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EL Highlights Aug 2014

EL Highlights August 2014                                   Return to Highlight page

 

Programmatic/Technical Accomplishment

 

NIST assists DOE to Update Test for Water Heaters 

Since the 1970's, U.S. consumers have benefited from the familiar yellow EnergyGuide label, which displays the energy efficiency and estimated annual energy cost of various appliances. The information that these labels provide to consumers is based on the Department of Energy's (DOE's) test procedures, many of which were developed with the technical guidance of NIST staff. Recently, NIST worked with DOE and Navigant Consulting to update the test procedure used to rate residential water heaters, the second largest energy consumer in the average U.S. home. The previous test procedure involved a 24-hour, simulated-use test in which hot water was removed from the water heater six times over the course of the day to mimic usage in a home.While this test method served the industry well for over 25 years, recent advances in water heating have introduced new products such as instantaneous, heat pump, gas condensing, and point-of-use water heaters, which necessitated a change in the test method to fairly rate their efficiencies.The water heater test is still a 24-hourtest, but a major change now requires testing them differently depending upon their delivery capacity.A water heater meant for a large household is now subject to a water usage pattern during the test that is different from one meant for a small household.Additionally, the draw patterns are meant to better mimic usage in typical homes, where usage tends to appear in three clusters (morning, dinnertime, and bedtime) and the delivery temperature has been observed to be lower than that specified in the previous test.These steps are expected to provide more accurate information to consumers to help them in choosing a cost-effective water heater that meets their needs.In developing the technical basis for the new test method, NIST conducted nearly1000 tests on a variety of water heaters to better understand the effectiveness of the new test approach.The pre-publication final rule is now available at the DOE website:http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance_standards/product.aspx/….

Contact:William Healy (x4922)

PML and EL coauthors receive best paper award at the Computers and Information in Engineering Conference

Dr. Craig Shakarji (PML) and Dr. Vijay Srinivasan (EL) won a best paper award at the August 2014 Computers & Information in Engineering Conference in Buffalo, NY. The paper was titled, "An improved L1 based algorithm for standardized planar datum establishment". This paper is now being used as the basis for a new and superior means of defining planar datums in both ASME and ISO standards revisions that will affect millions of engineering drawings worldwide.

Contact: Vijay Srinivasan, x3508

EL's Witherell to Receive 2014ASME/CIE Young Engineer's Award

Dr. Paul Witherell of the Engineering Laboratory's Systems Integration Division, will receive the 2014 Young Engineer Award presented by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Computers and Information in Engineering (ASME/CIE) Division. The Young Engineer Award recognizes a promising young investigator who is making outstanding contributions to progress in the application of computers to engineering.The Award is recognition by Dr. Witherell's peers of his professional ability and potential to make significant contributions to the discipline of computers and information in engineering in the future. The award was presented to Dr. Witherell during the IDETC/CIE 2014 Conference in Buffalo, NY August 17-20 2014.

Founded in1880, ASME is a not-for-profit professional organization promoting the art, science and practice of mechanical and multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences. ASME develops codes and standards that enhance public safety, and provides lifelong learning and technical exchange opportunities benefiting the global engineering and technology community. ASME has over 130,000 members drawing from over 150 countries.The Computers and Information in Engineering Division is a forum within ASME for understanding the application of emerging technologies that impact critical engineering issues of representation, product design, and product development.

Contact: Kevin Lyons, x6550 and VijaySrinivasan, x3508

EL Champions Proposed ASTM Standardfor Sustainable Manufacturing

In their August 2014 eNews, ASTM International highlighted the ongoing work in its E60Committee developing sustainable manufacturing standards.The proposed series of standards will inform manufacturers how they can incorporate sustainability into their daily operations. NIST's Paul Witherell leads one such standardization effort,WK35702, which is developing the"Guide for Evaluation of Environmental Aspects of Sustainability of Manufacturing Processes."When completed, WK35702 will help identify opportunities in operations planning, provide guidelines for collecting data and give insight into how to calculate metrics on which informed decisions can be made.Once approved, the primary users of the standard will be small- and medium-sized enterprises looking to implement more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices into their production line.

Contact: Paul Witherell, x3385

NIST Leads Successful Cyber-PhysicalSystems Public Working Group Workshop

The NIST Engineering Laboratory, together with the Information Technology Laboratory and Physical Measurement Laboratory, hosted and led the first face-to-face workshop of the NIST Cyber-Physical Systems Public Working Group (NIST CPS PWG) on August 11-12, 2014 in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The NIST CPS PWG is bringing together experts to help define and shape key aspects of CPS to accelerate its development and implementation within multiple sectors of our economy. Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) are smart systems, in which essential properties and functionalities emerge from the networked interaction of cyber technologies—both hardware and software— co-engineered with physical systems. After a virtual launch of the CPS PWG on June 30, 2014 via a NIST kick off webinar, NIST initiated virtual meetings starting in July 2014 of the four initial NIST CPS PWG sub-groups: Reference Architecture, Use Cases, Cybersecurity and Timing.Approximately150 participants at the August 11-12 face-to-face workshop worked together to organize activities and develop detailed plans including scope and schedules to produce "Framework Elements" contributions to a planned integrated Frame work for CPS. A webcast of the plenary sessions is available online at http://www.nist.gov/cps/cyber-physical-systems-public-working-group-web… addition to plenary and subgroup presentations, the group heard a proposal to add a fifth subgroup on Data Interoperability to the CPS PWG, and with positive response, this subgroup was launched by NIST on September 2, 2014. Each of the subgroups has co-chairs from industry and academia in addition to a NIST co-chair. Additional information on the NIST CPS PWG is available online at http://www.nist.gov/cps/cpspwg.cfm and www.cpspwg.org.

Contact: David Wollman, (301) 975-2433, NIST CPSPWG subgroup co-chairs: Abdella Battou, Victoria Pillitteri, Eric Simmon (ITL),Marc Weiss (PML) and Marty Burns (EL)

Created October 15, 2014, Updated August 25, 2016