Projects

Synergico

by admin

Synergico (SYNergie – enERGIe – COnception) was focussed on the development of energy efficient electrical and electronical products. It aimed at the development of a systematic approach helping development teams to steer the in-use energy performance of a product during its development process. The challenge was to find methodological ways to consider in-use energy consumtion as a manageable design criterion rather as an uncontrolled characteristic emerging from diffuse design decisions. This project brought practical means for industry to meet newly emerged energy efficiency standards (e.g. Energy Star and ecolabels) and regulations (e.g. EuP Directive).

logo_synergico_h_rvb

Status: closed (2009-2011)
Consortium: G-SCOP, G2Elab, Neopost, SagemCom. Funded by ADEME.
Keywords: energy efficiency, design guideline, energy using products (EuP), Electric and Electronic equipment (EEE)

Objectives

Aim of the project was to allow design teams to:

  • systematic setting and follow up of optimal products energetic requirements in the product development process
  • design flagship products consuming up to 80% less energy in the use phase

Contribution

The project provided a comprehensive method based on three tools:

  • an in-use energy indicator helping:
    • measure the overall in-use energy consumption based on usage scenarios;
    • offer an increasing precision of estimation, from the early development phases to production, thanks to scalable calculation rules;
    • breaking down the energy consumption into the product functional and technical structures in order to identify  areas of improvement;
    • identify the respective roles of hardware and software in the consumption;
    • assign and follow up objectives.
  • a set of almost 60 design guidelines for energy efficiency helping engineers to find technical solutions for decreasing energy consumption that are adapted to:
    • each role in the development process (e.g. electronic engineer, software engineer, product architect);
    • each energy consumption mode of the product;
    • each phase of the product development process.
  • a simplified environmental assessment tool allowing to check eventual environmental impact transfers (e.g. from energy consumption to raw material depletion).

Results

Implementations in industry confirmed that the method helps:

  • implementing systematic steering of in-use energy efficiency as well as development of flagship products
  • anticipating upcoming energy standards and regulations;

Moreover, steering the energy consumption in design leads to:

  • lower heat dissipation in user leading to:
    • longer product life;
    • lower noise emission;
  • better design of product due to the follow up of an additional parameter in the development process;
  • lower fabrication and operation costs due to reduced inefficiencies in electrical hardware.