What are the processes involved in designing and bringing a new product to an established and growing global market place, whose demands and needs are both varied and complex? Duncan Scott explains.

The most important thing to remember when re-engineering an existing product or designing a totally new concept is who are you designing it for? A product can only obtain a world leading status if it is designed to meet customers requirements to operate effectively, in varied climatic conditions across the globe.
Making the decision to replace an inherently reliable and successful product with a totally new concept is often seen as a difficult task, however this was not the case with the new Hydrovane compressors range. The re-design was brought about by taking a customer and distributor focus. Initially we asked them what part of the market they thought would respond to the introduction of a new product? They identified the 4kW,5kW and 7kW compressor range.
Having established this as the target market sector, before even going to the drawing board to design a new product, we needed to understand what features would make our customers and distributors buy and sell the new compressor. It was important to identify what their ideal product functions and requirements actually were, not to second guess what we thought they were. This is why before we even thought about designing the new Hydrovane range we took it upon ourselves to talk directly to these key people. Instead of sending out a survey to all of our distributors with a list of questions we felt that it was more important to contact them individually, to gather both opinion and detailed information about their wants and needs. As part of our global focus we contacted distributors across the world, paying particular attention to our major markets of the UK, Germany, USA and Far East.
They were able to supply us with information about the needs of their specific market and business practices that gave use valuable input for the next consultation phase, the formation of formal customer focus groups.

Positioning of serviceable items

Although the opinions of end users and distributors were very important the experience and views of service personnel added considerably to the design of our final product, as these individuals identified simple yet important elements of the traditional design that could be improved. These included service access, faster oil removal and a reduction in the need to place undue physical stress on their knees due to the nature of the positioning of serviceable items. In addition, with total redesigns you have the opportunity to look at the changes and issues highlighted through previous designs and to include warrantee data from the range of units currently operating in the field.
Although re-designing seals or components improves the performance of a machine and reduces maintenance issues, designing out the cause eliminates the problem altogether.

Internal project group

In the same vane often products designed with an engineering focus sometimes become too complex. Adding time to the production process and requiring equally complex machinery to manufacture or assemble. By forming an internal project group consisting of design, development and production engineers, sales representatives and other members of staff, including myself, we tasked ourselves with identifying areas for improvement in the original product design.
Having established what the market wanted we created a marketing specification for the new product and tasked our staff with designing a commercially focused product that satisfied the identified market needs. By taking such a market and focus group approach, bringing different minds together, we were able to challenge the way we operate the business and manufacture our products.
Having come up with a conceptual idea, the key to maintaining a competitive edge was to manufacture a product that produced measurably cleaner air, was quieter and produced a competitive energy in - air out ratio. The world market also expects the next generation of machinery to offer added features like smaller footprint, increased reliability and cost competitiveness.

Market research

With information gathered from market research and focus group activity, it was then time to examine the design of our existing products and challenge our own thinking. This was easier said than done. Even though we boast at having the best engineering team in the business with hundreds of years experience between them, their preconceptions of what was achievable could have prevented us from realising the new design concept. This however was not the case as from the outset we worked as a team of both commercial and technically minded sales and design engineers to challenge the status quo and question every element of the new design stages.
When you create such a questioning approach you open up a whole new way of thinking a 'why not' instead of a 'no way' attitude. Match this with 3D design and solid modelling capabilities and you are able to translate ideas into virtual designs. By discarding the conservative approach we were able to be inventive in our design ethos. Most of our staff including myself have also spent time on the shop floor assembling compressors. From this experience we were also able to add practicality to the design process and question why certain parts were needed and look at how to improve the way a compressor is assembled.

Style consultants

The use of new materials and style dominates modern design and although compressors will never be deemed to have 'sex appeal', aesthetics are still important. With this in mind and not being style engineers, we involved other industrial design and style consultants at a very early stage in the design process to focus on the materials used and final look of the product. Bringing in people that are not involved in the day to day design process into the team also helped to add to the 'why does it have to be done that way?' questioning.
As a member of the CompAir group we were also able to benefit from utilising our strategic sourcing team, who take a global approach to sourcing and supply chain partnerships. The additional benefit of working with this team is that we were able to access the skills of pre-approved suppliers to the other business groups who could provide us with tried and tested materials and service without having to go to the lengths of sourcing a number of new suppliers. One supplier was Wokingham Plastics, who provide the ABS covers for the new product. As this was a totally new material to us, we were pleased that the company was able to take our 3D virtual design and adapt it to make suggestions as to the look and design of the casing.
Working with all our suppliers at both the conceptual and the design stage enabled us to integrate systems and streamline the design and manufacture process. Using 3D Autocad modelling software we were able to send a virtually designed component model directly to many of our suppliers, without the need to translate the design from 3D to 2D. This process in itself saved considerable man hours and eliminated guess work. It is also important to point out that Suppliers like Wokingham Plastics were selected on the basis of their capabilities and compatibility to our approach to virtual design.
By being able to manufacture tooling directly from the computer generated designs, once the button was pressed to put the production process into action, it was only a matter of five weeks before we could run the first prototype.
The frequency inverter itself is a speed controller for the ac motor which drives the compressor. It allows the compressor to respond to demand, resulting in major savings in energy and therefore electricity costs compared to the alternative of running at a single fixed speed, which has been the norm for compressors in the past.
Although the hardware of the product is standard, internal parameters have been established for the CompAir application. It is these parameters which achieve speed response against demand, accurate switching levels and optimum energy savings from the range of inverters needed to power the Hydrovane 7.5kW regulated speed model.
In order to optimise the performance of the inverter and therefore the compressor the unit has been designed in such a way that the parameters can be set in the CompAir factory by a simple electronic software download from the inverter keypad.
Taking just a few seconds this process tailors the inverter to meet the demands required by the compressor. The fact that our inverter is designed for international markets and supported worldwide also played an important part in the selection process of the product.

Investment time

The attitude and investment of time and resources from suppliers such as Lenze was vital to the swift development of the product, enabling us to speed up the time to market.
By simplifying the design of the compressor and designing out components we are able to continue to produce a competitively priced, world leading product in the UK.
To highlight what we have achieved, it is worth taking a look at how the new Hydrovane range is constructed and what it offers the customer
What you get:
* High efficiency - maximum air flow for minimum energy.
* Enhanced air quality - clean, dry and pulse free air.
* Minimal footprint - maximum use of your working space.
* Decreased noise - site your compressor anywhere.
* Easy servicing - quick release panels for total access.
* Security - backed by a five year warranty.
* Simple controls.
* Built in reliability.
* Cost competitiveness.
And what you do not:
* No drive - our 'no drive' drive means no belts, pulleys, couplings - no maintenance, no replacement due to direct drive operation.
* No gaskets - less parts, no leaks.
* No stresses - reduced radial loads.
* No time wasted - all service items spin off for fast easy servicing.
* No hassle - all service parts packed in kits.
The build consists of 15 different stages is described below:
1. The build starts with a steel base and rear steel column.
2. A standard ac induction motor with an extended shaft is then bolted to the steel column.
3. The drive end cover casting containing the main oil seal then sits directly onto the motor flange.
4. The rotor floats on a keyway on the motor shaft and 6 blades are inserted into the rotor slots. All mating parts are made from the same material - cast iron - to give extremely good wear characteristics.
5. A cast iron stator surrounds the rotor and is located onto the drive end cover casting with 6 studs screwed into the drive end cover casting.
6. The primary separation cowl and non-drive end cover is fitted over the studs and this completes the compression element.
7. The external case is a seamless drawn aluminium tube located onto the drive end cover and sealed by O rings.
8. The intake end cover is positioned into the tube and 6 nuts used to complete the assembly. This intake end cover contains all operational valves.
9. The air end assembly is completed with an air filter cover and paper pleated air filter. The final separator element is then screwed into position.
10. The steel starter enclosure assembly, including all electrical components, plus pressure switch and blow down solenoid are fitted with 4 bolts.
11. All cooling is contained within the rear of the machine - the electric motor driven fan is fitted together with connecting pipework
12. The radiator is bolted to the steel work with 4 bolts and the oil and air pipes are fitted.
13. An ABS rear panel is fitted with ducting for cooling air intake and sealing the radiator exhaust.
14. The cooling air filter is clipped into position.
15. The ABS plastic top and front panels are positioned with six quick release screws and build is complete.
The operation of the compressor is controlled via the front control panel, which consists of a pressure gauge, hours counter, reset light and button, operational control switch and emergency stop.
Motor cooling air is drawn from the base of the machine and exhausted through slots in the panels, continues Duncan
The new range consists of 14 models covering 4kW, 5.5kW and 7.5kW electric motor sizes.
Included in the range is an integrated thermal mass refrigerant dryer and filter module, designed so that any of the models can bolt directly onto it, creating a self-contained 'air centre' maintaining the footprint and ensuring a supply of ultra high quality air.
The entire range is designed for total simplicity of servicing. Quick release fasteners facilitate the removal of the front and top ABS panels to give instant access to the 'spin off' service items. Full maintenance kits containing all of the parts required to service the compressor are also available.

Enter 11 or at www.engineerlive.com/ape

Duncan Scott is managing director of the Hydrovane business of CompAir, Redditch, UK. www.compair.com