A CSP-based design framework for appliances under energy labelling

Nowadays, several consumer goods are sold with an energy label which provides energy information about consumption,
efficiency, noise, and performance. These labels are regulated by local energy policy and governments. Because of this,
customers are becoming increasingly aware about the energy efficiency and consumption of products such as household
appliances. In Europe, several household appliances are involved in the European Energy Labelling Directive. Therefore,
the manufacturers are paying attention to Ecodesign tools and methods to support the development of eco-innovation and
sustainable products. In this context, the paper proposes a design methodology to support the development of efficient cooker
hoods using an approach based on a constraints satisfaction problem model. The scope of the proposed research is to reduce
the time-to-market of household appliances considering the energy efficiency optimization from the early design phases to
the embodiment design. A Case Based Reasoning is also implemented to define a pre-configured model of product before the
CSP optimization. The CSP model has been developed as an analytical system, which can predict the energy label achieved
by a final prototype of a cooker hood. The interaction of such tools can fill the gap between traditional design methods and
eco-innovation approaches, in order to support the designer in the decision-making activity. The test case shows a cooker
hoods optimization based on a CSP tool, developed using a programming framework based on Gecode platform.