AYTAG'S FAMOUS LONELY REPAIRMAN is likely to stay that way,
at least if NASA has anything to say about it.
Volume 5, Number 1 January/February 1997
Technology Transfer
AYTAG'S FAMOUS LONELY REPAIRMAN is likely to stay that way,
at least if NASA has anything to say about it.
Representatives of Maytag Corporation's Jackson, Tennessee, dishwasher manufacturing plant teamed up with engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) to incorporate state-of-the-art aerospace technologies from NASA and its contractors into future dishwasher designs.
Maytag asked MSFC to help evaluate changes and find areas where further refinements and improvements were possible. MSFC Technology Transfer Office industrial team for Tennessee, NASA Engineer Fred Schramm and Lockheed Martin Engineer Jeff Cornelius began work on the request.
Help for Maytag was found at another NASA contractor, Teledyne Brown Engineering (TBE) of Huntsville, Alabama. TBE's Chester Simmons led an effort that provided Maytag's designers with insights into factors that influence dishwasher performance.
TBE found that Maytag's dishwasher design was very close to its maximum thermal efficiency but recommended some fine tuning to improve performance by 10 to 20 percent.
TBE's engineers also studied location of heat energy absorption in a dishwasher as it washes and dries. They found the thermoplastic polymer tub retained less heat than did porcelain models. This finding would affect performance.
The insights and recommendations from the NASA/TBE effort have guided Maytag's changes. Assistance provided to the Maytag plant is part of a national industrial outreach program operated by NASA's Southeast Regional Technology Transfer Alliance. NASA and its contractors have pooled their engineering resources at MSFC, Stennis Space Center, Kennedy Space Center and the Southern Technology Applications Center. Up to 40 hours of free technical assistance may be provided to U.S. firms.
"America's space program is paying off for American business and industry. Technologies, developed for the nation's space program by NASA and its contractors, are now at work in thousands of American firms," MSFC Technology Transfer Office (TTO) Manager Harry Craft Jr. said. "Now Maytag is among them."
For more information about this partnership, contact Jeff Cornelius at MSFC,
Call 205/544-2766, FAX: 205/544-3151, E-mail: jeff.cornelius@msfc.nasa.gov
For more information about technical assistance, Call 800/USA-NASA.
Please mention that you read about it in Innovation.
