future-FOCUSED

Working from the Advanced Product Development lab in the L.C. Bud Bakke Innovation Center, Sub-Zero Staff Engineer Elizabeth Wohlers spends her days thinking about condensation. And airflow. And temperature set points. Her passionate focus has resulted in two U.S. patents, one for a shared evaporator system and the other for a split airflow system, both of which translate to unparalleled refrigeration performance for Sub-Zero customers.

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville with a degree in mechanical engineering, the Illinois native went to work right away for Sub-Zero. “I started there in design engineering as part of the UW’s Cooperative Education Program in 2010, and then got hired full time in New Product Development,” says Wohlers, now a staff engineer in the Advanced Product Development department. “Sub-Zero is a terrific place to work. There is such a great environment here to pursue your ideas and innovations.”

The impetus to solve airflow challenges in refrigeration that led to Wohler’s most recent patent (2022) also came from the marketing department, says Wohlers. The goal was to provide the customer with more temperature control. Wohlers and her team invented a way to allow one refrigerator to have different temperature set points. The Split Climate™ intelligent cooling system design means the crisper drawers can be controlled independently over the same or different temperature ranges. “This gives the customer more control and more options,” she says, “which is really useful when, for example, you have leafy vegetables that you want to store at the lowest set point in one zone but also squash or peppers that should be stored a few degrees warmer in another zone.”

The invention process included numerous computer simulations that showed how the air would move. “We wanted to ensure we would get proper cooling in each zone and that we wouldn’t have any warm spots or any kind of temperature deviations that the customer would notice,” says Wohlers. Prior to using simulations, engineers would have had to rely on building a prototype, and if it didn’t work, they’d have to rebuild. With simulation, Wohlers and her team could turn it around in days versus weeks. She goes on to explain that without the company’s investment in the computer model simulations, they would have had to undergo a very iterative prototype process. “It is a huge time saver and gives us a lot of confidence that what we build is going to be a good solution,” she says. “It’s just one of the ways the Sub-Zero company really facilitates innovation.” 

Being a patent recipient hasn’t changed her day-to-day life, says Wohlers, who lives with her husband, an engineer specializing in thermoforming packaging, not far from Sub-Zero’s Madison headquarters. What matters more to her is the team she works with daily. “My name may be on the patents, but there are a lot of people whose hard work went into these processes,” she says. “It is an honor to have the patents, but honestly, it is just so nice to be able to join the ranks of Sub-Zero engineers.”

She also relishes the scientific collaboration that comes with sharing the Innovation Center with so many talented people. “There are designers, engineers, marketing people here, and seeing what other people come up with can spark your own imagination,” says Wohlers. “It’s a really exciting process and definitely fun to be a part of.”  She also stresses that the end result is a high-quality product for the customer. “It really is an amazing process. So many people are involved in designing and producing a Sub-Zero refrigerator,” she says. “It’s why they last so long and are such superb appliances.”

Ultimately, this focus on quality and innovation is what makes her love working at Sub-Zero as much as she does. “The great thing about this company is that if you have a good idea, they encourage you to run with it,” she says. “It’s really such an amazing opportunity to be an engineer here.”