Maytag And NASA Team Up To Do The Dishes

Representatives of Maytag Corp.'s Jackson, Tenn., dishwasher manufacturing plant have teamed up with engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., to help wash the dishes. Maytag sought to incorporate state-of-the-art aerospace technologies from NASA and its contractors into future dishwasher designs.

Maytag came to Marshall for help in evaluating the changes and finding areas where further refinements and improvements were possible. After an initial assessment, help for Maytag was found at NASA contractor, Teledyne Brown Engineering (TBE) of Huntsville. 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 per cent.

TBE's engineers studied where heat energy is absorbed in a dishwasher as it washes and dries. They found that the thermoplastic polymer tub retained less heat than did the porcelain models. This would affect performance.

Maytag has benefited from the NASA/TBE effort. The insights and various recommendations resulting from TBE's effort have guided design changes for Maytag.