DURATION
9 Weeks
RESPONSIBILITIES
Concept Ideation, Market Research, Prototyping & Testing, Product Branding & Marketing.
PROJECT TYPE
Entrepreneurship & Industrial Design Class
Goal: Manufacture 10 identical products to sell at an expo.
TEAM
Solo
Improves indoor air quality by reducing the amount of particulate matter that people breathe in.
Kristin, 23
Diagnosed asthmatic, unwittingly living with mold for the first 18 years of her life.
Upon entering college, her asthma symptoms lessened, but she was particularly sensitive to air quality, especially in her small dorm room, where she spends most of her time studying.
When she entered her first job and moved into a small, enclosed, dusty office space, she couldn’t spend more than 10 minutes in it without reliving the symptoms that she thought she had overcome years ago.
secondary research on indoor air quality
Indoor air quality is not regulated in many states and has been shown to lead to various health problems and exacerbate symptoms for people with existing health issues, namely respiratory illnesses. Only two states in the USA have regulations on indoor air quality.
Poor indoor air quality (dust mites, pet dander, particulate matter) has been known to be a trigger for asthmatics.
The EPA has listed indoor air pollution as one of the top five environmental dangers.
Poor indoor air quality has also been linked to a decline in student performance in the classroom and a decline in productivity in occupational settings.
In some areas, indoor air quality can be two to five times more polluted than outside air.
Sketches & Ideation
Prototypes & Process
outcomes
As with many semester-long projects, there were significant time constraints. Ideation, development, testing, and execution were all condensed into a span of 12 weeks. Along with managing time and budgetary constraints, some specific challenges I encountered and overcame during this project included:
Understanding how to optimize the circuitry of the fan and how to best maximize the power. Thank you to ECE professor, Wei Wang for his helpful advice and expertise!
Making the best use of the plywood planks I purchased to create cuts that would make for easy assembly while also optimizing the use of material for minimal wastage.
Creating an aesthetically pleasing and fully functional product on time.
If given more time I would continue testing of the air flow through the MERV filter to quantitatively test the efficacy of the air purifier. During the final expo, I sold eight of the 10 products that I had manufactured.