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2. Volume 6

3.  Dishwasher

Dishwasher

Background
Washing dishes is not the most rewarding task. Cooking can be
creative, but cleaning up afterward seems like a waste of time and
leaves the person washing complaining about "dishpan hands." The
development of the dishwasher has helped relieve some of the
monotony, as well as the grease and grime. It operates on a simple
principle of washing dishes that have been placed on racks inside the
machine with multiple jets of water. The modern dishwasher has
features that cater to fine glassware or the toughest pots and pans;
multiple cycles that clean, sanitize, and dry; and under-the-counter or
stand-alone models for every size, use, and price range. It is far from
perfect; tough foods may need personal attention before and after
dishes and pans are cleaned in the dishwasher, and few owners of
crystal glassware and fine china are willing to trust them to a
machine. But the dishwasher, like other kitchen appliances invented
and improved in the twentieth century, is a fixture in many kitchens of
the twenty-first century.

History
The major obstacle to washing dishes has always been the availability
of water. Early civilizations used limited numbers and types of dishes,
utensils, and cookware and carried them to streams, ponds, or troughs
of water for cleaning. The second choice was to carry the water to the
dishes. Women carried water in buckets from communal water sources
or from private pumps behind their homes or apartment buildings into
the early twentieth century, when indoor plumbing finally brought
water indoors, not only for bathing but for kitchen use as well.
The first dishwashers were patented in about 1850, but, like machines
for washing clothes, they were large contraptions that used steam
power and supplies of heated water to soak many dishes at a time. In
some models, the dishes were held on cradles that rocked through the
water; others had paddles that sloshed water around the dishes or
circular racks that held the dishes and rotated to circulate them
through the water. An assortment of propellers, plunging casings
bearing the dishes, and plungers that drove water over the dishes
were incorporated in other machines. In 1875, C. E. Hope-Vere created
a machine that directed sprays of water toward racked dishes; the
idea of the water jets was adopted by other inventors including A. W.
Bodell, whose model was introduced in 1906. Another, the Blick
machine, used a propeller that sprayed jets of water over racks filled
with dishes. This basic idea is the one used today.
The first publicly displayed models were introduced in about 1915, but
the dishwasher was not widely manufactured and sold to private
families until about 1930. The dishwasher was not an immediate hit.
The refrigerator was introduced at about the same time and swept
America; but this is logical because food preservation is far more
important than dishwashing. The machines were also too inefficient to
completely eliminate hand work; to be fair, this was not entirely the
fault of the dishwashers—soaps of the day were not suited to the task.
By the 1950s, special dish-washing soaps that clean without sudsing
and rinse away began to be developed especially for dishwashers, and
the public began to demonstrate more interest. The automatic
dishwasher is still not an absolute in every kitchen, but, by the 1970s
when more women

A dishwasher.

began working outside the home, the built-in dishwasher was seen as
an asset.

Raw Materials
The major components of a dishwasher are made of steel and plastic.
The basic structure consists of a steel frame assembly and a steel
door panel. Sheets of stainless steel are purchased and fabricated in
the required pieces and shapes in the factory; both the door and the
wrap-around cabinet for standalone models are purchased as coiled
sheet steel that has been prefinished in several standard colors. Other
small steel parts are designed in house but made by suppliers to the
manufacturer's specifications.
The racks that hold the dishes are also made of steel, but it is
delivered to the factory as coiled wire. To coat the rack tines to
prevent them from scratching dishes, the racks are dipped in plastic in
the form of powder polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or nylon.
The inner box that holds the racks and the washer arms is called the
tub. It is a single piece (not counting the piece lining the inside of the
door) that is injection-molded in the plant. The injection molding is
done with pellets of calcium-reinforced poly-propylene plastic. This
plastic is respected for its strength and for the fact that it is inert; that
is, it won't react with chemicals like those in detergents and is
resistant to water and heat. Many other parts including the basket for
cutlery, containers for detergent, and the wash tower and spray arms
are also injection molded.
Motors, pumps, and electrical controls and components are made by
subcontractors in accordance with designs by the dishwasher
manufacturer.

Design
The engineers who design dishwashers are interested in improving
two key features of their products. Efficient cleaning is, of course, the
biggest marketing feature, but consumers are also interested in quiet
operations. Cleaning systems consist of a wash tower and sprayer
arms, but the openings, the power of the water pump, and positions of
racks relative to the washers are all design elements. In the late
1990s, consumers became increasingly interested in the dish-washer
as a tool for sanitizing dishes, so design efforts have been aimed at
adding heating methods for killing germs.
Manufacturers have taken different approaches to keeping their
dishwashers as quiet as possible. Maytag, for example, uses a single,
powerful motor for all operations and wraps the outside of its
machines with heavy insulation. By contrast, Amana Appliances has
equipped its dishwashers with two motors (one to operate the water
pump and another for the drainage system). Together, the two motors
have the same horse-power as single-motor units, but less insulation is
needed for quiet operation.
Design of the exterior of a stand-alone model is somewhat more
sophisticated because it has to have an attractive outer cabinet.
Usually the top of the stand-alone dishwasher is a wooden cabinet top
so the machine will function as a spare work surface.

The Manufacturing Process

1. A dishwasher begins to take shape with the injection molding of
the tub. Two molds—the cavity relief mold for the outside of the
tub and the core relief mold for the inside—have previously been
etched into a steel tool, that, when fitted together, contains a
void or space that is the shape of the tub. The tool halves are
held together in the chamber of the injection molding machine.
Pellets of polypropylene are melted in the machine at high
temperature and injected by pressure into the void in the tool.
The high pressure and liquid state of the plastic forces the
plastic into every pocket and crevice in the mold inside the tool.
The tool opens to release the tub, which is still hot.
2. The warm tub is conveyed to a cooling area and cooled to a
temperature that is easy for assembly workers to handle. Other
plastic parts are also made by injection molding, and these
smaller pieces are stored in bins (with one kind of part only per
bin) that can be moved to the assembly area as needed.
3. In another part of the plant, the steel components of the
dishwasher are made. Outer cabinets for stand-alone models and
the doors for all models are cut and stamped into shape from
stainless steel in the form of coils that are prefinished on one
side. Flat steel bars that will be assembled into the dishwasher's
frame are sheared to length. The racks are also formed with tools
that trim, de-bur, and shape wire into the racks in two welding
steps. The perimeter of the rack is called the "mat," and a tool
welds all the wire pieces of the mat together at the same time.
Similarly, the little pieces or tines that support the dishes are
welded into place simultaneously. The completed rack is taken
by conveyor to a cleaning station where it is cleaned and
prepared to receive its PVC coating. The PVC is in the form of a
fine powder that is baked onto the rack. The coated rack is then
cured to finish forming the PVC coating and to allow it to cool.
4. Dishwashers are assembled at work stations along an assembly
line. The workers are responsible for sets of pieces that are
taken from bins alongside the workers. The frame is assembled
first, and the motor or motors are attached to special mounts on
the frame. The motors are provided to the line workers as
completed assemblies. The tub is fitted and fastened into the
frame over the motor or motors.
5. With the tub in place, the interior components are installed
beginning with the filtering system. The washtower and arms are
 attached followed by sets of rack rollers to support the racks and
allow them to be rolled in and out of the machine so that dishes
can be loaded easily. The racks are put in place along with the
cutlery basket.
6. The door assembly is completed by installing the detergent
dispenser and rinse-agent cups and the controls. The door is
attached to the front of the dishwasher. The exterior is
completed by finishing the electrical connections and feed lines
(for clean and dirty water), and the exterior is insulated to reduce
noise and the effects of heat that might warp counter tops and
cabinets. Insulation is prefabricated with the insulating fibers
wrapped in a foil-like covering. Called "bagged insulation," it is
wrapped around the machine and packed inside the toe space.
Under-counter models are now complete. Stand-alone models are
finished by attaching the wrap-around cabinet and wood top.
Each completed machine is loaded onto a cart to be moved to
the packing area.
7. In the packing area, styrofoam bumper sections are placed along
the edges of the machine and enclosed by a carton. Packets of
instructions and other materials are placed on top of the machine
in the carton, and the carton is sealed and moved to a storage
area for shipping.

Quality Control
Quality control is assured by three basic processes. First, the
assembly line workers are trained in quality issues and can reject
parts or partially assembled machines. Second, the assembly process
is overseen by line supervisors; when assembly is complete, quality
engineers inspect the finished machine and test selected units. The
most important part of the quality control process may be a design
step that Amana Appliances calls a failure mode effects and analysis
(FMEA). As soon as problems are observed during assembly or are
reported by customers through the warranty process, corrective steps
are taken. The analysis is a highly regimented learning process that
continuously cycles improvements, customer feedback, and corrective
actions through the marketing and design process so new models and
lines benefit from any changes to the old.

Byproducts/Waste
Dishwasher manufacturers produce a range of lines of dishwashers
and other appliances but no true byproducts. Waste is virtually
eliminated by a thorough recycling program that includes metals,
plastics, and paper.

The Future
All industries struggle with the issue of how to attract more customers
to their product. For dishwashers, the market is still growing because
it is a more open field than for other appliances. Marketers discuss
this in terms of market penetration; for example, 99.8% of American
households own refrigerators, but only 56.5% have dishwashers. This
seems promising for dishwasher manufacturers, but it shows that
potential customers who don't have dishwashers may not see that
these appliances provide benefits over hand-washing dishes. To
attract customers, the latest advance in dishwasher manufacture is
the sanitization option with a high heat cycle to kill bacteria. Quiet
operation, energy efficiency, and clean dishes without prerinsing are
existing features that are continuously being improved.

Where to Learn More

Books
Cohen, Daniel. The Last Hundred Years: Household Technology.  New
York: M. Evans and Company, Inc., 1982.
Weaver, Rebecca, and Rodney Dale. Machines in the Home.  New
York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1992.

Other
Amana Appliances. http://www.amana.com (August 2000).
— Gillian  S.  Holmes

Read more: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-
6/Dishwasher.html#ixzz6HTyuGc2A

Scrub test
The plates we use in our test are pre-soiled with blends of different types of stains you'll
typically have to deal with at home – rice starch, bolognaise and egg yolk.

The stained plates were soaked in a 1% solution of test detergent for 10 minutes before
placing the tiles in the scrubbing device. The plates are scrubbed a set number of times
with a wet sponge.

Reflectance readings are taken before and after the cleaning process to determine the
percentage of soil removed. Each product is tested four times, and the scores are
averaged for consistency. The performance score is based on how clean each plate is
after reading the result using a spectrophotometer.

Foam test

Using 4mL of each dishwashing liquid in five litres of warm water, we wash pre-soiled
plates at timed intervals and count the number of plates cleaned until all the foam in the
basin dies

https://www.choice.com.au/home-and-living/kitchen/dishwasher-detergent/articles/how-we-test-
dishwashing-liquids