Newport Partners have partnered with Broan-NuTone, the nation’s leading developer and supplier of domestic range hoods, to develop, test, and demonstrate a prototype Smart Range Hood. The smart range hood will far exceed current state-of-the-art and will offer a cost-competitive, affordable, auto-responsive, consumer-friendly, quiet, effective, efficient, ASHRAE-62.2-compliant local exhaust, and whole dwelling unit ventilation solution. The project will involve development of smart controls, an intelligent user interface, and multiple iterations of prototypes; lab testing for capture efficiency, sones, and flow; and field demonstrations.

• Selected final sensors
• Developed Gen 2 prototype
• Over 350 cooking tests
• Dozens of control algorithm revisions
• Tested filters and lenses
• Completed lab test plan.

• Efficacy goal: 1.5 x ENERGY STAR^® = 4.2 cfm/W. Achieved 4.5–4.7 cfm/W working speed with various configurations.
• Sound goal: less than or equal to 1 sone, at greater than or equal to 150 cfm. Achieved 0.3-0.6 sones at 150–160 cfm at working speed with various configurations.
• Capture efficiency goal: greater than or equal to 90%. Achieved 90% at 250 cfm, and 98% at 400 cfm.

• 2019 will be the final year of this project
  • Complete field test plan and Institutional Review Board approval for human subject research
  • Q1: lab tests with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  • Q2 analyze test results
  • Q2-Q3: conduct field tests
  • Q3: final report.

For more information, project presentations, and related publications, visit the Development of a Smart Range Hood web page.