TERM PAPER Oliver Ingeln Dr. Hung/Hsiang Wang E N J O Y AT M O S P H E R E .
The moment an air vortex meets a bush fire is the moment a fire tornado is born. Actually, the name is just colloquial - it´s more a swirl of air then a tornado - but nevertheless, this rare and superior nature wonder fascinate thousands of photographs, movie makers and - of course physicists. The enormous supply of fresh air makes the bush fire burning hotter and faster. The resulting chimney effect in the trumpet push the fire once more higher and drawn even more air inside. Both effects works on each other until a huge furious fire tornado appears. Depending of the air vortex the range of an “Fire-Tornado” can variate between 0,5 – 200 m in wide and the swirl is going up to a couple of hundred meters. The questions many physicists already figured out was: How to domesticate a hazardous nature beast like this? https://vimeo.com/67797927
CONTENTS TERM PAPER
INTRO
first words about the fascination fire
IDEA
what´s behind
RESEARCH
about artificially fire twisters existing products in detail a journey through three lengthy years
PRODUCT
function whats special and whats unique
DESIGN PROCESS
my way of thinking ten prototypes in detail
MODIFICATIONS WHY THIS PRODUCT TARGET GROUP THE WHOLE PICTURE
and ranges of items to offer compared with others the wants and needs from sketch to sales packaging website invoice
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THE IDEA
OF SOMETHING NEW
Several years ago, I stood in front
So, we talked and thought about
of a window of a small shop in my
how to build it by ourself, but more
even smaller hometown and saw
daydreamed then really wanted to do
the Twistfire for the very first time
it. Later in this year I have found a big
- a fireplace that makes it possible
glass tube and gave it to my friend
to create a fire vortex with a glass
for Christmas. We asked a glazier
tube cut into three parts. I was
if he can cut it for us in three parts
immediately thrilled and attracted of
but he told us that he don´t want to
the possibility to whirl a fire without
cut it because the chance to break
any movable supporting parts like
it is enormously high. I asked three
a fan. As a man I am fascinated
more glaziers, but we got the same
of fire anyway, but bending it like
answer three more times. So we
that was even more hypnotizing.
thought ahead and found two other
Unfortunately it was impossible for
methods to start a fire. One through
me to effort the almost 500,-Euro
a rotating wire basket the other by a
- around 17.500 NTD - to buy so I
air guide in the base. I opted for the
forgot about it soon. After a few years targeted air deflection, as it is much a friend and me saw a documentation
more fascinating to achieve a rotating
about fire twisters in Australia. I told
flame without moving parts and only
him about the product I have seen
use the thermodynamic property.
and he was, same as me, attracted.
From this point things where in motion!
RESEARCH POSSIBILITIES
Fascinated by the idea bending a fire tornado in a laboratory, scientists develop two kinds of possibility to create a indoor fire tornado. Depending on the kind of use, the amount of air and the burning medium the flame can be controlled in his hight and safely stopped. Right hand sided is a picture of the biggest Fire Tornado in Europe, based in the interactive physical museum Phaeno, which uses option one and paraffin as burning medium.
INBLASTING Radial inblasting of air to create a swirl. Fresh and fast streaming air from the side brings the same effect as the nature do. At the following sides you see how Auerhahn use this option of a wirling fire in the product called Twistfire
MOVEMENT The other possibility to create a Fire Tornado is to rotate a wire basket to ignite the air vortex inside. This idea is already used by the kickstarter product Flameflex.
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RESEARCH WHAT´S SIMILAR
TWISTFIRE is the very first product which was able to create a artificially fire twister. The product is invented in the year 2008 by the German fireplace manufacture Auerhahn. It uses a the first way (radial in blasting of air), but instead of manually in blasting, the air suctioning effect of heat is doing it by himself. To guide the air in the right way the glass is cut in three pieces and arrayed polar in a shape like a turbine wheel. As long as the air flows inside by his own and directed by the physical shape there´s no need for moving parts.
FLAMEFLEX is a kickstarter project which crowd-funded 51.412,US$ in the period between October 2016 to January 2017 and delivered the product successfully. It was made by a team of six members in a outsourced production. The regular price for lowest option out of wood is around 170,-US$ the high class version out of copper 210US$
The way it works is comparable to the second option which is mentioned at the previous page. The oval grid is rotating to create a swirl inside. The most positive part about this product is the very stable and thin ame which is possible by the way of how the swirl is generated. At the other side the most negative part is the use of moving parts, which breaks down the fascinating natural aspect of a ďŹ re twister and how it is build by thermodynamic rules. read more about in COMPARISON
OPTION 3
ATMOSPHERIC VORTEX ENGINGE is a in this discipline still unused to create a fire tornado. With this, by Luis M. Michaud created idea to make controlled twisters by supplying low heated air it´s possible to create energy of the sucked air. So, if it works with low heated air why not with a high degree? In this idea only the base is guiding the air and the outside temperature is used to shield the vertebra. In order to use the
warm air circulating in tower creates vortex, drawing in more ir and turning turbines to generate power
Atmospheric Vortex Engine for a fire tornado, a artificial shield must be created.
warm water is pumped into heat
cooled water is discharged water warms ambient air, which is directed from exchanger into tower
There are many nay sayers on anything that haven´t been demonstrated yet. Louis Michaud
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PRODUCT FUNCTION
In this version of the ďŹ re tornado, the air vortex is created right at the beginning of the base. The slats are directed exactly to the inner edge of the glass cylinder. In addition, the air is compressed by the wing-shaped lamellae and shoots with a higher speed on the glass surface. This way, the air vortex can be kept stable up to a height of 90cm. The chimney effect contributes to this and increases the supply of fresh air, thereby releasing a higher level of energy. The height and strength of the vortex can be controlled by three factors: height of the glass cylinder, fuel and air supply. The higher the cylinder, the greater the degree of intake air. Normally,
the flame shoots over the glass cylinder. To avoid this, the air supply is contained to adopt the size of the flame to the glass cylinder. As long as the height of the cylinder is fixed, the only factor which must be controlled by the amount of the air supply is the type of the fuel.
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DESIGN PROCESS STEP BY STEP
They where many prototypes build between the first idea of a CNC produced wooden base and the final, much faster and even more cheap produced, concrete one. Ten digital and three analog prototypes at all. The whole process lasts more then two years, but very sporadic and sluggish. It was always more a kind of fun hobby then hard work. Sometimes I hadn´t worked on it for months, some weeks every day. The most creative ideas came on when I didn´t thought about it. Like walking through the city, hanging around with friends, sitting in public transportation. Yes, even in the night when I woke up from sleeping. I was never without my small black notebook, to write down every single idea. Each of them brought me a step forward. Also finding a producer for the glass who can offer me a glass for a reasonable price was not that easy. I kept in contact with 13 german glasiers and even two chinese and one taiwanese. I went to company which works in a partnership with our school and is used to test concretes. The helped me to create the perfect receip. At all I´ve asked a lot of people, run around a lot and spend much time. But all the work finally paid of - the product is better than I could imagine at the very beginning.
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1. I started with two laser cut plates with twelve 6mm holes and twelve also laser cut fins in the aerodynamic shape I figured out at the beginning. I fixed those fins between the plates with wood dowels in the middle of each. This construction made it possible zu move the fins to figure out
INFO:
which orientation makes the best result. 2. After all prototypes including prototype
that I thought about a CNC drilled version out
no. 5 where already build in Germany
of two parts. 2. To make space for the burning
before I started the semester at NTUT
medium I decided to make a higher base. 4. Instead of leading the air from the top, I tried to lead it in
SLIGHTLY TO THE FINAL
1
2
3
4
5
from the bottom, which makes a nicer but definitely not with the wholes like before. 8. Finally I design from the looking site. 5. After a got the idea how to connect the inner plate with the outer while i recognized, that the proportion tube - rescale the fins. 9. Small adjustments around the don´t fit into my vision of design, so I inner circle to make it suitable for industry burning pastes rescaled it. 6. The first idea to drill out and finally after a long time of mental deadlocking about the inner part of the base was to save the CNC production out of nothing i got the Idea of a weight, if I will ship it some days. So concrete version, which is much cheaper if I produce more at this point I thought the first time then one product . 10. After I set the final shape of the feet, about selling. So far it was more just i decided to create a mold in the base do fix them at the a free time activity for me. 7. Did not right place. Also the Logo of TAYAIO should be in the base really know how to fix the inner plate, somewhere.
6
7
8
9
10
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On the top two pictures you can see the first prototype, which had adjustable fins. All parts were laser cut from 3mm plywood. Since I belong to the service team of the Lasercutters at my hometown university, I´ve made the prototype shorthand and spontaneously on the same day of the idea.
Much more than the prototype above was not planned at the beginning. This should serve as an attempt before the ďŹ nal base should be milled from a higher quality wood. At this point, I started thinking about bigger production and sales. After I had calculated the price for a CNC wooden version in the free economy, the idea was quickly discarded. Weeks or perhaps even months later, the idea of a production in much cheaper concrete came, whereby only a single raw form must be milled to create many silicon molds - to create even more products.
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MOLD
In total, five parts are milled in the CNC. A plate for millimeter-accurate fixation with five 5mm holes, a block that serves as a mold for the prime silicone and at the same time later the stiffening of the silicone to prevent deformation by concrete. Then there is a positive shape and two more parts to create the inner silicone part. The inside of the two parts is also used later in the concrete casting to stiffen the silicone for the first few hours. As soon as the concrete is in shape, the inner solid material is taken out, so that the concrete can contract when
RESULT
it dries while the silicone presses in, but does not tear. Everything is fixed on the plate by screws and knock-in dowels.
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DETAILS
In order to fix the feet optimally in place, a guide is incorporated into the base. Three feet, each 120 ° apart, ensure a secure footing. The feet by themselves are made out of concrete as well. The indentation also avoid a shrink caused gap between the two arts.
The logo stands out, just next to one of the feet. In order to introduce the logo in such a way, it must be laser cut separately out of a hard and thick paper and glued after the milling process on the first positive form.
The inner circle is held by extended lamellae, all in one go. The outer edge of the inner ring has been attened to avoid braking air vortex. The outer cylinder is 2mm above the slats out to give a 1mm stainless steel plate space. For the wood variant he will have to stick out 6mm.
To save material and weight, the interior is left out. It remains a 12mm thick cylinder outside and also a 12mm thick plate + slats. That is also the best way to avoid air streaming problems.
Inside, the recess for the ďŹ ring mass was adapted to the common EU fuel pastes used in catering. If you want to save money and switch to ethanol, it is possible to bale a suitable combustion chamber.
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PRODUCT IN DETAIL
All dry facts brought to a point. But what is more important than facts? Proportion! Who cares about the millimeter, if the shape meets optimal proportions? Who cares about the production time if the product is made
The
diameter
of
285mm
and
70mm high base consists of tile compensatory mass, polypropylene ďŹ bers and colored pigments. The inner diameter is 84mm and the glass sitting on the 1mm thick stainless steel plate 375mm. The feet raise the product by 10mm, the outstanding edge around the stainless steel plate is 12mm thick. Overall, the product weighs 440g. The production time of a product is 7 days. For 24 hours, the concrete stiffens out in its silicone form and the concrete remains in the water for a further 6 days to increase its stiffness and break resistance.
for eternity? Who is still interested in the weight once the product has arrived at the destination? It only counts the feeling at the sight. The coherence - the holistic.
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Sophisticated shape of high quality materials.
Timeless
design
with
attractive colors and a thoughtful concept. A precise processed product in a sustainable packaging. That are the things when it is about a good value. All those in one product. It is still more then important for me to satisfy the customer in every of those so that they can buy a product without regret it to a point. To make them feel like me when I have seen a fire twister the very first time in front of this shop window and even better, the feeling when you have it at home. Between your couch and the TV, outside sitting on a table with your friends after a good BBQ, or bend the fire wherever you want to because this fire twister is yours.
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light up here
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Due to the increased supply of fresh air, the amount of released energy increases enormously, which makes it possible to easily heat rooms up to a volume of 75m3 within a very short time. The following through the chimney effect air circulation in the room also ensures a rapid spread of heat.
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PRODUCTION
HOW TO PRODUCE IN HIGH VOLUME
To produce the negative mold for the concrete, a positive mold had to be milled out of necuron ďŹ rst. The tool was in that case not long enough to mill the hole in the middle, which is why the chuck has eaten into the blank. We then sanded it down planar and glued an additional piece on it.
The left picture shows the finished mold for the silicone mold. There are five fixation points on a lower plate to ensure position. The inner part is taken out later and the silicone is simply turned over. Thus, the outer mold can support the silicone mold in the further casting operations. The silicone could be pressed out of the blank by means of compressed air. Below is the finished silicone mold. In addition to this mold there is another inner part necessary. See at the next page
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Ten prototypes were poured out of this mold until we found out the optimal composition of the concrete. PP ďŹ ber, easy owing cement instead of normal cement, pigments and water in the exactly optimal ratio.
As insert for the ďŹ rst prototype resulting from this mold, we used a polystyrene foam element. As concrete contracts during drying, it compresses too tightly inside to get it out without damage. In the next attempt, I opted for a much softer Styrofoam, which my executer back home in Germany could not take out unscathed as well. In the picture below you can see the third, successful attempt in which I advised to protected the Styrofoam outside with adhesive tape, which makes it more slippery.
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In the ďŹ rst experiments, we tried some pigments in addition to the optimal composition. Bottom left the concrete color without any additions. Top left the still wet concrete. The prototype in the right picture shows the ďŹ nale version of the concrete composition. All this prototypes are still version 8 of 10. v10 exist only digital and will build back in Germany this summer.
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PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
The highest heat achieved so far inside the glass cylinder is 244 ° C. We now use only borosilicate glass, which is heat resistant up to 500 ° C. The plate get´s cooled by the highly streaming fresh air and only reach 43°C
For a long time no feet were planned, or better said not worked out. The concrete base was raised using a bowl to ensure the supply of fresh air. Under the bowl, the heat of the combustion chamber accumulated enormously, which led to a tension difference in the concrete circle and made cracks. With the feet this problem is solved. The concrete heats up evenly - no cracks anymore.
PROBLEM
SOLUTION
On the pictures above you can clearly see where the problem was. Thanks to the feet the concrete heat up the evenly.
On the left you can see the first prototypical feet, made in a 3D printer. The final feet are cast from concrete.
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VARIETIES EDITIONS
The base of all of them will be a concrete base with a 375mm high glass tube. Depending on the formula of the concrete it is possible to create tones from light-gray to almost black. Even colors are possible. Addition of blue pigments will make it more industrial looking and cold while red pigments will turn it light brown and make it more lovely, warm and cozy. Depends on special seasonal offers there could be for example a yellow or a brown one. Combined with a metal, wooden or the special iris shutter plate there is a result of more then 20 combinations. The feet get delivered in a tone darker than the base, but it´s possible for the costumer to choose even those.
POSSIBILLITIES
FREE SCALE as long as the costumer pays, it´s possible to make almost every size INLAYS IN MOLD creating a laser cut ring makes it possible to create any kind of design added in the mold, such as personalize inlay or parametric inlay INDIVIDUAL COLORS adding any pigments to the concrete and create your own colorful fireplace. Even combinations of feet and base are easily possible HIGHER FIRE switch your 375mm glass to a 500mm glass and the twister will get this high IMPLEMENTATION the Base is implementable to furnitures, installations and even facades INGREDIENTS different ingredients in the burning medium can change the color of the flame from yellow to red, green or blue BURNING MEDIUM instead of the catering burning paste there could be a ethanol combustion chamber or even gas.
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IRIS SHUTTER EDITIONS
As a special additional function is a wooden shutter plate to switch of the ďŹ re without touching the hot glass or using any tools. This works with a iris shutter, which is hidden in the inner of the plate. To close the shutter you use a magnet knob and slide along the rim of the plate. A inner magnet which is connected to the shutter blades will grip and follow your move until the iris is completely closed. In theory it works. Unfortunately, there is no functioning prototype because the choice fell on a wrong material. Someday te ďŹ nal version will be available at our website!
PLEXIPLATE EDITIONS
Wanna see where the magic happens? With a Plexiglas plate in 3mm thickness, the otherwise incomprehensible function reveals itself at ďŹ rst glance. The heat resistance must be tested extensively.
GAS VERSION EDITIONS
Using a gas concrete insert, the surface can be completely sealed. Above the aerated concrete there is a 1mm layer of concrete. Seen from above, there is no opening in the base. The ame is formed out of nothing about a few centimeters above the surface. Thus it is no longer burning the fuel mass but the concrete. Unique!
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COMPARISION AS OBJECTIVE AS I CAN BE
In order to evaluate the products as objectively as possible, I have listed all the aspects to be evaluated separately once in a quick comparison here and detailed at the previous page
FLAMEFLEX
funktion design quality materials and haptic production costs presentation varietations usage maintandence
TWISTFIRE
TAYAIO
FLAMEFLEX TWISTFIRE
TAYAIO
funktion
the function is very good and the flame is undoubtely the most constance of the three
the flame is twisting as it should but still not as clean as a string
in this case the formation of the swirl happens invisible in the base - the flame is similar to the twistfire and going up to the same high without sucking in fresh air because of the chemny effect
design
keeping production costs under control could be the reason for the shape (to not call it design)
the design at all is nice you can see the function in the shape and it´s not more on than needed
simple and round - no extra parts which are not used for the function are at TAYAIO - only three parts making the difference from the other products to timeless minimalism
quality
It´s a relatively low cost production as you can see at the quality of the finish
the Twistfire is a high quality product with a precise procession made by professional glaziers and smiths
TAYAIO also count to the high quality products in this comparison - the cheap production makes it possible to select only the best shapes for selling - no compromises
materials and haptic
the materials doing their part to the low quality production - plastic, rubber, thin wire grid, glue
high end materials - for outdoor and indoor usage - only the haptic loses a point because of the almost free array
concrete, stainless steel and borosilicate glass are still timeless and almost indestructible - the haptic of all of this natural elements is just desirable and create a feeling of high quality by touching
production costs
because of the movable and electrical parts it is still a costly production
cutting glass pipes have a high probability of failure and the metal parts are costly too
just one high quality mold is needed to make a bench of products - the price of concrete is almost nothing no glass have to be cut - no movable or electrical parts needed - the production of the base can be easily made without outsourcing
presentation
Flameflex has so far the best product presentation and CI in comparison to Auerhahn
sadly the presentation of the product including the product video is as minimal as it could
with my plan of „the whole picture“ it´s possible to create product presentation, packaging and marketing by a team of two - this extremely short way of communication create the possibility of a work flow to picturing whats in our mind
varietations
four colors giving a selection for the costumer and creating a price range to catch up more target groups
two different sizes building a small selection for the costumer
two sizes - choose your burning medium out of ethanol, gas or safety burning paste - stainless steel, wood or iris shutter plate - this options creates eight different products in a price range from cheap to superior
usage
the grid have to be removed to light up the (very) small cup of ethanol manually every few minutes
one of the three glasses have to be removed and bring exactly in place after manually lighting
you have to remove the glass cylinder to light it up and shut the fire in the normal version - with the iris shutter its possible to light it up and shut it down per swipe with an magnetic knob over the surface of the plate
maintandence
again the movable/ electrical and the many parts playing a bad roll to Flameflex again
the continuous removal of the glass have the consequence of wear and tear
no maintenance at all - only three static parts - nothing movable - even the glass can fall down without breaking up to 40cm
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FROM SKETCH TO SALE THE WHOLE PICTURE
Especially important for me was to plan the whole, instead of stop thinking about it after the design process. All steps, from idea to sale. Everything that belongs to. Between the two points are many for the success of the product crucial things that are usually delivered to subcontractors. I use the big advantage given to me by my university in Germany: a great Network of designers!
IDEA
At our school interior designers, communication designers and inter-media designers study in one building. I had a picture of the whole in mind and
PRODUCT
am in love with the detail - that is why I do not like to give things out of hand. But other hand site
TARGET GROUP
I incredibly love to learn new things and ask the people around me for advice and / or cooperation. Many of my friends gave me instructions in
PRODUCT IDENTITY
packaging, marketing, CI and web design. I use all my knowledge and the knowledge of my partners to market a complete product that
PRODUCTION
excels in form, quality and identity.
PACKAGING WEBSITE MARKETING SALES
TARGET GROUP ATTRACT YOUR COSTUMERS
Since there are already two similar products, I will focus on a specific target group to present the product optimally for sale. All the above points are adjusted to the target audience and their willingness to pay. Thanks to the low-cost production,
30 - 60 years old middle to upper income, appreciate desgin and high quality materials, open minded in a way of experimental childlike
TAYAIO, despite its high quality of product, materials and packaging, is
well
positioned
between
the
two already existing products and therefore also in those interested in purchasing. There will be overlaps in the upper price segment of Twistfire customers and sporadically in the field of Auerhahn customers.
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PACKAGING
THE FIRST IMPRESSION
The packaging consists of two overlaying boxes in different black tones. The inlay is out of laser cut pulp. It´s one of the most environmentally friendly materials for a sustainable packaging cycle The basis of pulp is made from 100% recovered paper and natural materials, such as hemp or similar natural fibers, and can easily be fully recycled, composted or recycled. The cover page is adorned with the message „let your fire whirl“ that can not be read at first glance. The difficult to read should attract attention and thus leave a deeper first impression in the customer. At the side there are two finger grips to carry the package.
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WEBSITE
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INVOICE & LETTER As the last part of „the whole picture“ there was the invoice created. The orange written words are raising up like flames. Everything is clearly arranged in four lines. The Logo and the claim are on top over two lines.
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Project by Oliver Ingeln Supporting Professor Dr. Hung/Hsiang Wang
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