Page 41 - Green Builder January 2017 Issue

A Proving Ground for New Ideas

Emerson’s new innovation center takes a collaborative
approach to product development.

BY JULIET GRABLE CREDIT: EMERSON

E MERSON’S COMMERCIAL & RESIDENTIAL BUSINESS PLATFORM Big vision. A LEED-certified facility, the Helix Innovation Center
focuses on home comfort and food safety. Building pros are likely will host researchers from all over the world as they collaborate on
familiar with many of its popular brands, including InSinkErator and HVAC solutions.
ClosetMaid, as well as leading-edge products like the Sensi Wi-Fi
programmable thermostat. But the progressive company (www.emersonclimate. The focus of the two-story, 2,000-square-foot house module will evolve
com) is focused on much more than churning out great products. over time. It is equipped with reconfigurable walls on both floors and separate
metering, so researchers can precisely track energy use. Emerson’s researchers
The Dayton, Ohio-based Helix Innovation Center (http://bit.ly/1Yulfc1), are currently looking at indoor air quality and air conditioning efficiency, and
which officially opened in April 2016, exemplifies Emerson’s commitment to are exploring home comfort from all angles.
collaborative innovation. Located on the University of Dayton campus, the
40,000-square-foot center consists of six modules that simulate real-world Emerson’s Commercial & Residential business platform is focused on
conditions. These include a fully functioning and furnished “connected” home, developing technologies and services that improve human comfort, support
supermarket, commercial kitchen, light commercial facility, industrial refrigeration efficient buildings and municipal infrastructure, safeguard food, protect the
system and a data center. environment and enable sustainable food waste disposal.

With its open plan and three learning laboratories, the facility is much more
than a product testing center. It is designed to foster a collaborative approach—a
place where researchers, academics, industry pros and others can develop
heating, cooling and refrigeration solutions for a variety of building types.

Each module includes multiple refrigeration and/or HVAC systems. Condensing
units within environmental chambers enable ambient temperature control over
a wide range of conditions. For the house module, outside temperatures can
range from -20 degrees F to 120 degrees F, and relative humidity of 20 percent
to 90 percent. Researchers can simulate conditions from “Minnesota to Arizona”
within days, allowing them to fast-track tests that would take months in the field.

The house module also includes radiant panels inside, which can be used
to simulate passive solar heating.

CREDIT: EMERSON

Collaborative approach. Researching home comfort includes holding “ideation sessions” with diverse groups of people, including those
from professions outside the HVAC industry and people with disabilities.

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