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A Case Study in Reverse Engineering
and Industrial Competitive Assessment
Prof. Anthony Marchese
Mechanical Engineering
In 1902, Willis Carrier invented the air conditioner to
control the heat and humidity for a printing process in
Brooklyn, NY printing company.
After designing similar systems for a series of
manufacturers, Carrier raised $32,600 to form Carrier
Engineering Company in 1915.
In 1924, Carrier built the first “comfort cooling” system
for J.L. Hudson Department Store in Detroit, MI.
By 1930, comfort cooling systems were
installed in 300 movie theaters nation wide.
In 1928, Carrier developed the first residential air
conditioning system, but the Great Depression and WW II
put home air conditioning on hold for about 20 years.
In 1955, William Levitt
predicted that air
conditioning would be a
basic feature in all new
homes.
In 1985, 70% of all new
homes had air
conditioning.
Sociologists credit the dramatic growth of America’s
“Sun Belt” to air conditioning.
The majority of refrigeration and air conditioning systems in place today
employ the simple vapor compression refrigeration cycle.
These systems include a
compressor, a condenser,
an expansion valve and an
evaporator.
Like the engine of an automobile, the compressor is the heart of he
refrigeration system. It is the most complicated and costly component
and is responsible for over 90 % of the power consumption.
In the 1980s, the old standard
reciprocating (piston) compressors were
being phased out by efficient, quiet, and
reliable new compressors such as the
rotary, scroll and screw compressor.
Although these new compressors were
required for the bulk of their residential
products, Carrier somehow found
themselves without the ability to
manufacture these compressors
…this is like a GM or Ford without the
ability to manufacture engines.
In the mid 1980s, Carrier embarked on a program to gain back their
ability to manufacture their own compressors.
In most typically sized room air conditioners (5,000 to 15,000 BTU/hr)
the rotary compressor is used.They decided to design their own rotary
compressor by reverse engineering.
The plan was a complete success. Using the mid 80s fleet of rotary
compressors as a guideline, a small group of Carrier engineers
designed and developed a new rotary compressor.
The Carrier rotary compressor was the most efficient compressor on
the market!
In the late 1980s, given the success of the rotary compressor project,
Carrier engineers embarked on a similar project to reverse engineer
the scroll compressor.
Scroll compressors were quickly gaining the market share in typical
residential central air conditioning applications (25,000 to 40,000
BTU/hr).
Scroll Compressor
Reverse Engineering
Scroll Compressors (Circa 1988)
Hitachi
Mitsubishi
Copeland
Scroll Compressor
Reverse Engineering
First Generation Carrier Scroll Compressor
(Circa 1990)
Although the same approach was used in reverse engineering
the scroll compressor...
…after 3 years, and untold $ spent, the Carrier scroll compressor
was noisy, in-efficient and unreliable.
Scroll Compressor
Reverse Engineering
First Generation Carrier Scroll Compressor
(Circa 1990)
What went wrong?
The scroll compressor is a much more complicated device than
the rotary compressor.
Reverse engineering is more than just taking apart competitor’s
products and re-designing based on appearance, materials and
manufacturing processes.
To develop a viable new design using existing products as a
guideline, engineers must understand why these products are
designed the way they are.
In other words, as engineers, we need to know, not only the
what and the how of the design, but also the why of the design.
One way to understand the why of design is through detailed
testing of competitor’s product lines.
Scroll Compressor
Reverse Engineering
Competitive Assessment Activities
To perform the required testing, Carrier contracted UTRC, the central
research organization of their parent company, United Technologies
Corporation.
The project, which entailed acquiring,
dissecting, evaluating, instrumenting,
and testing competitor’s compressors,
was called Competitive Assessment.
In addition to competitor’s products,
Carrier products were tested under the
same controlled operating conditions.
Above, a Carrier Scroll Compressor is shown instrumented with 4
eddy current proximity probes, 11 pressure transducers, 6 heat flux
gages, 37 thermocouples and an acoustic emission sensor.
Scroll Compressor
Reverse Engineering
Ethical Implications
The competitive assessment activities resulted in some ethical
issues for management and engineers.
Carrier was under contract to
purchase hundreds of thousands of
scroll compressors per year from
Copeland Corporation.
Acquiring larger compressors, like
the 170,000 BTU/hr compressor
manufactured by Trane proved to be
difficult.
Scroll Compressor
Reverse Engineering
Epilogue
As a consequence of these activities, the Carrier Scroll compressor
was completely re-designed.
In 1993, Carrier entered an agreement with Bristol Compressor Co.
to form a joint venture called Scroll Technologies in Arkadelphia,
Arkansas.
Scroll Tech manufactures
hundreds of thousands of scroll
compressors per year.
They are still not as quiet or
efficient as Copeland.