The challenge lay in making the product easy and safe to install in the meter cupboard – a location that can be unfamiliar to many householders.

CDP quickly came up with an effective design for a clip-on device to measure mains voltage as well as derive power from the connection, eliminating the need for batteries. These clips connect directly to the conductors in the mains cables, unlike the more typical non-contact current sensors found in many energy monitoring products.

Within a few months, a patent application was filed for CDP’s design. This enabled Navetas to introduce their “Energy Monitor” product – a unit that can be installed without isolating the electricity supply to a property, and with no need for a qualified electrician. Once fitted, it monitors how much energy each electrical appliance in the house uses, by analysing mains waveforms at a single point. It does not rely on any sensors or socket adaptors around the home, allowing it to monitor fixed installations such as ceiling lights and storage heaters.

During the same period, CDP undertook another development for a table-top in-home display, to supplement Navetas’ internet browser-based Online Energy Monitor. Using a touch-screen over a vibrantly coloured LCD display, this custom panel indicates total and disaggregated energy use to the consumer, in £, kWh, CO2. The unit is enabled by ZigBee wireless technology, and receives data from the Energy Monitor. It can also provide speech output to the visually impaired.

Less than a year from initial concept, these products are to be trialled in the field, attracting keen interest from prospective customers.

www.navetas.com

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CDP was responsible for inventing the key component of the product – a reliable low-power water sensor made from low-cost electronic components, with the heart of the detection method implemented in the embedded software.

From initial concept to collaborating with the factory in China to develop working prototypes and production processes, CDP was closely involved. Building on an ongoing relationship with the factory, CDP was able to help accelerate the product to market.

What others have said:

“Whether you want family members to spend less time in the shower for ecological reasons, for the sake of basic parsimony or just because of the absurd time they spend in there, this is for you.”
FT: How To Spend It – Oct ‘10

“…we love the Waterpebble’s simplicity and its unique way of teaching users to save water.”
Review on inhabitat.com

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For a start-up company, hitting challenging deadlines can be critical for the success of a new product. Navetas Energy Management had a vision to launch their smart energy hub to meet the demand for smart metering. With a key trade show already in the diary, CDP were able to transform Navetas’ requirements into a quality model demonstrating real functionality in a mere four months.

Navetas’ Smart Energy Monitor is a new approach to smart metering for electricity, gas and water metering. It is able to monitor readings from certified utility meters and communicate data wirelessly to a central billing system as well as indicate household energy usage to the domestic user. It incorporates non-intrusive appliance monitoring technology, developed and patented by Intelligent Sustainable Energy (ISE) that identifies the use of individual electrical appliances by interpreting mains electricity waveforms.

CDP’s closely integrated team worked together to design and develop this unprecedented product from scratch. Mechanical engineers and industrial designers created a robust, appealing product to meet all safety requirements. Simultaneously, our electronic and software engineers designed all electronics, and implemented ISE patented technology into a real product.

In addition, our industrial designers created an intuitive user interface to allow users to examine their real-time energy use on a small touchscreen device in their home. The challenge was to take complex, technical information on energy use and communicate it in a simple and practical manner through on-screen infographics.

Our intensive work contributed to Navetas’ success at the Metering Europe 2009 trade show, helping to open up new opportunities in the market. CDP continues to work with Navetas to bring the innovative Smart Energy Monitor to market.

Skills Deployed

• Industrial design
• Interaction design
• Mechanical engineering
• Electronic engineering
• Software engineering
• Design for regulatory compliance
• Project management

www.navetas.com
www.ise-oxford.com

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