The Problem
Develop a new air flow measurement apparatus to measure total system airflow across an indoor ducted furnace, heat pump, or central Air-Conditioning system. The apparatus should be easy to use by a trained technician with average total set up and testing time less than 20 minutes. The measured airflow should meet or exceed an accuracy of +/- 7% and the total first cost to the service contractors should be less than $100. The tool or system should be capable of measuring 0 to 2,000 cfm typical of residential HVAC air flow range and could be an actual physical device or an advanced algorithm using other available system information to accurately approximate a measured value.
Accurate Measurement devices are expensive and inherently intended for commercial systems and the process takes time. Such measurement devices are not suitable for Residential systems which is what we need.
The Challenge Breakthrough
The apparatus should be easy to use by a trained technician with average total set up and testing time less than 20 minutes. The measured airflow should meet or exceed an accuracy of +/- 7% and the total first cost to the service contractors should be less than $100.
What You Can Do To Cause A Breakthrough
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Additional rules
Who can participate:
The Challenge is open to all teams/collegiate teams/teams worldwide. To be eligible to compete, you must comply with all the terms of the Challenge as defined in the Competitor Agreement.
Selection of Winner:
Based on the winning criteria, 1 prize will be awarded for a total of $3,000 USD. In case of a tie, the winner will be selected at the discretion of the Judging Panel.
Registration and Submissions:
All Teams must be registered by March 15, 2017 at 3 p.m. PST/6pm EST to be eligible for the prize. No registrations will be accepted after this date and no changes to Teams may be made after this date.
All Individual and Team submission materials must be submitted online on or before March 15, 2017 at 3 p.m. PST/6pm EST . No submissions will be accepted after this time. Incomplete submissions will not be accepted. All submissions must be received online, via the Challenge website. Submission reporting requirements are detailed in the Guidelines tab.
Additional rules can be found under the Guidelines tab.
Challenge Guidelines are subject to change. Registered competitors will receive notification when changes are made, however, we highly encourage you to visit the Challenge Site often to review updates.
Submission Requirements
Proposal must include:
- Description of the device or algorithm
- How does the solution solve the problem?
- Research that identifies and compares the proposed solution to existing solutions, and explain their comparative strengths and weaknesses
- Details on how this solution can be installed and implemented
- Explain methodology in developing the device or algorithm
Formatting:
- Proposals are limited to 2 pages of text, maximum. Illustrations or diagrams can exceed the 2 page maximum. Digital paper size must be 8.5 by 11 inches, with the exception of supporting materials. Minimum margins are one inch. Font must be minimum 12 pt (text in tables and figures may be as small as 9 pt).
- Proposals must be uploaded in PDF or Word format. Embedded hyperlinks to external content, such as videos or animations (maximum two minutes duration recommended) or anything else that might help the judging panel evaluate the solution, are allowed. However, there is no guarantee that judges will view external content, so the proposal document itself must stand on its own.
Judging Criteria
| Judging Criteria |
Description |
Points |
| Cost of solution |
Does the solution cost less than $100? |
30 |
| Accuracy of measurement |
Must meet or exceed an accuracy of +/- 7% |
20 |
| Robustness of solution |
Must be consistent and scalable |
15 |
| Ease of installation |
Total set up time should be less than 20 minutes |
15 |
| Ease of use |
Low training time for service contractors |
20 |
| Total: |
|
100 |
Rules and Eligibility
Communication
English is the official language for submissions, proposals, presentations, and all communications.
Eligibility
The Challenge is open to all individuals or groups of individuals who are over the age of 18 in their province, state, territory or country of residence. It excludes employees representatives, relatives, dealers and agents of Emerson (and their respective affiliates).
While companies, firms, and individual professionals are welcome and encouraged to participate, the Challenge is an amateur competition. The Challenge is not soliciting expert and/or professional opinions but rather, simply soliciting ideas. Anyone from any academic field or discipline, may enter the Air Flow Challenge. Any ideas that may be acted on in the future will first be fully vetted and deemed reasonable by Emerson.
No individual may be a member of more than one team. One entry per individual or team allowed. Participation is void wherever restricted or prohibited by law.
Emerson reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify any participant who is (i) found to be tampering with the entry process or with the operation and administration of the Challenge; (ii) acting in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with the intent to disrupt or undermine the legitimate operation of the Challenge; (iii) or in violation of the Challenge Rules.
Automated entries or votes sent via bots will be disqualified. Automated and/or repetitive electronic submissions (including but not limited to entries made using any script, macro, bot or contest service) will be automatically disqualified and transmissions from these or related accounts may be blocked. Emerson reserves the right to seek damages and other remedies from any such entrant to the fullest extent permitted by law, including but not limited to criminal prosecution.
Participants must comply with these Challenge Rules. Participants will be deemed to have received, understood and agreed to these Challenge Rules through their participation in this Challenge.
No purchase or payment of any kind is necessary to enter or win the competition.
Prize Monies
Individuals and teams are solely responsible for any taxes that they might incur from their prize money.
Licensing and Copyright
Any submission submitted in connection to the Challenge must be an original work created by the participant or the participant team members and the participants must have all necessary rights in and to the submission.
The submission must not infringe upon or violate any laws or any third party rights, including, but not limited to, copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, privacy, publicity or confidentiality rights or other proprietary or contractual rights and must not include material that is libelous, defamatory, or tortious.
Participants must obtain, and make available to Emerson upon Emerson's request, all necessary permissions, licenses, releases, waivers of moral rights and other approvals from third parties necessary for Emerson to use and exploit the submission, in whole or in part, including without limitation, to reproduce, make derivatives, edit, modify, translate, distribute, transmit, publish, license and broadcast the submission worldwide, by any means.
Participants must assign to all of their rights in the submission and the intellectual property embodied therein, to Emerson.
Participants must keep confidential the data and other information disclosed by Emerson and the contents of participants' submissions, during the Challenge and thereafter, unless Emerson authorizes disclosure of the information or Submission.
To participate in the Challenge participants must agree to these terms and other terms described in the Emerson Competitor and Intellectual Property Agreement.
Submissions will be retained by Emerson for use by Emerson, its affiliates, licensees and Challenge partners.
Applications will be retained by Emerson; information and data will be accessed only by Emerson and its competition partners and not sold or shared.
Disclaimers
The Challenge Rules are subject to change. Registered participants will receive notification when changes are made. However, participants are encouraged to visit the Challenge Site often to review updates.
Emerson is not responsible or liable for late, lost, incomplete, illegible, misdirected, stolen, delayed, damaged or destroyed entries, notifications, replies or any Challenge Release; for lost, interrupted, inaccessible or unavailable networks, servers, Internet Service Providers, websites or other connection, related to the Challenge; for errors of any kind, including but not limited to human, electronic, mechanical and/or technical in nature; for failure or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer and online systems, servers, computer equipment, software, e-mail, players, or browsers on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet, any websites related to the Challenge, including without limitation the Challenge Webpage, or any combination thereof or otherwise; for any injury or damage to participant, participant’s computer, or any other person’s computer related to or resulting from participating in or downloading material in connection with the Challenge; for incorrect or inaccurate information; and/or for weather conditions, event cancellations, delay or rescheduling or other factors beyond Emerson’s control.
CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT TO UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THIS CHALLENGE MAY BE A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS AND SHOULD AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, EMERSON RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES OR OTHER REMEDIES FROM ANY SUCH PERSON(S) RESPONSIBLE TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.
Governing Law
The Challenge is subject to applicable federal, provincial and municipal laws and regulations and is void where prohibited by law. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of the Challenge Rules or the rights and obligations as between the entrant and Emerson in connection with the Challenge shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Ohio including procedural provisions without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules or provisions that would cause the application of any other jurisdiction’s laws. The decisions of Emerson with respect to all aspects of the Challenge are final and binding.
