AirLight
Summary Our project product is called AirLight, it is a self-sustaining light source for users in isolated, off-grid areas. There are two source of power in which this light source will function, one being air turbine, and the other solar panels. Both sources are connected to a rechargeable battery pack which in return powers numerous LED lights in circuit, the medium in which we used to connect all these wires was a breadboard. There were many inspirations for us and they all played a role in construction our form and design. We researched into different forms of wind turbine, different forms of self sustaining energies, and there were many aspects of each inspiration we considered. Lastly, our interaction revolves around accessibility and convenience; the user can fold and unfold the product, also take apart pieces to save space.
CONTEXT: CAMPING & MOUNTAIN CLIMBING
Division of Work Shopping for material: Dean & Laurinda Physical labor of cutting material: Dean & Zachary Producing measurements: Irene, Laurinda Building of the mechanic/actual functionality: how the light works: Zachary, Dean Circuit: Zachary Interaction: Dean Research: Irene Updating of blog : Zachary, Dean Information recording: Dean & Laurinda Visuals/design of poster: Irene, Zachary Aesthetic form: Laurinda, Irene 3D model for 3D printing: Irene
Passionate Mountaineer
Camping Light User Persona It’s very hard to find a specific climbing product I like. I want to have something handy which can give me help when I’m doing mountain climbing, especially camping.
Jackson is a true fan of mountain climbing, and he would like to camp over night wherever he goes mountain climbing. He likes to carry light and only the necessities in his bag such as small lamp, water, lighter etc. Sometimes he would like to read books outside the camp and enjoy the atmosphere at nighttime. He found it inconvenient to use flashlight while he’s reading, he has to hold the flashlight in one hand and hold the book in the other. He needs a lamp like light source
Jackson Ham
which could be put on the ground and be able to provide a stable light source. And also, it should have a solid weight to
Background 29 years old Very passionate of mountain climbing and camping Have been doing mountain climbing for over 5 years. Studying at SFU Working part time Living in Vancouver by his own
Goals Wishes to get a convenient light source Want to look into the stores and look for something special for his needs
resist moderate wind blowing.
Form & Process Designer/Design firms: Our product form is inspired by LED foldable calendar light which is a majority produced in China. It’s a foldable table light has buit-in lithium battery and calendar function. It could be folded as 3 layers, making it very convenient to carry. We then began to explore other different possible form for our lighting, and what attracted us was the uncommon square lighting, especially Box Light that was designed by Jonas Hakaniemi. The design breaks away from the unconventional rounded lighting design. Because the product is in shapes of a box and seems very unconventional, making the design very interesting and it had attracted our attention immediately. Metaphors: We were also inspired by traveling chest, or trunk. Previously they were used to store clothing and other personal needs of the user while they are traveling for a long period of time. Similarly to a traveling chest, our form was designed to store the light source, the most important component with our design. Moreover, their boxy style inspired our final form.
Ideation Process -sketches 1
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3
Challenges The first form concept of our lantern is powered only by wind, then as others suggested we need an alternative back-up power source. The first challenge we were having was how to make the electric motor and solar panel light up the LED. We tried to light up the LED by using an empty rechargeable battery and connect the generator to see if everything works. After that we use breadboard to test whether we can connect everything together in a parallel circuit. It finally works after three weeks of iteration. The second challenge we were having was the measurement. For first few tries, we did not realize we have to consider the thickness of acrylics plastic sheets into our measurements. Since our material is acrylic, it’s very hard to make measurement adjustment by hand. We have to do laser cutting several times and see how it work.
Materiality The main material that we used for our product is yellow acrylics sheets. Acrylics plastics comes in many different transparencies, and they are resistant to many different external factors, such as chemical and weather resistant. Moreover, there are numerous way to shape them. Filling the given fabrication requirements, we decided to use laser cutter to shape them into our desired form. As our product is a lantern, we needed a material that allows light to pass through, and acrylics transparent characteristics fits our needs. Therefore, we used clear acrylics sheets to build the container that contains the LEDs. The rest of the product is made with obvious yellow color, making it a good off grid color so it can be spotted easily. As our wind blade is created using 3D printer, the wind blade was made of ABS plastic. It is then painted with a metallic gold finish to make it appear better and stronger. We also added a rubber sheet padding to the bottom of our product. The friction characteristics of rubber sheets also helps our product to prevent sliding on ground
Alternative Material We would use rubber coated aluminum to build the structure of the lantern. Rubber coated aluminum would be the alternative material that we would use for our product. Rubber is highly flexible, waterproof, and non-conductive. Aluminum is durable, low-density, and corrosion-resistant. Aluminum is conductive, but rubber is not, therefore a coating of rubber would make our overall form non-conductive.
Fabrication
3D PRINTED WIND BLADE
(highlighted in shades of beige and brown)
To create our final product, we mainly used 3D printer, and laser cutter to build our final product. The main body of the foldable lantern consists of yellow and clear acrylics that were cut out using the laser cutter. The wind blade was created using 3D printer, as it follows the dynamic form of helix.
USED LASER CUTTER TO CREATE LANTERN'S BODY
(highlighted in shades of yellow)
AirLight- Exploded View
Found Parts
A Wind Blade
F
B
Sphere Connector
G Solar Panel
C
Motor
H Rechargeable
Battery
D LED E Hinges
A
Switch
I
Breadboard
J
Rubber padding
F
B
C G
D
H
I
E
E
J E
Technology For the technology component, there are wires connected to all our self-sustaining devices. Wires are connected to the solar panel and wind turbine, both circuits are placed in series with each other in a breadboard. Coming out of the breadboard, are wires connected to a pack of rechargeable batteries with an anode placed in between to stop energy to go both directions. Then, follows a resistor to stop any short circuiting of the whole system. With all these connections in place, there is a source of energy ready to be used. Wires are connected in position and on the other ends, are two LEDs, also placed in series, but in between the wires, is a switch. This switch allows the ability to turn on or off the LED light bulbs. Then at the end of the wires, are the two LEDs.
Solar Panel Diode Wind Blade
Rechargeable Switch Battery
Resistor
LED
Interactions Our product has many interactions for the user, first off the product can be folded three times to open. First making two pieces into one, then taking out the lid and lastly folding out the shaft to attach the blade. Afterwards, the user places a blade on the machine to allow rotation of the motor. Another interaction is a light switch in order to turn on and off the LEDs. The device can also be placed in any manner towards the sunlight for recharging, also the wind turbine to allow rotation for recharging.
1
Flip open Airlight
2
Open the lid
3
Lift up the inner container
4
Insert the wind blade inside the container.
5
Close the lid
6
Turn on Airlight by click on the switch.
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4
5 2
3
6
Multi-View/Orthographic Drawings 5.5 inch
5.9 inch 2.1 inch
2. 5inch
1.38 inch
4.3 inch
3. 2 inch
1.5 inch
1.1 inch
1.6 inch 5.5 inch
5.9 inch
Perspective View - Rendering
Perspective view - Final product photo