Product Design
For an advanced prototyping course, my team and I designed a multipurpose window solar charger & small planter.
Timeline
Sept - Dec (2018)
Goals
- Model any utilitarian product of our choice, consisting of at least 5 parts and a kinetic component
- Produce a project proposal, timeline, sketches, development and model costs, etc.
- Create 1 low-fidelity, medium-fidelity, and a final 3D printed high-fidelity prototype
Roles
Product design, CAD, project management
User Experience
This product was inspired by the recent trends in sustainable design, particularly solar energy. According to Don Norman, good design is easy and intuitive to use, because humans are creatures of habit. Therefore I wanted to design something that was both good for the environment and so easy to use that it would become a habit.
The problem with current solar powered phone chargers is that you need to remember to actually set them out in the sun. Our product is a fixture that hangs in the window all day, storing all that sweet sun juice in a battery pack; no remembering to put it outside required. Simply plug in your phone at the end of the day. This product is a simple way to incorporate a little more sustainability in your life.
Prototyping Lessons
We were building around a pre-purchased thin and lightweight solar-USB charger. The suction cups needed to placed so as to distribute the weight of the device, as well as minimize the shadow cast on the solar panel. These factors, as well as the allowing room for the sunken planter and door, drove the dimensions of our device, derived from our low-fidelity prototyping. Following this initial concept, we modeled our parts using Solidworks and 3D printed our models using the AnyCubic and Dimension 1200.