of them is the head of the R&D department and the other is the head of the electronics department. The third person is the designer whose only previous electronics experience was the graduation work on analogue design. With these backgrounds, the AE found EGO Italiana SpA as a first user in the microcontroller technology.

3. Company business description EGO Italiana SpA develops, produces and sells electromechanical components for the white goods market, both industrial and domestic. Components are control systems (thermostats, switches…) and heating systems (hotplates, elements stem generators, and grills). The company is especially focused on cooking (components for ovens, hobs, cooktops, fryer) and washing (components for washing machines, dishwashers, sterilises) application. EGO Italiana SpA is certified ISO9001.

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EGO ITALIANA S.p.A.

Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

The manufacturing of the present products is mainly concentrated inside the company and just few subassemblies are subcontracted. The production of electronic boards will be subcontracted to third parties at the beginning. Inside production could be strategic in the future for some products. The products are directly sold to customers who tend to pass from monthly orders to weekly or daily orders considering us as a link of their just-in-time system. EGO Italiana is reacting to these requests by shortening its cycle times. Big efforts are made for service and a team of 3 people is engaged in problem solving for customers when existing or new components by EGO Italiana SpA are intended to be used in new models of appliances. The market is European and the main customers of EGO Italiana are the Italian white good manufacturers as Electrolux-Zanussi, Whirlpool, Merloni Elettrodomestici, Smeg, Nardi, etc. Nevertheless EGO is strongly committed in satisfying the needs of all small customers, typically specialised in niche products, even with strong customisations of existing products. Recently both big and small customers tend to transfer part of their know-how to the component makers, due to the increased complexity of the appliances, thus the component maker is requested to supply technological solutions beyond the components themselves, as in case of the automotive market. The FLTR development was carried out having in mind this general trend.

4. Company markets and competitive position at the start of the AE 4.1 Market description The company delivers to European white goods manufacturer and 90% of production is for the Italian market. The Italian market is constituted by big companies (Electrolux-Zanussi, Whirlpool, Merloni Elettrodomestici, Candy) and smaller companies who cover more than 50% of the European white goods market. The total Italian market of thermostats for white goods is:

Business field

Application

Cooking

Ovens +Cookers + Hobs Washing machines Dishwashers

Washing

Pieces/year (Millions) 4.2 3.8 1.2

EGO share EGO Absolute share (Millions) % 2.2 52 1 -

26 -

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EGO ITALIANA S.p.A.

Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

Heating

Water-heaters Boilers All

Industrial appliances Small appliances

All Total

2.5 2.2 0.4

0.05 0.3

2 75

2

0.15

7.5

16.3

3.7

In each business field the traditional electromechanical thermostat covers today about 95% of the total market; 5 % is covered by electronic temperature regulators. Two considerations are important in order to explain better the EGO Italiana strategy into this market: The first consideration is that electronic devices for control of domestic appliances are presently playing a very important role in the higher performance domain, but the market forecasts from our customers state that electronic devices will have a break-through in the middle level domain where the highest volumes are concentrated. In fact in this market segment a kind of regenerative feedback is expected since both the performance and the availability of electronics have a positive effect on the market itself. The second consideration is that the market of components for white goods is presently distributed among several companies, and they are all living a concentration phase: in some years only three or four companies will survive by growing and having a wider portfolio of products. Considering now the thermostat Italian market, the competitive situation is as follows:

Company EGO IMIT PRODIGY ATEA T&G CAEM COPRECI METALFLEX EMERSON Others Total

Pieces / year (Millions) 3.8 4.6 0.8 0.8 0.5 0.8 0.7 0.8 0.8 3 16.3

Share - % 23 28 5 5 3 5 4 5 5 17 100

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EGO ITALIANA S.p.A.

Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

The average price of our electromechanical thermostat is 17 EUR with about 9% margin. This is certainly convenient with respect to most of our competitors EGO Italiana, being market leader, is one of the candidates to win the concentration match. One of the most important conditions (because of the first consideration) is to be successful in the conversion to electronics. It is worth noticing that the usage of electronics is recent in the white good industrial sectors. Digital electronic programmers are available for more advanced washing machines And dishwashers only since 6 years. Application of electronics in cookers and electric ovens is far behind other industries since up to now electronic solutions more costly than any electromechanical one. ). Few competitors of ours are now able to produce electronic thermostats, but their prices are not at all appealing at the moment, The reason is that the electronic temperature controllers have been realised till now using an analogue approach which turned to be more expensive (30% more than the electromechanical thermostat according to our estimates Moreover it does not offer those flexibility features that are required by the equipment manufacturers and the final users. Being the electronic thermostat market only 5% of the total thermostat market the above consideration is almost independent of the competitors present market share in the electronic field. More important in order to be successful are quality, reliability and costs of the product and mainly the accordance with the customer’s expectations. Therefore, the AE is aimed at improving the competitive position of EGO Italiana in the thermostat for cooking business field. In a second step, thanks to the skills acquired during the AE, the other business fields will be attacked.

0,7 0,6 0,5 0,4 0,3 0,2 0,1 0

8000

kEUR

6000 4000 2000 0

MEUR

The background and the forecasted for the current electromechanical thermostat is shown in the following graph

Sales Margin

1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

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EGO ITALIANA S.p.A.

Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

5. Product or process to be improved and the reasons to innovate The currently produced EGO thermostat is electromechanical and operates based on liquidexpansion. The hydraulic system - also called ‘diastat’ - consist of the sensor, the capillary tube, the diaphragm, and the expansion medium. When the sensor is heated up, the liquid expands through the capillary tube into the diaphragm where a working stroke is produced. The stroke activates a snap-action switch, which opens or closes the electric power supply circuit. Here is a scheme of the electromechanical thermostat:

heating elemen temperature sensor capillary tube

calibration nut spindle

diaphrag m

rock

snapaction main s The present product can be used for regulating the temperature of liquids, gases and solids. •

Temperature ranges:

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EGO ITALIANA S.p.A.

Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

0°C - 40°C heating air, room-heating appliances; 30°C - 110°C heating water, washing, boiling, saunas, heating systems; 100°C -180°Cheating fat/oil fryers; 50°C - 500°C heating air, electric cookers, ovens, heaters. •

Operational characteristics: − − − −

•

the thermostat can drive mono-phase and 3-phase power line in a single-, double-,three-, and four-pole configuration; fixed temperature models; continuous setting of control temperature with spindle models.

Thermostat sensors: − sensors are of different designs and sizes according to requirements of the various applications. Approvals: − EGO Thermostats are VDE and IMQ approved. In addition approval-marks of many other test authorities from other countries are available.

•

Switching performance: − 6A for each contact path at 240V; − voltage and power demand can be tailored to customer request..

The product to be improved is the group of electromechanical thermostats that typically controls a domestic cooker with hotplates. This thermostat has been sold successfully for many years and has been very appreciated from our customers because of its very good reliability (more than 8000 hours mean time to failure [mttf]), but now the company clearly understands that the market has new needs.

• First of all with the current electromechanic thermostat is not possible for the user to have an electronic panel able to monitor the state of the heating plate (whether this is hot or cold) which means a lack of safety. • Moreover none of the more modern cookers manufacturers accepts anymore to produce an equipment which is not provided with a new electronic panel where the user can set cooking parameters and oven temperature through up-down pushbuttons and visualise them on a display. • Another key issue is power saving through a clever sharing among the different cooking appliances so that the consumed power stays below the critical 3 kW threshold.. We wanted to keep the cost advantage of having only a very simple temperature sensor and a control system which does not need to be too much accurate (5% accuracy is fairly adequate).

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EGO ITALIANA S.p.A.

Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

We planned to halve the price of the whole controller for our customers (the cookers manufacturers) while keeping the same unit margin so to greatly increase our market share. and to get a leader position among the components suppliers for the white good industry We understood that all these goals could only be reached making a technology jump and moving to electronics

6. Description of the product or process improvements The temperature regulator, which is the object of the AE, is aimed to control the temperature of a simplified version of the application shown in the figure below. This consists of a single heating plate (1.6kW, 230V) and a multifunction oven (2.4kW, 230V) which can be operated both separately and simultaneously. A Pt100 resistor is used to measure the oven temperature. The most important features of the new component are the following • Very high flexibility of the control obtained thanks to a Proportional Integral (PI) control for the heating plate and oven temperature regulation • Power sharing management using a fuzzy rules set for deciding on the optimum power sharing between the two appliances, with optimisation of power demand, whose limit is set at 2.8kW instead of the nominal 4kW. This feature is very important, as it will allow selling cooking appliances in places where the power plugs do not exist, such as old constructions. This feature by itself will increase the market of the new product that can be safely operated on low power plugs. Using a plate heating model, the user can obtain a control of the heating features of each plate, with a far greater efficiency than the one obtained through the usage of a modular heating approach (switching a on bank of resistors with a rotary switch). Clients look for energy spare and the domestic appliance constructors will impose strict requests in this respect to their component suppliers.

• New digital user interface made up of a very simple keyboard, LCD display, LED, and UP/DOWN pushbuttons. According to the operated function (selected through the keyboard) the display can be used both for visualising the oven/plate set temperature or the cooking programmed time A complete cooking appliance equipped with a single oven and 4 hot plates is shown in the following figure. It has to be said that although the electronic solution and associated firmware have been conceived for a complete equipment, the specific product that we plan to commercialises includes only one or two hot plates; this is due to our customers requests.

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EGO ITALIANA S.p.A.

Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

Fig 1 Block diagram of the cooker

Hotplates

R

R

R

R Oven

G

F

C

O TT

I

P

PP

I/O

s

D

S

Sensor Bus

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EGO ITALIANA S.p.A.

Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

The new product is also very flexible. With a simple reprogramming of the microcontroller and new connections it can be adapted to virtually all future products of the company. This capitalisation capability is among the biggest advantages of the project. The user interface is represented in the figure below User front panel

fig. 2 P: F: TIMER: TEMP: UP: DOWN

HEATING PLATE PUSH-BUTTON (LED1) OVEN PUSH-BUTTON (LED2) TIMER PUSH-BUTTON TEMPERATURE PUSH-BUTTON SELECTED PARAMETERS UP ADJUSTMENT SELECTED PARAMETERS DOWN ADJUSTMENT

The block diagram of the realised electronic control board is shown in fig. 2. As you can see all peripherals (keyboard, displays), push buttons are handled directly by the PIC microcontroller. The only external circuitry is the front-end section of the board, where the measured temperature is acquired and conditioned before it is processed by the micro via an on-board A/D converter. OVEN FUNCTION SELECTOR

POWER RELAYS KEYBOARD

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EGO ITALIANA S.p.A.

Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

fig. 2a

The newly introduced microcontroller technology will allow the following advantages • Size reduction due to miniaturisation of the controller obtained thanks to the introduction of microelectronics • Increased flexibility (Thermal behaviour of the cooker and thermal characteristic parameters are software programmable according to the specification of the cooker manufacturer). • User friendly interface which allows the final user (professional cook or housewife) to change the cooking temperature or time very easily • Maintained reliability with respect to the old product thanks to the unique board and the controller/ power separation

• All these improvements are obviously transferred onto the cost which according to our estimates should be about 60% lower. It should in any case stressed again that the real added value of this innovation for EGO stems from the introduction into the electronic world which is considered strategic for the company to keep its leadership in the market.

7.

Choices and rationale for the technologies, tools and methodologies

EGO Italiana is new to use electronics in its marketed products and we think that the development of the fuzzy microcontroller is a smooth start, but that already means a very high improvement of the performance and safety of its products. The market already offers examples of reliable fuzzy logic temperature controllers, although for applications other than white goods, (e.g. Omron) and therefore the risk of this AE should not be too high. Size reduction is an important requirement since the controller should fit in the cooker front panel The choice for a digital controller based on microcontroller implementation was suggested by both the TTN and the Design assistance subcontractor. After a thorough discussion it was clear also for EGO that traditional analogue control needed a very accurate model of the controlled system and this is not easy to implement for thermal equipment like oven and heating plates. Analogue techniques are very critical when dealing with non linear feedback. Moreover, those controls cannot be made easily customisable by the white goods maker. Digital control systems, using traditional microprocessor, require a deep knowledge of the physical phenomena that are part of the process in order to be able to express them by well defined algorithms. This approach can be successfully used only in the case of PID Page: 12

EGO ITALIANA S.p.A.

Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

(Proportional Integrative Derivative)controllers, or at least, with very simple non linear systems. Energy saving and safety control are the key features of the new FLTR and fuzzy logic has been considered very robust from this point of view. An important characteristic of fuzzy controllers is their fast control recovery in case of a strong variation of the external parameters affecting the system. ‘Safe if fail’ algorithms was widely used in order to control every possible dangerous situation both for the final user and the control system itself. Other more advanced technologies like FPGA or digital ASIC were discarded for the following reasons:

• FPGA cost something more (at least 25%) are less flexible, require more hardware skill, and are justified neither for speed nor for complexity requirements • Digital ASIC cost a lot more in the development phase, require a lot of design skill and capability in using advanced CAD tools. Moreover is a very risky and stiff technology where errors cannot be corrected and most of NRE (Not Recurrent Engineering) costs should be paid again in case of failure in the first development. On the other the final cost of an ASIC component in large quantities is the lowest available, therefore we would reconsider this possibility in the future, once we have gained deeper knowledge and confidence with the electronic technologies, for further lowering our costs and gaining a further market share. The methodology followed in developing the software for the PIC microcontroller was based on an high level approach: 1. a block diagram behavioural representation of the control is produced, using the high level Simu-Link language which allows to describes the behavioural equations of each block. 2. the block diagram can be easily simulated for different initial conditions so providing a first level verification of the exploited algorithms and the set of rules. 3. from the Simu-Link description through the Microchip Fuzzy-Tech software the assembler can be easily produced for both the emulator (PICMASTER) and the microcontroller. Testing was carried out using the MPLAB simulator for a for a first level code assessment and than directly on the target board with a logic state analyser

8. Expertise and experience in microelectronics experience of the company and the staff allocated to the project The company has expertise in electromechanical technologies and no experience in electronics. EGO is developing electromechanical thermostats since 1977 and has a good experience in power handling, dealing with relays, power resistors transformers and rotary. Two persons were involved in the project at the beginning

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EGO ITALIANA S.p.A.

Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

• A senior electronic engineer with 3 years experience was assigned the project manager •

task A young engineer will play the role of designer and will be trained and assisted by the subcontractor.

The head of the electronic department also kept an eye on the project and the hiring of one more technician was hired during the project progress

9. Work-plan and rationale The timing diagram of the project development is reported below ( May 97

June 97

July 97

Aug 97

Sept 97

Oct 97

nov-97

Management & diss. Specificat. & training Design Prototyping Testing

Original Workplan Implemented Workplan

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EGO ITALIANA S.p.A.

Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

Work-plan WP1 (Specification & Training) Concluded within the end of July (also the general training on Fuzzy logic) First User Subcontractor1: • Deliverable

Definition of the requirements for the new component Train the EGO staff Complete Specification document including: • Functional Specifications • Hardware definition • Software definition • EMC and reliability definition

WP2 (Design)

Concluded within the first week of October

First User: Participate in the development of the schematics and the software development through on job training Subcontractor1: Develop the schematics of the PCB, develop the microcontroller software, give on job training to the first user •

Deliverable

Complete Hardware and Software project including: • Interfaces, sensors, actuator choice • Hardware project • Software project • Software debug • Training on Fuzzy Logic

WP3 (Prototyping)

Concluded within the third week of October

First User: Give the main rules for the PCB master Subcontractor2: Develop the PCB master and manufacture the prototype •

Deliverable

Assembling of the system including: • Prototype board • Hw/Sw review • PCB prototype development • Prototyping

WP4 (debug and testing)

Concluded within the end of October

First User: Develop the testing procedure for the final PCB Subcontractor1: Assist in testing and debug phase •

Deliverable

Final verification including: • Functional and electric testing • Variations identification Page: 15

EGO ITALIANA S.p.A.

Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

• EMC and reliability testing WP5(Project Management and Dissemination) Concluded within the end of November First User: Carry out the management of the project, including project progress control, reporting and preparation of the dissemination material •

Deliverable

Dissemination document including: • Flyer document

• Demonstrator document

The work-plan is in agreement with the original one attached to the proposal (only the timing diagram is different due the delayed start). Due to the delay in funds commitment for the last phase of FUSE and to some problems in defining the target market for the new product the design team was set up only at the end of May. This delayed the spec definition which ought to be delivered at the end of May. The first draft of the specifications was delivered at the end of June with about 1 month of delay The extension of the development of the specification definition did not result as a plain waste of time since some activity was also performed in the same period on the definition of the electric schematic for the signal conditioning part During the first audit with the TTN, a time schedule revision was undertaken on 10/07/97. According to this new planning the activities to be performed after 15/6/97 were rescheduled and the milestones for the deliverables were changed according to the following program. A training, planned in the original proposal, on the fuzzy processor WARP was not attended for 2 reasons 1. A different micro (PIC) was selected for the development since the WARP manufacturer did not assure a sufficient support 2. No suitable training course was made available from the WARP manufacturer In the audit held in EGO on 15/09/97 it was decided to ask EC for a contract extension up to the end of November. The delay (about one month) was due to both technical and organisational reasons. • As a first reason we had to cope with the non availability of an emulator board for the targeted micro (WARP) and were forced to choose a general purpose solution which for economical and technical considerations was a PIC microcontroller by Microchip. This allowed also the best exploitation of the training offer from Politecnico of Milano since they had a lot of experience with this micro. • The second reason was the impossibility of EGO technical staff (Dr. Guzzetti and Dr. Viglione) to fully commit to the FLTR development. The need to perform also the more traditional and day-by-day work (which for a company like EGO is mainly mechanic or electromechanical) has caused slight delays, in the most important phases of the project execution. Page: 16

EGO ITALIANA S.p.A.

•

•

Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

The delay was contained thanks to the effort of the design assistance subcontractor who gave a strong help even beyond the subcontract conditions. Also the fact that the company added some resources during the last development phases helped in reducing the delay in the design phase conclusion. There were unforeseen delays with the final prototypes provided by the subcontractor. These delays were more to do with subcontractor internal issues than the time estimated.

The design work was partially subcontracted. The main effort of the company was spent in the design and testing phases, where a strong on job training was requested from the subcontractor. A young engineer was detached from the EGO plant and worked at the DAS premises under its direct supervision A 4 days tutorial was offered at EGO personnel (3 persons) on the basic issues of designing with microprocessors and later another 2 days course regarded the basic of fuzzy logic theory and design. A table of the cost and effort sustained by the company and its subcontractor is reported below

Task Management Specifications & training Design Fabrication & Assembly Testing Total

EGO Effort Persons/days) Planned Real 10 22

21 30

60 10 20 122

DAS Cost*(kEUR) Planned Real]

2

2

82 15

9

9

35 183

1 12

1 12

FS** Cost*(kEUR Planned Real]

6

6

6

6

*DAS:Subcontractor1 (Design Assistance Subcontractor) ** FS: Subcontractor2 (Fabrication Subcontractor)

The effort of the FU was even higher than expected since tour company wanted to acquire enough know-how to be able to deal with future projects almost independently. Therefore the EGO staff involvment in the software development and debug was higher than planned at the beginning. The weight given to the project management procedures was also increased as far as the project proceeded and this was reflected in the corresponding effort.

10.

Subcontractors information 10.1

Subcontractor1: Design Assistance

The selection of the subcontractor for assisting EGO during the AE development was made following the criteria listed below:

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EGO ITALIANA S.p.A.

• •

Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

Deep knowledge of electronic design, both hardware and software Good attitude in understanding project management rules and transmitting them to EGO Capability in offering training in both lecturing and on the job forms Good understanding of industrial problems including organisational one Some previous specific knowledge on the application and the product to be developed

• • •

Especially the last requirement was very hard to be satisfied, but we believed it really essential because the subcontractor had to understand thoroughly the system in which the microcontroller had to be embedded. Luckily at the end we were able to find a subcontractor who could satisfy all our requests and we obtained his assistance for: -

-

-

Choice of the most suitable microcontroller according to the defined specifications (input/output needs and requested interface features) Control board hardware design that means: microcontroller signal conditioning (amplification and filtering of the sensor output), output interface with the power delay drivers (SIPO shift registers and latches). Design verification using the electrical simulator Spice Design and realisation of prototype PCB where the different features could be tested and the performance measured. High level verification of the fuzzy control laws, using advanced simulation tools like Matlab e Simulink. Training on microcontroller software programming with experts in developing assembler programs in well-equipped labs. Development and debug of the fuzzy algorithms first on the emulator and in a second time on the prototype PCB with the possibility of a real time adjustment and correction of the software directly on the in system micro. Co-operation in the final verification phase and trimming of the control algorithms once the prototype board is assembled in the final target product.

In all these development steps we found the Design Assistance subcontractor quite skilled and his co-operation with EGO was considered very fruitful. We can recommend this design team for offering assistance to all companies who want to deal with a micro design for the first time 10.2

Subcontractor2: Fabrication subcontractor

We looked for a subcontractor able to provide us with the following services • • • • •

Assistance to EGO for the best engineering of the controller PCB (including the power part) Master of layout; placement and routing Process 5 prototypes Assembly of the electronic components Volume production (When required) Page: 18

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Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

Indeed the last requirement was not so tight because production would have been decided at a later stage, but according to Ego and its Design Assistance Subcontractor it would have been convenient for saving time if the production were carried out by the same company which had dealt with prototyping. In fact all testing procedure and tools could have been set up once for all at the prototyping phase. At the end we selected as subcontractor a large PCB manufacturer with a good experience in both developing well engineered prototypes and in dealing with production and assembly of boards in high volume. 10.3 Contractual Issues

The usual procedures was used • An offer was requested and negotiated with the subcontractor • An order was issued where the specification list was taken as an annex • Payments where associated to the availability of the corresponding deliverables 11. Barriers perceived by the company in the first use of the AE technology EGO Italiana strongly wants to go to electronics for the reasons described above, but the strategic decision has to face cultural, technology and other barriers anyway. This because of the way of thinking of electromechanical engineers who want the electronic products to be developed with an electromechanical approach!. Knowledge barriers: The lack of experience determined the first problems. The technology choices have been very hard to make and it took a long time to understand if to face the problem from an analogue or digital point of view. The fuzzy approach was decided after months of difficult investigations. The subcontractors’ choice was difficult too, because it is hard to find a subcontractor who can understand the industrial point of view and teach him how to define precise specification for an electronic product. Cultural and inertia barriers: EGO Italiana has a big expertise in electromechanical technologies but no experience in electronic technologies. EGO Italiana, being ISO9001 certified, has an internal procedure for product development (addressed to its electromechanical products), but we found difficulties in adapting the same procedure to an electronic product. The main problems in this sense have been: • choice of supplier: The EGO purchase office is used to deal with mechanic component maker who typically work on specific drawings. and found difficulty is to get in touch with electronic components supplier (they typically pass through distributors) and to discuss with them about prices versus volumes or about delivery times. We had a superficial knowledge of the

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EGO ITALIANA S.p.A.

•

•

Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

development cycle for an electronic product, but a very different thing is to work on it and we found many difficulties in following a formal project management especially during the software development. We faced also the problem that it is difficult for a mechanic company to let an engineer to deal only with electronic design problems. So we had frequent interrupts because ‘an engineer is always a high salary employee and we cannot waste his time in dealing with only one kind of problems’. Very critical was also the problem that the knowledge of the proper values of important parameters belonged to old experienced electromechanical design engineers who are not very willing to share their experience with the young engineers of the electronic design group.

Technology barriers: A very accurate model is needed to control the system and this is not easy to make and to implement. Typically the ovens makers do not consider the thermodynamic model of their products and so no theoretical approach was available. A big effort was spent in modelling the thermal behaviour of the heating plate that constitutes the basis for the operation of the electronic control system. Related to the problem above, the state space is difficult to be identified. The selection of the suitable micro was also a big problem for EGO since they had no acquaintance with the micro jargon and at the beginning they do not even understand the main differences between a traditional and a fuzzy approach. This lack of experience made EGO too much confident in the ST promises with the consequence of the troubles mentioned above Financial barriers: The main financial barrier is the very high cost to build up and to maintain an electronic design team who is considered only as a cost until the new regulator will be produced and sold by the commercial department.

12. Steps taken to overcome barriers and arrive at an improved product. Knowledge barriers: Our experience is that the only way to overcome the knowledge barriers is practice. The AE has been a good opportunity to make (or to be forced to make) practice. Cultural and inertia barriers: The market already offered examples of reliable fuzzy logic temperature and this gave confidence in trying a new development. A systematic training was offered by the Design Assistance subcontractor to give a complete view of the organisation of the electronic design. The engineers involved in the AE worked very closely with the subcontractor for engineering and fabrication and this has improved very much our ability to have relations with the component suppliers. The purchasing department people will greatly gain from their experience. Page: 20

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A very tight control by the TTN also assured project management training along the development of the AE. The acquired skills about project management will be used to update the ISO9001 procedure for product development. The EGO design engineer has often worked at the Design Assistance subcontractor premises where he could not be interrupted. The result we are having from the AE is to persuade people that when an engineer deal with only one problem the probability to get good results rises up. Two technicians have been hired to help the design engineer in the most simple task and to assure continuity to the day by day work. The experienced electromechanical engineers have been forced to work with the electronic design group by the management. The use of Fuzzy logic helped a lot by allowing an easy conversion of their experience into the fuzzy rules. The good results obtained from the AE will make the rest. Technology barriers: It was chosen a Design Assistance subcontractor with an established experience in designing and training on fuzzy logic for industrial process control. On job training was the right answer making one of the company engineer to be deeply involved in the design task together with the Design Assistance subcontractor. The experience of the Design Assistance subcontractor is such to suggest us how to define the fuzzy set of rules and make the right choice for the target micro. The alternative choice of the PIC was the consequence of the early perception of the will from ST not to support WARP which allowed to contain the delay in the whole software development and debug process. Financial barriers: Without this new electronic shift the EGO market share could decrease because of the above discussed reasons. This situation forced the EGO Italiana management to invest and to continue to invest into the electronic department. The whole company evolution will benefit from the expected market results of the new product.

13.

Knowledge and experience acquired.

A very effective training was offered to EGO by the DAS technical staff. Short courses were given on the following topics: ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Design criteria and development flow for an embedded application Criteria for the choice of the microprocessor Fuzzy logic and set of rules definition Software implementation of fuzzy algorithm

With this courses and the continuous on job training during all phases of the Application Experiment we gained experience with fuzzy logic fundamentals, fuzzy logic possible applications, fuzzy processor programming and fuzzy control system developing. Other experiences acquired concern the components choices an the boards layout definition. Page: 21

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Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

The acquired skill during the product development will constitute the basic know how for developing fuzzy control systems dedicated to other applications in the white good field such as washing machines, dishwashers and catering systems. We have learned how to define functional and electrical specifications of the electronic systems. Some basic notions on microcontroller architecture, general features of the PIC family, fuzzy logic fundamentals were transferred by the Politecnico di Milano University subcontractor. We have learned how to define the hardware interface and how to implement the fuzzy algorithm using the internal architecture and the microcontroller software. Then we have learned how to define the state space and the set of rules for the specific design problem. We have used and learned a dedicated emulator for the PIC microcontroller. Most important we learned the electronic language and are now aware of the main problems you have to face when dealing with this technology for the first time.

We can say that our major goals have been reached : - Acquire knowledge on designing with embedded systems in our specific sector - Understand how to set the specification for a digitally controlled thermostat - Develop testing and debug procedures for the whole electronic thermostat Besides the reached increment in technical capability we can say that we are now much more aware of the importance 14.

Lesson learned.

The lessons learned during the AE are related to both technical and managerial matter. Follows a list of the most important: • During the planning of the development of products using new technologies, it is necessary to reserve sufficient men-hours for understanding implications about component costs and supply and about their use. During the introduction of a new technique an expert in that field should guide the process. • It is necessary to keep a tight control on the project management especially when software development is a central issue. We underestimated this aspect during the first work-plan definition. • It is very important to consider more alternatives from the beginning both in the design methodology (micro selection) and in the fabrication choice. • People involved in an ambitious project should work full time on it. This helps to speed up the project and get people more committed to it. • CAD systems require sufficient men hours to be used properly by engineers. So, when new CAD system are requested in a project the training should be done before (or from) the beginning. • The fuzzy logic is very efficient for implementing both the control model and the calibration adjustments to fit with the real application.

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• •

•

Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

The software engineering is fundamental for the cost definition. In fact a good optimisation of routines allow the use of cheaper microcontrollers. White good market is a very competitive one. Projects should be managed by having the cost as a fundamental boundary condition; design choices and circuit solutions has to be derived from these conditions (the choice to use shift registers obeys to this project approach). The fuzzy logic allow the electronic engineers to implement the know-how of the company into the control system without forcing the old experienced technicians to be deeply involved into the project.

15. Resulting product or process, its industrialisation and internal replication The industrialisation of the FLTR has to be preceded by some preliminary steps: • • •

software full testing; reliability testing of the full system (HW/SW) in terms of Failure mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA); certifications: EMC and EMI certification (CE mark), IMQ-VDE – UL certification for safety.

The steps have been completed before the end of May 1998. They required many manhours because of the software assessment in all real conditions and a long time for the certifications. The certifications have been performed by ‘Prima srl’ for the EMC and EMI and ‘IMQ’ (One of the most important Italian institute for quality assessment) for the safety. The industrialisation has been carried out in co-operation with the subcontractor for fabrication who made the prototypes with automatic production lines SMT. This selection was based on the fact that this subcontractor has an already defined production flow with special software for pick & place machines and customised temperature cycles for the soldering ovens. As a consequence all the industrialisation phases were speeded up. Nevertheless, as already agreed with the subcontractor, at the end of the industrialisation, EGO will be the only owner of all the software for the machines set-up. Therefore, in case of better offers from other board makers having compatible machines, the software could be forwarded to them. The EGO products are fully custom thus the industrialization phases typically involves the complete manufacturing of a dedicated assembly: • definition of the position of the human interface I/O devices (buttons, displays, LEDS, …) with the customer, • PCB design as a consequence of the previous point; • adjustments in the software for machines set-up; • production start-up. It should be noticed that at the end of 1Q 1999 all tests (functional, electrical, reliability and EMC) have been successfully concluded and the new electronic thermostat has been included in the EGO products portfolio, and is now available to a wide range of customers Page: 23

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About 34 kEUR more were spent for the industralisation phase (9 subcontracted). First Sales are foreseen in 3Q1999 • • • •

Adjusting the firmware to the specific customer (10 person/days) Further reliability check (25 person/days, 8 kEUR investments) Electric and functional testing (10 person/days) Preseries production (9 kEUR subcontracted)

The acquired technology will be exploited in the next future in different product updates of the EGO production line. Some examples are: a) Thermostats for washing machines that will constitute replaced by electronic control systems for the same application: WMECS; b) Thermostats for dishwasher that will constitute replaced by electronic control systems for the same application: DWECS; c) Switches for ovens that will constitute replaced by function encoders with electronic timer: TIMERS; d) Thermostats for ovens and hotplates that will constitute replaced by control system like the one designed in the AE: FLTR.

16.

Improvements in the competitive position

The new technology and introduced features allow EGO to offer cost effective (25% cheaper than competitors at the best of our knowledge) customised components to the white good industry. The cooking equipment manufacturers who will choose EGO as their supplier will be able to provide their final customers with appliances which can compete, thanks to a very good cost performance ratio, with the most advanced solutions available on the market. With the introduction into the market of a fuzzy logic regulator, that is not yet used by ovens producers, a market share increase of 10-15% in 2-3 years seems reasonable to be reached in the higher performance cooking equipment. Nevertheless, the improvement in the competitive position is more visible by analysing the whole marketing strategy of the company. As already said in the chapter 6, two main considerations are important in order to better explain the EGO Italiana strategy into this market. 1. The market opportunities are moving from the high end equipment toward the medium performance applications. 2. The concentration trend will impose new market penetration strategies in which the technological innovation will play the dominant role. EGO Italiana, being market leader, is one of the candidates to win the concentration match. One of the most important condition (because of the first consideration) is to be successful in the conversion to electronics. The business plan for the FLTR states that, in order to increase the quantity of sold thermostats, the electromechanical thermostat must be partially replaced by the new one.

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In the business plan the present product represents 43% of the total production of thermostats made by EGO Italiana, which is the part used in ovens with electric cook-tops by our customers. It is assumed that the new FLTR will be sold in a configuration in which five standard electromechanical thermostats are replaced by one electronic device. In case of other configurations the economical considerations do not change. The market evolution after the AE is: Year

Margin with current product only [MEUR]

Margin of Current +New product sales [MEUR] 1999 2000 2001

0,638 0,952 1,433

0,53 0,51 0,48

Difference [MEUR] 0,108 0,442 0,953

The profit margin for the current product and the FLTR are compared in the following graph 1,6 1,4 1,2

Margin with the Current Product only [MEUR]

1 0,8

Margin with both the New and the Current Product [MEUR]

0,6 0,4 0,2 0 1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

The present product is a mature one, so selling price and unit margin are not expected to vary during the next years. The FLTR is introduced into the market at a price that will decrease with time because of market competition; its unit margin is expected to increase anyway because of the efficiency improvement for both components acquisition and production productivity (both affected by scale factors). The turnover of the sold FLTR is foreseen to be equal to the number of the presently sold electromechanical thermostats to 2000 year. The conversion to electronics of the other products in the EGO’s portfolio, in order to reach the goal of remaining a market leader in a more concentrated situation, imposes to add new features to the existing products (as it happened with the product developed in the AE). a) Thermostats for washing machines will be replaced by electronic control systems for the same application: WMECS

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b) Thermostats for dishwasher will be replaced by electronic control systems for the same application: DWECS c) Switches for ovens will be replaced by function encoders with electronic timer: TIMERS d) Thermostats for ovens and hotplates will be replaced by control system like the one designed in the AE: FLTR It is possible to give marketing figures, in terms of pieces and turnover, by virtue of the view given by the main customers as Electrolux, Whirpool and Merloni. General agreements have been reached with them being E.G.O. market leader for electromechanical products and so giving them enough guarantee for a positive conversion to electronics.

The company turnover, split into the electronic business and the standard electromechanical business has, as a consequence, the following trend:

E.G.O. Italiana total turnover 60 50 40 MECU 30 20 10 0 1998

1999

2000

2001

Years Tot. Electronics

Tot. El. Mech.

Total

The payback period can be easily determined on the basis of the table above. Considering a global investment for the industrialisation (including the FUSE budget) of 90 KECU, the investment will be paid back in the year 1999. If this cannot be considered a very best performance, the real added value of the AE is to start with the electronics and this goal is on the way to be reached. The total cumulated profit in three years life-time is estimated 1.5.MECU. Considering that the company expects to spend in the next two years further 100 kECU (certification, engineering of the new panel board, setting up mass production, advertisement, training of sales forces, market analysis), the estimated Return of Investments (ROI) is still very high more than 700%!

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17.

Demonstrator document for FUSE project: AE 24792

Added value to the portfolio and target audience

Summary of Best Practice

The peculiar best practice of this AE mainly concern the following points: On the technical side: ♦ The fuzzy approach for the control of the power sharing ♦ The use of the Simulink tool and the Fuzzytech routines of the PIC microcontroller On the managerial side ♦ The very tight control of the workplan ♦ The resource allocation and the choice of the place where most of the work has been carried out (At the subcontractor’s premises) On the economic side ♦ The internal replication (in the washing machine product line) ♦ The outstanding value of the ROI The target audience should be all the companies involved in the white goods fabrication and in all other industrial business fields. The dissemination should be done for the industries dealing with components for white goods starting from one year from now. The information that can be given during the dissemination are all the produced in this document except the schematics, the control model and the software. We think in any case that we can persuade the companies of our industrial field (white good component suppliers) that the electronic technology innovation can be managed with the proper support and management effort. We strongly believe that the diffusion of an electronic culture among our competitors will at the end create new market opportunities for the company since also our possible customers will become more aware of the new facilities that can introduced into their equipment thanks to the new available technology. The fact that EGO has started its way through the innovation path a year in advance and its firm commitment in proceeding along the same route by possibly introducing more advanced electronic features (like ASIC and microsensors) will assure the company to lead the technology race in a mid-term range. Fuzzy temperature controllers might also be interesting in different industrial sectors some possible examples are: Ø The irrigation and water treatment (PRODCOM: 01, 29, 40) field where an energy saving requirement is also present Ø The plants growing and greenhouses field (PRODCOM: 01, 02) where the temperature should be controlled according to very strict and different rules and a fast recovery from possible black-out is a must.

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Ø The fuzzy technology can be also effectively used for the food and beverage (PRODCOM: 15) industrial control where the actions should be decided on the base of the measures of a lot of sensors. In any case EGO agrees to participate in the future dissemination and training actions of the TTN for persuading other First users to use microelectronics and particularly the fuzzy controller approach. As a prove of its very open dissemination attitude EGO has already participated in three training and information events organised by the COREP TTN.

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