Appliance Design - February 2009 - (Page 10)

NEWS WATCh year of between 3.3 billion kronor and 3.9 billion kronor ($411 million-$486 million). The company expects to save 1.1 billion kronor ($137 million) a year from the layoffs. It plans to move production to low-cost countries, which will further reduce its number of employees. a Digital Copy version claimed they were interested in purchasing other titles published with this feature. In addition, 27 percent of interested consumers said they would be more inclined to buy a portable device, in order to take advantage of the Digital Copy feature. SMART hOME PLATFORM. LG REALIGNS BUSINESS. Korea-based LG Electronics has reorganized and realigned its four traditional business units into five business units. The units are Mobile Communications, Home Entertainment, Home Appliance, Air Conditioning, and Business Solutions. The Home Entertainment Company will focus on technology related to televisions, PDP modules, and audiovideo products. The Home Appliance Company will focus on refrigerators, clothes washing machines, kitchenware, and other domestic appliances. LG’s air conditioning operation will be spun-off from the company’s current domestic appliance business to focus exclusively on commercial and residential conditioning, home network (HomeNet) business, and building management systems (BMS). The Mobile Communications Company, the lone remaining traditional unit, will continue in its present form. LG also appointed or promoted 48 new executives. honda’s MCHP Deluxe. ChP hOME EDITION. COPY FEATURE POPULAR. U.S. consumers who purchased a video on DVD or Blu-ray Disc (BD) are enthusiastic about Digital Copy, a new feature on many new video releases, according to research by the NPD Group, Port Washington, N.Y., a market research firm. The video can be played on a DVD or BD player, and the Digital Copy feature provides owners with a legal digital duplicate of the content. According to NPD, more than half of DVD or BD buyers have watched a full-length TV show or movie on a portable device. One-third of DVD or BD buyers who view movies or TV shows on a portable device expressed interest in buying a physical disc with Digital Copy. More than 80 percent of consumers who have already purchased American Honda Motor, Boston, introduced a “micro-sized” Combined Heat and Power (MCHP) Deluxe cogeneration unit. The deluxe units will only be sold in the U.S. and will be marketed by Honda’s Power Equipment Division based in Alpharetta, Ga. The Honda MCHP is a heat transfer and power generation device that provides home heating or water heating as well as electrical power. The new MCHP Deluxe unit produces 3.26 kW of heat and a maximum of 1.8 kW of electric power, an improvement over Honda’s standard MCHP system that produced a maximum of 1.2 kW of power. The new Deluxe system incorporates a battery-back up, which includes a nickelmetal-hydride battery and a standby generator that can provide electricity in the event of a power failure. The Honda MCHP Deluxe module can be paired with the Freewatt furnace system from ECR International, Utica, N.Y., a provider of hydronic and forced air-products. Nokia is developing a smart home platform, called the Nokia Home Control Center, as the basis for next generation security, smart home solution, and household energy management systems. The Norway-based company expects to make the product commercially available by the end of 2009. The platform allows third parties to integrate their smart-home products. The Control Center is now available in the Z-Wave wireless system from Zensys, Fremont, Calif., which is in use is more than 300 home products. The Z-Wave-enabled Nokia Home Control Center allows users to monitor and control home applications and lighting, HVAC/R, monitoring and reduction of electricity, gas, water consumption, and CO2 emissions, home security and safety monitoring, and health and wellbeing monitoring. Smart home solutions such as these have a lot of potential, according to a market study that Nokia conducted on its Web site. The survey sought to quantify the smart home market potential, and found that two-thirds were somewhat or very interested in smart-home solutions for security, energy savings, and smart appliances. Energy savings was the most often cited smart home solution, but when cost was factored in, those surveyed were more willing to pay for security applications. Nokia also announced a partnership with RWE, one of Europe’s largest energy companies. The partnership aims at developing a comprehensive solution for managing energy consumption and smart appliances. Initially, the focus will be on home heating management system that will consist of a central control unit and remote-controlled thermostats. The user interface will be a PC and mobile phone. A separate display will be available. RESIDENTIAL CE STANDARD. The Consumer Electronics Association and the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association (CEDIA) have launched a new standards com- 10 applianceDESIGN February 2009 www.applianceDESIGN.com http://www.appliancedesign.com

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Appliance Design - February 2009 Contents Editorial Shipments/Forecasts News Watch Force-Sensing Technology Offers Designers an Alternative Approach to Creating Touch-Control Interfaces A Flammable Vapor Sensing Technology that was Originally Developed for use in Water Heaters has Evolved for use in a Broader Array of Applications Latches, Hinges, and Slides Must Reliably Secure Parts Together, Sometimes for Hundreds of Thousands of Cycles. Beyond their Utilitarian Functions, They Can Also Change Consumer Perceptions Elastomeric Electrical Connectors Can Solve Space Constraint Problems in Electronic Products and Provide Some Cost Advantages as Well A Multi-Layer Ceramic Capacitor with a Novel Electrode Design Can Suppress Electromagnetic Interference, Improve Circuit Performance, and Reduce the Number of Needed Components Design Marts Association Report: AHRI Advertisers’ Index

Appliance Design - February 2009

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