Case study vacuum cleaner : from vision to reality

This chapter demonstrates the product development procedure for the environmental optimisation of a vacuum cleaner that has served as an example product and common reference for the CRC 392. It also presents the results obtained in various steps of product development work and the power of a methodical and holistic product development approach. The improvements reflect the results from different projects in the run time of the CRC 392. The development process presented in this chapter was carried out according to the phases of VDI 2221 clarifying the task, conceptual design, embodiment design and detailed design (VDI 2221 1993). The goal of the process was to environmentally optimise a conventional vacuum cleaner with standard filter bags. The described process is just an excerpt and one possibility for a typical development process. The chapter is structured in such a way that the methods are briefly described first and references for further reading are given. Additionally, results for each method are given afterwards using the vacuum cleaner as an example. Most methods described in this chapter will be elaborated on in detail throughout the rest of the book.