{"id":61069,"date":"2023-08-31T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/?p=61069"},"modified":"2024-03-18T18:24:09","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T01:24:09","slug":"amped-innovation-easyfreeze100-product-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/amped-innovation-easyfreeze100-product-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooling Down Africa: Breezing Through EasyFreeze100 Product Development With Fusion 360\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

See how Amped Innovation developed the EasyFreeze100, a 100-liter solar-powered freezer that redefines off-grid refrigeration.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"amped-innovation-easyfreeze-100-in-store\"
Image courtesy of Amped Innovation.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In rural Africa, refrigeration isn\u2019t as simple as buying an appliance and plugging it into an outlet because, well, that outlet doesn\u2019t exist. According to The World Bank, only 30% of Africans living in rural areas outside of North Africa had access to electricity in 2021. Access to refrigeration, in particular, is key to the advancement of health, to the prevention of waste, and even to meeting many of the United Nations’ wider Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amped Innovation<\/a>, a social venture in the Autodesk Foundation<\/a>‘s portfolio, developed EasyFreeze100<\/a>, a 100-liter solar-powered freezer, to redefine off-grid refrigeration in rural Africa and work towards a future where everyone has access to refrigeration and, in particular, freezing. Amped Innovation\u2019s line of affordable solar-powered appliances has impacted 300,000 lives so far, a number that will only grow with the addition of the EasyFreeze100.<\/p>\n\n\n

Amped about the cooling power of thermal batteries <\/h2>\n\n\n

Amped Innovation\u2019s goal is to, \u201cbuild affordable solar products that perform as well as an on-grid experience in off-grid areas,\u201d says Amped Innovation Co-founder Andi Kleissner. With the EasyFreeze100, users can switch between fridge and freezer mode with the tap of a button. They can also choose to power the freezer by solar power or from the grid, depending on available resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"amped-innovation-easyfreeze-100-in-front-of-home\"
Image courtesy of Amped Innovation.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The EasyFreeze100 utilizes thermal batteries, which Kleissner describes as \u201cbasically ice packs.\u201d Using solar energy, thermal batteries create a wall of ice against the evaporator coils used in the cooling mechanism. Evaporator coils are a standard feature of fridges that pull heat from the air so the air cools. In the evenings or on cloudy days, the wall of ice on the evaporator coils slowly melts, dispersing the cold throughout the fridge to keep its contents chilled. A fan inside the chamber gently swirls the air around to provide a consistent temperature throughout the chamber.<\/p>\n\n\n

Digital prototyping with Fusion 360\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n

The Amped team collaborated with the Autodesk Foundation and Engineering for Change (E4C) fellow<\/a>, Francisco Plaza<\/a>, to bring the current version of the product to life. The Amped engineering team was based in California and Plaza was based in Ecuador. Logistics could have been tricky, but collaborating on the cloud with Fusion 360 made the process a breeze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, Amped used Fusion 360 for every stage of product development, from digital prototyping all the way through to marketing. \u201cOnce we received Fusion through Autodesk\u2019s Technology Impact Program, it didn\u2019t take us long to get used to it,\u201d says Kleissner. \u201cIt was a fast learning curve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

Cutting costs <\/h2>\n\n\n

One of Plaza\u2019s main tasks was to perform sensitivity analyses. Amped wanted to know which elements had the most effect on the time it took for the fridge to get cold and how long it would stay cold even if there was no external power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"amped-innovation-easyfreeze-100-render-fusion360\"
Image courtesy of Amped Innovation.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Plaza started digitally prototyping in Fusion 360 by 3D modeling different iterations and running simulations. Based on the results, he recommended experiments for the engineering team to run in the lab. These experiments confirmed Plaza\u2019s findings before they were incorporated into the final design. And every time, data validated the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plaza ran sensitivity analyses on everything from the gaskets to the insulation to understand which components were worth spending more money on. The gasket\u2019s price didn\u2019t end up having a large impact on cooling. However, Plaza\u2019s simulations showed insulation thickness did have a significant impact. As a result, the team diverted investment from the gasket to the insulation thickness to achieve the best dollar-to-value ratio.<\/p>\n\n\n

Optimizing performance <\/h2>\n\n\n

Plaza also leveraged Fusion 360 to optimize the evaporator coils and thermal battery. Like a typical fridge, Amped\u2019s current design had evaporator coils on the inner four walls of the rectangular box, but this increased design complexity and cost and required many thermal batteries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team was curious if they could simplify the design to evaporator coils and a single thermal battery on only one wall. \u201cFrancisco was able to optimize what size of evaporator coils and thermal battery we needed. Through his modeling in Fusion 360, he established that we could simplify our design and reduce costs, all while providing the overnight storage our customers asked for,\u201d says Kleissner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThe models in Fusion 360 were fast to design and easy to change, which helped with continuous iteration. Fusion 360 also made it easier to change the parts in context, so I could change the size of a fan and immediately see the impact on the larger model.”<\/p>\n\u2014Francisco Plaza, Engineering for Change Fellow 2021<\/em> <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Although certain areas of the fridge were cooling well, others remained too hot: there was too much of a temperature gradient from the top to the bottom of the fridge. The looming question was: What type of convection needed to happen?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"amped-innovation-easyfreeze-100-fusion-360-render-exploded-view\"
Image courtesy of Amped Innovation.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) on the model he created in Fusion 360, Plaza was able to simulate the airflow within the freezer. His analysis showed that a low-power fan was the best option, so the engineering team in California added a fan to their prototype. The fan helped push warm air next to the thermal battery, eliminating stagnant areas of warm air with the added benefit of speeding up the cooling process.<\/p>\n\n\n

The power of visualization: marketing and beyond <\/h2>\n\n\n

Even though the design was finished, Amped\u2019s usage of Fusion 360 wasn\u2019t. It can be hard to visualize a product before its first production run, so Amped created renders with Fusion 360 to help them make aesthetic decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we weren’t sure how we wanted the product to look, we could create different versions,” explains Kleissner. \u201cAfter visually seeing what the different colors and individual parts looked like in the render, we decided on which one we wanted to move forward with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, Amped uses the renderings even after they have a physical product. “We use the renders to communicate with vendors, our wider team, and customers,\u201d Kleissner continues. \u201cIt’s also hard to get a beautiful photo of the unit. We can create cool perspectives with the renderings, so we use them for LinkedIn announcements and the product catalog. Rendering with Fusion 360 is fast because it’s on the cloud, exporting it is easy, and collaboration is easier because multiple people can work on the model at once.”<\/p>\n\n\n

What\u2019s next for the EasyFreeze100? <\/h2>\n\n\n

After just two years of development, the first 20 EasyFreeze100s reached customers in Africa in 2023. Amped is already hearing that customers love the product and want more\u2014double the volume. With the help of a new round of funding, Amped is in the process of implementing customer feedback into the next generation of the EasyFreeze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’re never done with product design,\u201d says Kleissner. \u201cWe’re going to keep getting feedback and iterating based on what we hear, so we can keep moving towards the best product we can make.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

See how Amped Innovation developed the EasyFreeze100, a 100-liter solar-powered freezer that redefines off-grid refrigeration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5226,"featured_media":61128,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[406,478],"tags":[34,296],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-61069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-customer-stories","category-case-studies","tag-customer-stories","tag-sustainability","dhig-theme--light"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Look At the EasyFreeze100 Product Development Process - Fusion Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"See how Amped Innovation developed the EasyFreeze100, a 100-liter solar-powered freezer that redefines off-grid refrigeration.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/amped-innovation-easyfreeze100-product-development\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Look At the EasyFreeze100 Product Development Process - Fusion Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"See how Amped Innovation developed the EasyFreeze100, a 100-liter solar-powered freezer that redefines off-grid refrigeration.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/amped-innovation-easyfreeze100-product-development\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fusion Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-31T13:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-19T01:24:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/A-Smiling-Ugandan-Shopowner-Proudly-Displays-the-Products-in-her-EasyFreeze100-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Laughlin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Laughlin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Look At the EasyFreeze100 Product Development Process - Fusion Blog","description":"See how Amped Innovation developed the EasyFreeze100, a 100-liter solar-powered freezer that redefines off-grid refrigeration.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/amped-innovation-easyfreeze100-product-development\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Look At the EasyFreeze100 Product Development Process - Fusion Blog","og_description":"See how Amped Innovation developed the EasyFreeze100, a 100-liter solar-powered freezer that redefines off-grid refrigeration.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/amped-innovation-easyfreeze100-product-development\/","og_site_name":"Fusion Blog","article_published_time":"2023-08-31T13:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-03-19T01:24:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1280,"url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/A-Smiling-Ugandan-Shopowner-Proudly-Displays-the-Products-in-her-EasyFreeze100-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Elizabeth Laughlin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elizabeth Laughlin","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/amped-innovation-easyfreeze100-product-development\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/amped-innovation-easyfreeze100-product-development\/"},"author":{"name":"Elizabeth Laughlin","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/50f0f5e710856996cf9877e464f05e3f"},"headline":"Cooling Down Africa: Breezing Through EasyFreeze100 Product Development With Fusion 360\u00a0","datePublished":"2023-08-31T13:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-19T01:24:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/amped-innovation-easyfreeze100-product-development\/"},"wordCount":1186,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/amped-innovation-easyfreeze100-product-development\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/A-Smiling-Ugandan-Shopowner-Proudly-Displays-the-Products-in-her-EasyFreeze100-1.jpg","keywords":["Customer Stories","Sustainability"],"articleSection":["Customer Stories","Case Studies"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/amped-innovation-easyfreeze100-product-development\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/amped-innovation-easyfreeze100-product-development\/","url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/amped-innovation-easyfreeze100-product-development\/","name":"A Look At the EasyFreeze100 Product Development Process - Fusion Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/amped-innovation-easyfreeze100-product-development\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/amped-innovation-easyfreeze100-product-development\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/A-Smiling-Ugandan-Shopowner-Proudly-Displays-the-Products-in-her-EasyFreeze100-1.jpg","datePublished":"2023-08-31T13:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-19T01:24:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/50f0f5e710856996cf9877e464f05e3f"},"description":"See how Amped Innovation developed the EasyFreeze100, a 100-liter solar-powered freezer that redefines off-grid refrigeration.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/amped-innovation-easyfreeze100-product-development\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/amped-innovation-easyfreeze100-product-development\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/amped-innovation-easyfreeze100-product-development\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/A-Smiling-Ugandan-Shopowner-Proudly-Displays-the-Products-in-her-EasyFreeze100-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/A-Smiling-Ugandan-Shopowner-Proudly-Displays-the-Products-in-her-EasyFreeze100-1.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/amped-innovation-easyfreeze100-product-development\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cooling Down Africa: Breezing Through EasyFreeze100 Product Development With Fusion 360\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/","name":"Fusion Blog","description":"Product updates, tips, tutorials and community news.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/50f0f5e710856996cf9877e464f05e3f","name":"Elizabeth Laughlin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Laughlin_Elizabeth_Headshot_Smaller-150x150.jpgd144ba0ad7994d63f94a358f1cb81f21","url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Laughlin_Elizabeth_Headshot_Smaller-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Laughlin_Elizabeth_Headshot_Smaller-150x150.jpg","caption":"Elizabeth Laughlin"},"description":"Elizabeth Laughlin bridges the gap between mechanical engineering and technical writing across various industries, such as medical and aerospace. Over the years she has discovered a passion for writing and is excited to keep learning and communicating technical subjects to various audiences.","url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/author\/elizabeth-laughlin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61069"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=61069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}