Project2- PSS Design Peer Comments

Chieh Min Lee: Rebat-battery-recycling PSS
http://leechiehmin.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/rebat-battery-recycling-pss.html

Benjamin Chan: PSS project - G.E.R Glass Reverse Vending Machine
http://bjcyc.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/pss-project-ger-glass-reverse-vending.html

Yuliang Gu:
http://guyuliang1990.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/i-want-as-for-from-in-he-amount.html

Frankie Ho: GPS Bike System
http://frankie-industrial-design.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/gps-bike-system-rationale.html

Andrea: Battery Bin
http://andreakrakovska.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/final-pss.html

PSS Design: Trip Planner Rental System for Tourists

 

My PSS design is the trip planner rental system for tourists.

Statistic shows that large numbers of tourists are travelling using rental cars nowadays. Private cars generate much more co2 and harmful gas that contribute more on the greenhouse effect comparing to public transports. So the aim of my PSS is to encourage tourists to use public transports instead of renting cars by make it more convenient for them to take buses and trains in unfamiliar environment.

The trip planner is designed for tourists who come to Australia and just visiting for few days. This group of people is not familiar with the local public transportation system. They usually do not have internet access, so they can’t get the information online or from their apps. The trip planner has variety of language selections for tourists all around the world. It can help tourists plan trips using public transport, help tourist find the bus/train stations and navigate them there. It will provide with accurate live train/bus timetable by exchanging data with the gps on the trains and buses. This is much more useful than the current smartphone apps. Also, all map data is offline so no internet access is required, users won’t get the frustrating error message ’cannot connect the internet’. A lot of tourism information is also included in the trip planner and can suggest the near attraction to visit. Information of special transports for tourists is also provided like the hop on hop off buses, monorails and so on. The trip planner uses the iconic Australian aboriginal styled pattern that brings tourists closer to the local culture; the special looking also makes it more recognizable.

The rental system involves both operator service at service center and self-service vending machines. The vending machine provides rental service of the trip planner and the operator service provides renting, returning and also free charging of the trip planner. So tourists can rent a trip planner at the vending machine and return it at any of the service centers. When the battery of the trip planner runs out, users can simply swap it with a fully charged one at the nearest service center. The service center will be located at airports, hotels, and tourists’ attraction so tourists can have easier access to the service. And the vending machines can be put at the crowded places like city, train stations and so on; they all have solar panels on the top that can use solar energy to charge the trip planners inside.

Compact Trip Planner for tourists

Compact Trip Planner for tourists

 

-For tourists come to Sydney for couple of days who are not familiar with Sydney and do not have internet access (foreign tourists).

-To encourage tourists travel in Sydney with public transports rather than renting cars or taking taxis. Make it more convenient for tourist to travel with public transports.

 

-The Trip Planner has a built in gps that shows the tourist’s location. It lists the nearby tourist attractions, so tourists can select the place they want to go to and the Trip Planner will calculate the route for them, showing what kind of public transports they can use and where to catch the buses or trains.

-As tourists are not familiar with the public transport system in Sydney, it is not easy for them to get to the tourist attractions without renting cars or taxis. The Trip Planner shows tourists clearly how they can get to their destinations using public transports so they do not need to hire a taxi or rent a car. It is also a cheaper way for the tourists.

 

-The Trip Planner rental station can be put in city, airports, hotels, tourist attractions.

-The Trip Planners are charged in the rental station using solar energy collected by the station. So the tourists can get to a tourist attraction and plug in their Trip Planner and left it charging in the station, when they finish they come back and take the fully charged Trip Planner and plan a trip to another scenic spot.

-The Trip Planner is in compact size, so the tourists can hang them on the bag or belts. Or they can put them in the bag when not using.

-The rental fee is charged per day. Tourists can book it online and pick it up in any rental station.

 

 

Reflection on Who Killed the Electric Car?

The video Who Killed the Electric Car? is a documentary talks about the rise and fall of electric cars. The electric car came out in 1996, it is much cheaper and more environmental friendly than the existing cars burning gasoline and the hybrid cars, however, it is not widely used all over the world at last for some reasons. The director showed us that the electric car is murdered through his investigation.

 

This film shows the born of the world’s first electric car- EV1 and its mystery fall. EV-1 played an important role in renewable resources, it will be the major support of auto motive industry in the future world and it will have a great influence on both the economy and culture. The movie investigated into the auto manufactory, engineers, consumers and the auto mobile lovers in Los Angeles; analyze from the motivation to the evidence and finally got the truth: the fall of the electric car is actually a murder as it threated the benefit of the oil companies. Electric cars can save 100billion gallon of oil every year if everyone buys electric car, that means the oil companies won’t get the benefit the used to get.

 

I was shocked after knowing the real reason why electric cars cannot get widely used is because of the selfish human beings who only consider their own benefits but not the environment. They were risking the whole world for that.

 

However, oil is non-renewable resource, so it will finally be used up by human beings, which makes electric car more suitable for the world. I believe that electric cars is the trend of the future of automotive, and transportations using clean energy will finally replace the existing cars, the trend of industrial design will consider more on maintain a sustainable environment.

Cormack Project Peer Comments

Benjamine Chan
http://bjcyc.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/normal.html

Chieh Min Lee
http://leechiehmin.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/2012-cormack-legs-eleven-packaging.html

Frankie Ho
http://frankie-industrial-design.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/project-1-cormack.html

Siting Lin
http://linst90.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/cereal-is-healthy-choicefor-breakfast.html

Yuliang Gu
http://guyuliang1990.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/project-1-cormack-milk-powder-can.html

Cormack Leg Eleven Packaging Design - Choco Roll! 2.5L Chocolate Milk packaging

The target market is children aged 5-6. Children at this age are usually more interested in process than products; they are easily motivated and eager to try something new. They want do everything themselves and seek adult approval. Of course they would like to pour the chocolate milk themselves like the grown-ups do. However, with the full 2.5L bottle, they are easily to spill it. Children at aged 5 to 6 will be able to lift the bottle, but they cannot get balanced when pouring the liquid into the cup, so there is great chance they will spill the chocolate milk on the table.

 

The existing large bottles in the market are all not easy for children to pour, neither the size nor the shape. They cannot balance themselves when pouring the chocolate milk with one hand and the other hand holding the cup. It is still not easy for them even with both hands holding the bottle.

 

To solve the problem, an efficient way is to make the shape of the bottle more controllable when pouring. A hexagon shape is designed to be the bottle as all the surface are flat and can sit on the table safely. So children can change the angle of the bottle when pouring by rotating the bottle instead of lifting the bottle and pour. This can reduce the chance of spilling the liquid on the table. When the bottle is full, rotate once and the bottle sits on the table at a different angle, then it starts pouring; when the bottle is nearly empty or rotating once does not work, just put the bottle at the edge of the table, rotate the bottle twice and the bottle sits on the table at a different angle and start pouring.

 

HDPE is selected as the material for both the main body and the caps as it is strong enough for the bottle and easy to be blow molded. Blow molding is selected as the process for the main body and injection molding is selected as the process of the caps. The cap is also redesigned, there are two parts of the cap, and the top cap is molded separately and then pushed onto the normal cap. The shape of the top cap is easier for children to open comparing to the normal small caps.

 

Disassembly Exercise- Toaster

In the disassembly exercise, we were given a toaster .
The following pictures shows what we finally get to.

Reflection on 'The 11th Hour'

The film the 11^th hour tells us the earth is in danger due to our damage to the environment and how we can stop it to save our environment.

The film can be divided into three different sections, the first section is describe how the earth develops, how the ecosystem changes and what had human done to the environment in the recent years; the second section analyzes on what caused the environmental crises; and the third section gives some possible solutions to the problems.

The cause of the environmental crises is human beings are taking too much of the natural resource without caring about the balance of the ecosystem and the rules of nature while most of the resource is non-renewable. As mentioned in the film, “There are too many us, using too many resources too fast”, “This lack of understanding of the Earth's interdependent systems has created a convergence of crises.”,  “Governmental indifference tied to its allegiance to a corporate economy that is addicted to growth at any cost and perhaps, most insinuating of all, to the culture of consumerism.” As a result, the human put the whole earth in danger and all creatures including human ourselves are going to pay for what we have done. People ruin the planet of earth, almost kill themselves, and we are all going to die if not doing anything to fix it. “Not only is it the 11^th hour, it’s 11:59” said the guy in the movie. As suggested, we need to stop what we are doing right now and get the things fixed. If human beings are the source of the problem ，we can be the foundation for the solution. “This generation gets to completely change this world.”

In the film, several aspects of solutions are proposed which are political, economic and technological and so on. From the economical aspect, the tax of petrol can be increased to force people use public transportations. From the technological aspect, which we need to concern more as designers, is to think more of green, renewable energy such as solar energy. For example, buildings with the ability to photosynthesize can be designed to absorb CO2 and release oxygen, or have the ability to transfer solar energy to other energy. And find the replacement for gasoline or design much better public transport to encourage people use public transport instead of cars, etc. Also, we human beings need to change our sense to think more for the environment. We need to recycle the wastes, save water, plant more trees and have fewer children and so on. It is our responsibilities to save the environment, to save our earth.  

Video Reflection- How it's made, Giving packaging a new life

All the videos are talking about how the packaging is made nowadays.

For the cardboard box, basically they share three basic structure components: one sheet of paper called flute, the sandwich between two flat sheets is called liner and together forms what is called corrugate board. The waves create the air cushion between the flute and liner and strengthen the boards. Double liners can be made to add the strength. After trimming the handles of the cardboards, they are folded and glued to join the box.

Packaging tubes are widely used as toothpastes, glue, skin cream and so on, they are usually made from aluminum, which is affordable. The impact extrusion is applied on the aluminum to form the shape, then the thread is cut out on the neck using a trimming machine. After that, a coat is applied inside the tube to protect the aluminum from inside content. Polyester paint and information is then printed on the tube. After it dries, a cap is screwed on.

Tetrapak can keep drink and food fresh for one year without fridge. They are mostly made from paper, they have three layers: plastic layer, paperboard and foyer. A plastic coating makes it lid proof. The general process of the tetrapak is print, lamination, cut, fill with product, seal and fold.

Aluminum cans can be fully recycled without any loss. Firstly aluminum sheets is punched into round sheets and then made into a cup. Machine draws out the cup forming the body of the can and the edge is trimmed and cleaned. After washed and dried, print is applied on the cans. The production rate of cans is very high.

Glass bottles are natural and green and they can be recycled endlessly. Less energy is used to make glass bottles then producing metal or plastics. The molten glass is cut into certain amount of glass and goes in the mold then is blow up into bottles. Then the bottles go through fire to prevent from cooling too quickly and crack.

Plastic bottles are light to carry, no glass is left on the ground when dropped. They are mostly made from PET. The performs are made from molten PET with 10% recycled PET, then the performs are blow up in extremely high pressure forms the body and cools down.

From the videos of giving packaging a new life, we can know what kind of materials can be recycled and how they are recycled.

For paper recycling, waste paper is sorted into different quality of paper. After the print is removed, raw material is added to produce different types and quality of paper. Finally, paper sheet is pressed, drained and dried. Tetrapak contains aluminum. Aluminum and paper are separated. The paper is used to produce premium sheets of paper. Tinplates and aluminum are separated from the waste using magnates, and then melted to make new products. Glass is recycled by different colors. Plastics is separated using machine by different materials and colors and then recycled.