Oct 7 2004
A waterless dishwasher called Rockpool, designed by three UNSW students, is Australia's entry in next month's Electrolux Design Laboratory competition to be judged in New York.
Douglas Nash, Oystien Lie and Ross Nicholls, industrial design students from the Faculty of the Built Environment, have devised a washing system that uses pressurised carbon dioxide. This process creates a supercritical fluid that acts as a powerful solvent, cutting the grease on plates and cutlery.
Supercritical carbon dioxide has been used in some industrial cleaning processes but this is the first time it has been considered for a dishwasher. NASA is examining similar technology for cleaning processes on manned missions to Mars.
The design, which was officially unveiled on Tuesday, will now compete against entries from seven design schools from Europe, China, South America and the US.
Six teams of UNSW industrial design students competed for the chance to represent the country at the international awards.
Other concepts included a fridge that doubles as a household information centre; a wall-mounted washing machine with removable basket; a combined food preparation area and cook-top; a modular fridge comprising portable containers for shopping; and a fold-up kitchen.
Entries were appraised by an expert jury of local design experts including architect Ian Moore, industrial designer Mark Armstrong and the Powerhouse Museum's Jennifer Sanders.
If successful Rockpool may be picked up by Electrolux for worldwide production.
For more information on supercritical fluids, click here.