problem
The photovoltaic cell has new technology and not much use in common everyday application.
The designed product should utilize the technology in an efficient way by communicating the Epishine brand and the organic photovoltaic cells unique properties. By doing so, the product will become attractive to the end user and display the technology to Epishine clients.
goal
The designed product should utilize the technology in an efficient way by communicating the Epishine brand and the organic photovoltaic cells unique properties. By doing so, the product will become attractive to the end user and display the technology to Epishine clients.
We tested the cell in different light settings and at different angles to understand the constraints we would have while designing a product.
ideation and exploration
The main trend of companies operating in the field of energy harvesting is focusing on solutions related to the Internet of Things and smart systems.
The team decided to ideate around small wearable objects that do not require much power consumption due to the limitations of the cell. Out of these rough sketches, each of us tried to dig deeper into wearables. This was the direction chosen by the Epishine clients.
direction
One of our team members was visiting his grandmother and he saw the medical alarm device she was wearing. The current device bruised her wrist and she never wore it because it did not look trendy and hurt her wrist. There was an opportunity to improve this device.
Need
The average life expectancy of people around the world is getting higher. According to the World health organization, the number of people aged 60 years or older will rise from about 900 million to 2 billion between 2015 and 2050. Additionally there is little evidence that elderly people today are healthier than the previous generation. This in turn means there will be more elderly people demanding care. The forecast shows that the amount of people in developing countries who will need support for their activities of daily living will quadruple.
user testing
We made clay models from a sketch and tested it out with a patient. The product idea was well received. We asked questions like "where would the ideal position for the emergency button be?".
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refinement
Main components needed for the safety device would be an emergency button, a super-capacitor to store energy, an accelerometer to identify any fall, ECG to measure the heart rate and BLE to communicate.
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Main components needed for the safety device would be an emergency button, a supercapacitor to store energy, an accelerometer to identify any fall, ECG to measure the heart rate and BLE to communicate.
The final model consisted of a combination that utilized the light cell in an efficient manner. The overall design is made as thin as possible to achieve a more discrete and neutral look than the existing alarm devices.
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reflection
Through this project, I got to learn a lot more about sustainability. I also got to work with a lot of new materials which improved my physical prototyping skills.
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