Our Team
Part A
Problem Opportunities
Problem #1
Elders with Parkinson's disease having trouble drinking from cups without spilling their drink. We considered this to be a problem, and found that it was relatable amongst the group, since most of our grandparents suffered from the same or similar issues relating to the topic.
Problem #2
Issues arising when trying to eat and/or drink in the dark, such as: not being able to see your food/drink, spilling your food/drink, or not being able to properly enjoy your meal because you cannot see it.
Problem #3
Cup holders in cars not big enough to hold larger size cups. After interviewing a group of people who own vehicles, one of the big issues that we discovered was that the cup holders in cars were not big enough to hold certain types of cups, such as a thermos, large coffee cup, or mugs with handles.
Problem #4
Steering wheel covers leaving scuff marks on the finish of the steering wheel. Another issue that raised upon interviewing car owners about the interior of their car was most of the steering wheel covers on the market today either fall apart easily, or scratch the finish of the customers steering wheel.
Problem #5
Not being able to reach the chips at the bottom of a pringles can if you have big hands. This was an issue that was also relatable between the members of our group.
Problem #6
Sun visor in automobiles not effective and get in the way. An issue that also arises is when the sun is bright out, and you have your sun visor down, but you turn onto another road, and now the sun is shining in through your side window, and into your eyes. In order to rotate the visor to the window that is affected, you might hit your head on the visor, or possibly impair your driving if you are in thick traffic.
Elders with Parkinson's disease having trouble drinking from cups without spilling their drink. We considered this to be a problem, and found that it was relatable amongst the group, since most of our grandparents suffered from the same or similar issues relating to the topic.
Problem #2
Issues arising when trying to eat and/or drink in the dark, such as: not being able to see your food/drink, spilling your food/drink, or not being able to properly enjoy your meal because you cannot see it.
Problem #3
Cup holders in cars not big enough to hold larger size cups. After interviewing a group of people who own vehicles, one of the big issues that we discovered was that the cup holders in cars were not big enough to hold certain types of cups, such as a thermos, large coffee cup, or mugs with handles.
Problem #4
Steering wheel covers leaving scuff marks on the finish of the steering wheel. Another issue that raised upon interviewing car owners about the interior of their car was most of the steering wheel covers on the market today either fall apart easily, or scratch the finish of the customers steering wheel.
Problem #5
Not being able to reach the chips at the bottom of a pringles can if you have big hands. This was an issue that was also relatable between the members of our group.
Problem #6
Sun visor in automobiles not effective and get in the way. An issue that also arises is when the sun is bright out, and you have your sun visor down, but you turn onto another road, and now the sun is shining in through your side window, and into your eyes. In order to rotate the visor to the window that is affected, you might hit your head on the visor, or possibly impair your driving if you are in thick traffic.
Problem Statement
J.D. Power and Associates 2011 interior quality and satisfaction survey provided results saying 69% of 1000 new car buyers reported having problems with the interior designs of the new vehicle. The average traveled miles annually is 13,476, which is a lot of time to be spending in your vehicle, so we plan to fix these interior design problems to better the driving experience for everyone.
Justification
Gantt Chart
Decision Matrix
Summary
For the beginning of our journey with this project we have made great progress, we have found our problem and come up with different possible solutions, yet we are keeping our minds open to other ideas as well. The solution we are going with at the moment seems very good yet we also do have another product in the market that is similar but our idea is to take the simplicity of the product and make it so much better with many more things.
Survey Summary) The survey we put out there gave some promising results, however some data was skewed because of those who do not drive or use a vehicle in any way ( we don't know why these people took the survey in the first place ). Still most people had at least a few problems with their vehicles interior design. Also even more people said that other components of their car they did not have problems with. The data would have been much more overwhelmingly obvious that people had interior design issues if the non-drivers did not take the survey. 61.6 of people who took the survey drive a vehicle, and the other 38.4% do not. Also 64.8% of people had little to many problems with the interior design of their vehicles. the other 35.2% of people had no problems.
Survey Summary) The survey we put out there gave some promising results, however some data was skewed because of those who do not drive or use a vehicle in any way ( we don't know why these people took the survey in the first place ). Still most people had at least a few problems with their vehicles interior design. Also even more people said that other components of their car they did not have problems with. The data would have been much more overwhelmingly obvious that people had interior design issues if the non-drivers did not take the survey. 61.6 of people who took the survey drive a vehicle, and the other 38.4% do not. Also 64.8% of people had little to many problems with the interior design of their vehicles. the other 35.2% of people had no problems.
Part B
Previous patents
Existing Products
Potential market
According to the NADA (National Automobile Dealers Association) website says that 17.3 million plus new cars and light trucks were sold in 2015 in the United States. That does not even include large trucks, shipping vehicles, and even boats. The market is definitely there with such a large number of new vehicles meaning such a large number of people have the potential to want or need our product.
Summary
I used the NADA website to gather my information about the potential market because NADA is the place to get information about dealerships nationwide in the united states. Also this research gave promising signs showing that so many new cars are being manufactured, and being purchased at the dealerships. This large number that the NADA website has provided for us isn't even the entire potential for the market, also larger vehicles, boats, and vehicles already on the road like used vehicles are all also in the potential market as well.
PART c
Targeted consumers
Our group of consumers that we hope to target with this product are vehicle owners, and drivers. When we conducted our survey, the first question was "Do you own and/or travel in an automobile?" This was so we could narrow down responses on the survey to only those who would find the project applicable to a problem they have in their automobile. The justification behind our targeted group choice was because we wanted to hear what problem car owners have inside of their car, in hopes of having an accurate representation of data from a primary source
Design specifications
Part d
Designer Alec
Sketch 1
Product Description: A cup holder adapter with digital applications, and a slit for coffee mugs. Operation: Two applications using data show the weather and the temperature on two simple apps. Justification: This solves our problem to be able to have larger cups be able to fit inside of our adapter, plus it will be able to fit in standard cup holders, and it also adds for convenience having the weather and temperature apps on the adapter as well, all while also allowing the use of coffee mugs through the slit in the side. |
Sketch 2
Product Description: A cup holder adapter with a lid to keep heat in, a flexible metal to keep it in place, and a slit for coffee mugs. Operation: Flexible metal will allow the mug to sit inside any cup holder, and the lid will allow some heat to remain when using hot beverages. Justification: This solves our problem to be able to have larger cups be able to fit inside of our adapter, also we will have the ease of putting the cup holder adapter into any cars standard cup holder. All while being able to use coffee cups through the slit in the side, and the lid to keep in some of the heat. |
Sketch 3
Product Description: A cup holder adapter with a slit for coffee mugs, a lid to keep in heat, and a box cutter style push up piece. Operation: The "Push up Piece" will allow you to move your cup or mug to a position to drink it, to fully protected and not spill-able in one quick motion. Justification: This solves our problem to be able to have larger cups be able to fit inside of our adapter, and this particular sketch shows the idea that we could have a piece to be able to bring a cup in and out of the adapter to have it fully protected and not able to spill, to drinkable in an easy motion. Exactly like a box cutter knife that "push up" piece will lock when not pressed and once pressed will be able to be changed. All while having the slit for the mug and a lid to keep in the heat. |
Designer Tyler
Product Concept: Sketch 1
Product Description: 4 columns sticking up out of the cup holder, along with a cylinder shaped bottom making it possible to fit inside of a cup holder. Operation: To expand and possibly hold larger cups in place while saving plastic and materials. Justification: This solves the problem of the larger cups not being able to fit in a cup holder, but does not effectively solve the other 2 design specifications. |
Product Concept: Sketch 2
Product Description: Scrapped the idea of the four columns sticking up, and replaced it with a solid plastic shell, allowing the ability to hold the cup in place more effectively. Operation: Legs are designed to bend inwards with pressure, to decrease surface area of the holder, but could risk becoming unstable with larger cups. Justification: This solves the problem with the cup holder possibly being too big for the interior of the car by being able to compress, but risks the stability of the model. |
Product Concept: Sketch 3
Product Description: Legs on bottom are designed like spines, to stick into the cup holder and provide more stability as a result of the failures of sketch 2. Operation: Legs now stick into the cup holder providing support, but also increasing the surface area. Also, the design is now smaller, and has less surface area. Justification: Product is now stable, and also requires less materials to build, but does not have an appeasing look. |
Designer John
Product Concept: Sketch 1
Product Description: Sturdy cup holder made with hard plastic, designed to hold the largest cups, and maintain stability at the same time. Top larger part is made for use of the cup, while the bottom part is just made to fit into the original cup holder. Operation: Cut out on the side of the holder is designed for cups with mugs, allowing the possibility of coffee/tea mugs to be placed in the cup holder. Justification: This design effectively solves all of our needs and wants for this product, and will most likely be considered a building block for our final design |
Product Concept: Sketch 2
Product Description: Similar to sketch 1, this design also features the hard plastic design, and sturdy bottom to support larger cups. Operation: 3 different layers added in to account for the larger cups (32 oz. or 40 oz) that could be placed in the cup holder, allowing the possibility for a range of different cups to fit in. Justification: Although this idea does work in a way, it also requires more material and takes up more surface area in the car. This design most likely will not be introduced into our final design. |
Product Concept: Sketch 3
Product Description: A mix of ideas between sketch 1 and my group mate Tyler's sketches, a spine-like bottom was added on to the hard plastic to examine what effects it could have on the cost and efficiency of the design. Operation: 3 spine-like attachments were placed on the bottom to save space and money, whilst still maintaining the ability a wide range of cups to fit into the cup holder on top. Justification: Although this problem effectively saves space and money, it may not be very efficient and visually appealing to the customer, making this a dead solution. |
The purpose of this product is to solve one of the many small but disruptive problems that occur inside of an automotive. More than half of all problems with automobiles take place within the interior. Our product specifically is designed to allow larger cups and bottles to fit in your cup holder. With our cup holder adapter, it is possible to hold larger bottles such as a 32 oz. Gatorade bottle, 40 oz. travel cups, and even mugs with handles on them! Along with the size of the cup holders being a problem, a large majority of those surveyed also suggested a fix to the accidental spilling of their drink. Whether you hit a bump in the road, knock it over accidentally, or the cup itself is leaking, it is a problem. To counteract this, our group decided that since we had a part on the bottom of the adapter that remained unused, we were going to turn that bottom part into a liquid reserve, and cover it with a drain-like cover. With that being said, if your drink spills while it's in the cup holder, the spilled liquid with fall right through the drain and into the reserve in the bottom, where you can later empty it. As a final design feature of our product, our ground decided that some form of grip was needed to keep the cup in place, as most of your cups with wider bases have longer length. To fix this, we would place rubber grips on the inside, specifically 4 rubber "bubbles" that stick off of each alternating interior side. The goal for these is to effectively hold the smaller cups in place with the bubbles sticking out, and for larger cups the bubbles should compress, allowing room for cups with larger bases and still providing the same grip effect.
Part e
Science and Engineering Concepts-
For this project we had to look at the following concepts
Shaping plastic
Molding plastic
Making threads in materials
3D Modeling
3D Printing
Material make-up of plastic
Making rubber
For this project we had to look at the following concepts
Shaping plastic
Molding plastic
Making threads in materials
3D Modeling
3D Printing
Material make-up of plastic
Making rubber
Advisers List-
Autodesk Inventor 2016 Professional
3D Printer
- Mr. Lawrence Ryan; Tech Ed Teacher at SDHS
- Mrs. Katy Harlan; Physics Teacher at SCS
- Mr. Ross Fowle; Science Teacher at SDHS
Autodesk Inventor 2016 Professional
3D Printer
Part F
In this step of our product creation we focused on each individual step from start to finish from getting our materials to constructing to its use, and finally its end life. I learned about a lot of different components to our material and our product during this stage. How exactly we would go about everything really all came together at this point. Now it's just down to building it. We also researched engineering principles that we will and have used in our design, and also any laws or regulations that would effect our product in any way.
Part g
Cost to produce: ABS plastic is $1.15-$1.25 per pound, our project weighs a little over half a pound (.584 pounds), 67-73 cents.
Building procedure
To create our product we started by 3D modeling our idea on Autodesk Inventor. After we successfully were able to model our product to our specifications in a way that we thought would ensure its proper construction with out any errors, we sent the files to our teacher, Mrs. Zienty, so that it could be 3D printed. It was able to print overnight so that when we came back to school they were ready, except they still had to undergo a chemical bath. We filled up the machine that is used to clean 3D printed objects with water and the chemical and let the products sit in it for 2 hours. After that we unfortunately found out the fit between the 2 parts was very, very tight. To counter this we sanded down the inside of the base piece and the exterior of the top piece heavily to wear down some of the material to make the fit smoother. After that we unfortunately realized another mistake as well. The peg that we used for the peg and groove system to connect our two pieces together was .1 inches too far up, making it impossible for the pieces to twist and lock the peg in place. To counter this, we shaved the peg down, cutting it almost exactly in half to allow the pieces to properly function together. After that we sanded down the entire product to smooth the entire product down and eliminate places where the surface was uneven to prepare to paint it.
Documentation of building process
Materials: Spool of ABS plastic, liquid epoxy resin, and a PC with auto-desk inventor.
3D printed by sending the files
Soak in chemical bath to remove support structures
Paint product with a blue epoxy
Part h
Part i
Test #1 data- The first test we conducted was solely to test the capability of the cup holder to retain the cups placed into it. Throughout the test the product performed its task excellently. None of the tested items fell out of the cup holder and additionally all of the tested items fit properly inside of it.
Test #2 data- The second test we conducted was purely to test functionality of the drain. Throughout the test the drain was able to properly drain the water down into the storage compartment. However not all spill was collected by the drain and some unfortunately spilled into the car itself
Changes or adjustments made- We did not make any modifications to our product after the results from the test
Test #2 data- The second test we conducted was purely to test functionality of the drain. Throughout the test the drain was able to properly drain the water down into the storage compartment. However not all spill was collected by the drain and some unfortunately spilled into the car itself
Changes or adjustments made- We did not make any modifications to our product after the results from the test
Part j
Presentation Review: I feel that our presentation went quite well, we seemed to cover everything well and clearly in which to leave the judges with only one question, which wasn't even a question about our product. He was wondering whether we had gotten the drain idea from somewhere or we came up with it ourselves, and in fact we had come up with that idea ourselves. The one judge also later gave us a suggestion which means he was thinking about our product even after we were done presenting which to me are good signs.
Part K
Alec's Reflection: This year to cap off our four years in the program was one of the best yet, I loved going through the entire process start to finish and really see what engineering is all about. This has no doubt changed my life and this is the field of work that I want to be a part of. I'm so glad I got this opportunity to be in your classes and It couldn't have been a better enduing to this amazing program.
John's Reflection - I thought that this project was so much fun. I enjoyed all of the freedom that we had in designing and creating our own product this year. I liked how we were no longer guided and instructed what to do by a procedure, and had the freedom of choice to do what we wanted to do. I enjoyed working with my team, who also my best friends that i have been working together with since the very beginning of the PLTW Pre-Engineering program. I think our overall presentation went well, based off of what we changed from our mock presentation. I really want to thank to Ms. Zienty for giving us a chance to even do this project, and i would like to thank my team for all the hard work and effort that they put into solving this problem. EDD was by far the best year of the program, and the Capstone project was the best.
Tyler's reflection- Overall I really enjoyed this semester. It was by far the most fun semester, and has become my favorite. It was really enjoyable working with my friends for the majority of it, and we were all able to get our work done, usually before the deadline too. I also really enjoyed how it felt like the semester was in our hands, like it was really up to us for what we did in the semester but at the same time our teacher was there to provide support when we needed it, so we were never really lost. Looking back there isn't much that I would change over the semester, I had a lot of fun and it definitely felt like a great way to wrap up 4 long years spent in the program. I'd like to also thank my teacher, Mrs. Z, for being there to support and guide us over these 4 years. She has been such a huge help to us.