Materials and Design 24 (2003) 331–338

The design of a washing machine prototype

a
´
A. Sergio , J. Duartea, C. Relvasa, R. Moreiraa, R. Freireb, J.L. Ferreirab, J.A. Simoes
˜ a,*
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
b
Department of Investigation in Industrial Design, High School of Arts and Design of Matosinhos, Matosinhos, Portugal

Received 15 November 2002; accepted 3 March 2003

Abstract

The design process for a washing machine prototype is described. The prototype was developed within the final-year project
of the Mechanical Engineering course at the University of Aveiro. Professional designers at the School of Arts and Design of
Matosinhos carried out conceptual studies and the CAD modelling. To develop the appliance, different design and engineering
aspects were carefully studied, namely concept studies, scaled model prototyping, structural engineering, materials selection,
CADyCAM mould making, advanced sandwich composite manufacturing structures, automation (programming and control) and
testing. Within the project, pedagogic objectives were also set. In fact, these types of projects incorporate extra teaching and
learning values because they involve students in more practical learning of engineering topics.
䊚 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Polymer matrix; Moulding; Sandwich structures

1. Introduction problem at the time. Fig. 1 shows a wooden domestic

The washing machine is a domestic appliance that
has dramatically changed the laundering of clothes.
Washing clothes was a tiresome household chore and
required high physical exertion to get the clothes clean.
Before the invention of the washing machine, clothes
were washed and cleaned by agitating them with a
typical pounder with short, stool-like legs, scrubbing
them on a washboard and wringing them with a mangle.
By the 19th century, many inventors were looking for a
means of harnessing either water or steam power to
alleviate the hard work of washing clothes w1x.
Between 1851 and 1871, approximately 2000 patents
were granted in Great Britain and America for a variety
of washing appliances, which had to be filled with
heated water and used either rotating drums, gyrators or
dollies to agitate the clothes w1x. Most of these machines
needed to be hand-cranked and clothes tended to get
tangled around the rotating dolly elements. The tangling
of the clothes was a problem that inventors overcame
using an oscillating movement. S.S. Shipley w1x used
gas burners to heat the water, which was also another
*Corresponding author. Tel.: q351-234-370830; fax: q351-234-
370953.
E-mail address: simoes@mec.ua.pt (J.A. Simoes).
˜ currently being developed in Europe that will be even
washing machine with a dolly-style agitator w1x.
In the first decade of the 1900s, electric motors were
incorporated into the design of washing machines, but
manual systems still predominated until well into the
1920s w1x. It was due to the greater availability of
electric power that the use of domestic washing
machines grew rapidly, and machines such as the one
illustrated in Fig. 2 were common at the time. However,
water heating still remained as a problem, only resolved
by the end of World War II. During the post-war years,
some companies produced sleek, top-loading washing
machines that incorporated mangle-like wringers and
some had improved automatic controls, requiring less
supervision. The top loading models have become pop-
ular in America, but in Europe the front-loading washing
machines (Fig. 3) have become standard. The latter
model allows space-saving and it is commonly sited in
the kitchen. This is one of the reasons why styling has
played a very important role in the design of washing
machines in Europe from the 1960s to the present day
w1x. Nowadays, washing machines are much more ener-
gy-efficient by adjusting the power consumption to the
size of the load. New generations of machines are

0261-3069/03/$ - see front matter 䊚 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0261-3069(03)00042-6
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A. Sergio et al. / Materials and Design 24 (2003) 331–338

Fig. 2. Riby twin-tub washing machine, 1932 w1x.

product innovation to marketing. Product design teams

are increasingly interdisciplinary to guarantee the suc-
cess of products.
A project to design a novel washing machine that
Fig. 1. Wooden domestic washing machine with a dolly-style agitator, incorporates original characteristics was developed by
1920 w1x. engineering students of the Mechanical Department
(DEM) of the University of Aveiro (UA) and by
professional designers of the Department of Investiga-
more energy-efficient and will also eliminate the need tion and Development for Industrial Design (IDD) of
for ecologically harmful detergents w1x. the School of Arts and Design of Matosinhos (ESAD),
Design features of washing machines and other who performed conceptual studies and the CAD mod-
domestic objects have been changing throughout the elling of the appliance. The development of the washing
years. Energy-efficient and more ecological machines
are actually important design concerns. New materials
and new manufacturing technologies mean that devel-
opment is ongoing and other characteristics will be
exploited and incorporated. A radical change of the
washing concept will probably be the next development
step, which will depend on inventor imagination and the
degree of research investment. Machine–user character-
istics will be explored in the near future, since human-
centred design philosophy is a now a reality. Many
companies are designing and manufacturing customised
products for restricted groups of clients to satisfy indi-
vidual needs. Technologies such as rapid prototyping
and rapid tooling can be used for rapid product devel-
opment and will certainly push for the design of personal
and individually customised products.
The development of a product is an activity that
presupposes the conjugation of different know-how and
competency in areas of industrial and engineering
design. However, other areas of knowledge, such as
physiology, management, sociology and architecture, can
play a decisive role within the design process, from Fig. 3. Front-loading washing machine, 1961 w1x.
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A. Sergio et al. / Materials and Design 24 (2003) 331–338
Fig. 4. Design and engineering tasks involved within the project.
machine prototype was a final-year mechanical engi-
neering project. Within the project, several aspects were
carefully studied: conceptual studies; scaled prototyping;
structural engineering; materials selection; CADyCAM
mould making; advanced sandwich composite-structure
manufacture; automation (programming and control);
and testing. Teaching–learning based on projects has
given excellent results and is part of the teaching
philosophy implemented in these last few years at the
Department w2,3x.
The conceptual design of the washing machine was
part of the HOMEBOX project w3x involving the design
of domestic objects, and was awarded an honourable
mention in the LG Electronic 1999 contest. The new
washing machine, besides consistency and originality,
presented some challenging engineering material–design
problems that were critically assessed by the design
team and are further described.
2. Materials and methods
The prototype of the washing machine developed
involved different engineering tasks that are identified
in Fig. 4. Due to inherent logistical and technological
manufacturing limitations, and since a prototype was to
333
be made, some functional and non-functional parts of
the prototype were adapted from a commercial, conven-
tional washing machine. However, new hydraulic and
electric circuits were designed and implemented, as well
as the washing programme used to test the prototype.
2.1. Conceptual design and CAD modelling
The new washing machine was developed and the
design concept aimed at specific functional and non-
functional features. Domestic objects have been, and are
being, submitted to an inevitable ‘genetic mutation’,
partially due to changes in the relative ‘semantic laws’
in a world of constant evolution. Within the household
context, the kitchen is involved in a global strategy of
transformation of socio-cultural models and is a strong
candidate to reassume the central role in the house. In
fact, our present lifestyle rewards autonomic behaviour
and generates a type of ‘diffuse home’, a domestic space
where specific and specialised functional sectors make
no sense and are replaced by different integrated spaces
and functions. The house, or ‘home’, is understood as
an active space where people can live, work and soci-
alise; where components of the ‘kitchen system’ are
relieved of their rigid environment in the search for a
wider territory, being an active part of the household
landscape. The proposed washing machine is an appli-
ance providing different and opposed performances
within a framework of alternative representations,
rhythms and behaviours, as well as a fresh approach to
new social and cultural inter-relationships. It is an
innovative, communicative and interactive system, a
worthy and indispensable answer to the needs of con-
temporary communication performance; it also expresses
the re-discovered mobility of domestic appliances and
freedom for the user, who benefits from more flexible
control. Remote control and voice identification allow
the user to operate the machine from a distance. The
washing machine is a domestic appliance for which the
organic shape, related to inherent high-technology stan-
dard characteristics and associated with tactile differen-
tiation, results from careful use of the right textures and
materials, and establishes an affectionate relationship
with the user. Within the concept of the washing
machine, the following characteristics were considered:
– Organic shape (geometry associated with the washing
movement);
– Plastic material cover and stainless steel support with
a lockable wheel system;
– Customised command device for distance control;
– LCD technology;
– Retro-illuminated central status-display buttons;
– Translucent rubber buttons with click selection; and
– Functions activated and inactivated by voice
identification.
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A. Sergio et al. / Materials and Design 24 (2003) 331–338
Fig. 5. Computer-aided image rendering of the washing machine
prototype.
The prototype is of organic shape and incorporates
innovative aesthetics and performance features. Concep-
tually, the geometry of the prototype was based on the
helical-type turbulent motion the clothes are subjected
Fig. 6. Orthographic views of the conceptual washing machine.
to. After previous studies and sketches, the geometry of
the washing machine was modelled using STUDIO V8.0
computer-aided design software (Alias Wavefront, Sili-
con Graphics). A perspective computer-aided image and
orthographic projection of the washing machine are
shown in Figs. 5 and 6, respectively.
2.2. Scaled model
A 1:50 model of the washing machine was manufac-
tured from high-density polyurethane foam (Ureol䉸)
using CADyCAM technology. The computer CAD mod-
el was used to define and generate the machining
strategies with POWERSHAPE y POWERMILL CADyCAM
software (Delcam plc, Birmingham, UK). Fig. 7 shows
the polyurethane scale model of the washing machine.
2.3. Structural and functional design
Due to the organic shape of the washing machine,
some structural design complexities were studied and
resolved. The most relevant design restriction was relat-
ed to the rotating drum, specifically how it would be
fixed to the base of the machine. In most conventional
washing machines, the rotating drum is suspended by
springs connected to the sheet metallic cover. For the
prototype, a different fixation system was required.
Therefore, a metal frame structure was designed and
analysed relative to its stiffness and resistance and to
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A. Sergio et al. / Materials and Design 24 (2003) 331–338
Fig. 7. 1:50-scale polyurethane model of the washing machine.
requirements imposed by assembly of the parts of the
machine. In fact, because it supported the rotating drum,
the frame structure was the most critical structural part
of the new washing machine. Fig. 8 shows an exploded
view of the major internal parts of the prototype and
the frame designed to hold the washing drum.
2.4. Finite element analysis
The frame structure that holds the rotating drum,
electric motor and other parts was analysed by means
of the finite element method. Static and dynamic anal-
yses were performed. Within the static analysis, the von
Mises stress, equivalent strain distribution and safety
factor were obtained using MSC y NASTRAN for Windows,
V4.5. Two loading situations were simulated. In the first
situation, an equivalent static load of 800 N was equally
distributed over the four springs that connect and hold
the drum to the frame structure. In the second simula-
tion, the same load was applied to two springs, simulat-
ing the centrifugal force due to rotating movement of
the drum, which instantaneously concentrates the load
(cloths and water) on two springs. Commercial mild
steel with yield stress of 220 MPa was selected to
manufacture the structure. Table 1 shows the results
obtained for both simulations. The maximum equivalent
stress obtained for the critical loading was 56 MPa
(safety factor of 3.9), clearly below the value of the
yield stress for the material selected.
Knowledge of the dynamic behaviour of engineering
structures is necessary for the design of vibrating
mechanical components and assemblies used by or
exposed to human beings. Experimental and numerical
studies of structural vibration can contribute to this
understanding, leading to control of vibration phenom-
335
Fig. 8. Exploded view of the major internal parts of the washing
machine prototype.
ena. The washing machine is an assembled system for
which vibration is directly related to performance. The
components of this type of system must be designed to
anticipate vibration levels and bring them under satis-
factory control, emphasising the importance of the
dynamic characterisation of the washing machine
designed. Modal parameters, natural frequencies and
vibration modes of the frame structure were determined.
It is necessary to determine this type of information in
order to assess the resonance with other vibrating parts,
and thus experimental and finite-element modal analyses
were performed, and the first six natural frequencies and
vibration modes were determined. To simulate an uncon-
strained free body, the frame structure was suspended
by three elastic rubber bands, which permitted six
degrees of freedom and allowed measurement of the
amplitude and phase as a function of the vibrating
structure frequency. The natural frequencies obtained
were compared with the natural frequency of the system
Table 1
Finite-element results (static)
Simulation 1 Simulation 2
Von Mises stress (MPa) 37 56
Maximum strain 0.0001 0.0018
Maximum displacement (mm) 0.27 0.48
Safety factor 6.6 3.9
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A. Sergio et al. / Materials and Design 24 (2003) 331–338
Table 2
Numerical and experimental natural frequencies
Finite-element method Model analysis
(Hz) (radys) (Hz)
1st 49 308 43
2nd 67 421 48
3rd 73 459 83
4th 129 811 102
5th 148 930 117
6th 149 936 128
(machine parts subjected to vibration) in order to guar-
antee dynamic compatibility between the frame structure
and its holding elements. The signal emission was
detected by two accelerometers localised on the frame.
The excitation load was applied with an instrumented
hammer (Bruel ¨ & Kjaer 8200). A modified MATLAB
programme allowed determination of the logarithmic
values of the amplitude and phase for the two acceler-
ometers as a function of the natural frequency of the
frame structure. Considering the inherent differences
between the experimental and numerical models, the
data obtained by these two methods is compared in
Table 2. The natural frequency (24.6 radys) of the
system was determined by considering a total mass of
54 kg (machine elements, water and clothes) and springs
with stiffness of 8.2=103 Nym.
2.5. Prototype manufacture
Materials selection plays an important role in the
realisation of an idea or concept, and is an important
aspect in the success of a product. It should be, as much
as possible, a quantified process. The selection of
materials must be preceded by the product function(s)
definition and must be interactively carried out consid-
ering potential manufacturing processes to transform the
raw materials into the final product form with minimal
costs. However, when a prototype is being developed,
other replacement materials can be used according to
existing or available manufacturing techniques.
To build the prototype, several functional and non-
functional parts, moulds and composite structures were
manufactured. Conceptually, a plastic material was
selected for the material cover, but since a prototype
was to be made, a composite structure replaced the
plastic one. The organic surfaces of the machine intro-
duced some complex moulding design problems that
would be cost-prohibitive if a plastic injection mould
was to be designed and manufactured for one washing
machine. If a small series of washing machines is to be
fabricated, it seems advantageous to use composite
materials, since these can easily be handmade. The
organic shape of the prototype restricted our choice to
a few conventional manufacturing processes and to the
application of advanced composite materials. The mate-
rials choice was an important factor in achieving the
desired shape.
(radys) 2.5.1. Drum-support frame structure
270 The drum of most conventional washing machines is
301 supported by springs and cylinders connected to a
522 metallic cover and base. As mentioned before, this was
641
735 not possible within the prototype developed, and thus a
804 frame structure was designed to hold the drum. The
static and vibration analyses previously described per-
mitted definition of the geometry of the frame structure
(see Fig. 8). Beams of L-geometry (25 mm=25 mm=4
mm) mild steel were used to manufacture the frame.
Most of the beams were welded by electric arc and,
where good bonds were necessary, MIG welding was
used. Holes of 4 mm in diameter were made on the top
of the frame to hold the four springs. At the bottom of
the frame a lockable wheel system and a level regulator
were assembled. Two cylinders located underneath the
structure were used for damping.
2.5.2. Base and cover mould manufacture
The scale model allowed detailed analysis of the
external geometry, and some changes were made to the
CAD model before manufacturing the moulds. The
moulds were manufactured with CADyCAM technology
using POWERSHAPE y POWERMILL software (Delcam plc,
Birmingham, UK) and attention was paid to CNC
milling restrictions of the machine used (Mikron VCE
500 with a Fanuc controller). Model data for the cover
and base were manipulated to generate the NC milling
strategies for the moulds to be machined. The volumetric
dimensions (approx. 600 mm=600 mm=600 mm) of
the washing machine presented some complications in
the mould making, and therefore the strategy consisted
of the fabrication of modular mould parts and the
prototype was virtually separated in three parts: the base,
cover and front. For the cover, 17 modular moulds were
machined and bonded to obtain the complete mould.
Both the front and base moulds were made from four
modular moulds. Two main moulds were built, the base
and cover, and were made from low-density (100 kgy
m3) polyurethane foam material. The surfaces of the
moulds were then coated with gel-coat and polished for
easy release of the composite structure.
Two different sandwich-type composite structures
were fabricated by hand. These structures were built
with load-bearing composite skins bonded to a core of
very lightweight foam. For the base, the composite
structure was composed of two skins of plies of woven
carbon fabric (195 gym2) bonded to a commercial PVC
foam material (Herex䉸 C70.75, Alusuisse Airex AG
Speciality Foams) of 6-mm thickness. The foam is a
cross-linked material with rigid closed-cell structure with
high stiffness and strengthyweight ratio, good compres-
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A. Sergio et al. / Materials and Design 24 (2003) 331–338 337

2.7. Programming and control

The control of most conventional machines is made

using a clock controller, whereby all washing pro-
grammes are implemented following a certain sequence.
It is also possible to choose the rotation speed of the
drum and the washing temperature. For the prototype
designed, automation of the controls for the entire
system was performed by a Mitsubishi Alpha 20 (AL-
20MR-A) controller with eight digital outputs and a
Mitsubishi Frequol (U120S-EC) frequency changer. The
programming was implemented in block-function lan-
guage using Windows 98 platform (AL-PCSyWIN-E)
software and data were sent through a RS232 connection
to the controller. The prototype was electrically powered
by a three-phase electric asynchrony motor (Leroy
Somer, LS 71L) of 370 W.

Fig. 9. CAD model of the command buttons. 3. Testing

sion strength and vibration resistance w4x. These foams Washing programmes are selected according to the
are commercialised in scrim-cloth panels that are easily type of clothes. To test the prototype developed, two
adaptable to manufacture complex geometry surfaces. experimental programmes were implemented and tested.
The sandwich structures were impregnated with an The programmes are specific for hot washing (pro-
epoxy resin system. For the cover, the sandwich structure gramme A, rapid; and programme B, slow) and cold
manufactured was identical, except the skins were made washing (programme C). All these programmes end
from three plies of woven glass fabric. The surfaces of with a centrifugal spin at very high speed.
the moulds were first coated with wax, polished and
then coated with a release agent. All composite struc- 4. Conclusions
tures were hand manufactured.
Distinct goals were to be accomplished within the
2.5.3. Command buttons
project described: the design of a washing machine and
The functional parts of the washing machine are
its utilisation for teaching–learning purposes. The pro-
similar to conventional ones, but the command system
ject integrated complementary design areas of knowl-
is different. It is also possible to demonstrate some
edge and an idea was converted into the information
differences in the way the washing functions are carried
necessary to manufacture a product. The teaching–
out. The prototype has three command buttons: an ony
off function; selection of washing programmes; and
drum rotation and temperature. The buttons are all
electrically connected to digital inputs of an automat
that controls the machine. Fig. 9 shows the CAD models
of the three command buttons of the prototype. These
are composed of a metal ring, which is fixed to the
cover, and a transparent-silicone movable part that per-
forms the functioning of the button.

2.6. Assembly, painting and finishing

Before painting the prototype, some adjustments were

made between the cover and the base to obtain a perfect
fit. Moulding defects in the composite structures were
eliminated by coating the surface with polyester resin
and then sand washing. The choice of colour, its har-
mony and the quality of execution were concerns within
the project objectives. Fig. 10 shows the prototype of
the washing machine manufactured. Fig. 10. Washing machine prototype.
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A. Sergio et al. / Materials and Design 24 (2003) 331–338
learning experience based on the project demonstrated
that the method is an excellent pedagogic tool. In fact,
the students had to integrate previously acquired engi-
neering knowledge, and had to apply scientific princi-
ples, technical information and imagination to develop
a new product. The project was an excellent and effec-
tive learning basis for engineering and industrial design
topics (materials science, structural mechanics, CADy
CAMyRP, electronics and automation) and stimulated
the students to learn by doing it.
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design—creating a new age. South Korea: LG Electronics
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