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Student Designer
University Product Description and Principal Function(s) The Airline is a clothes drying solution primarily catering to apartment residents.It is intended to be installed on an apartments balcony It was developed to address the need for a energy efficient method of drying clothes. The Airline is entirely self powered using nothing but the environment around it. Why does the product represent design excellence and why do you believe it deserves an Australian Design Award? One of the best and most effective methods of drying without consuming power is the backyard clothes line. It is through the movement of air along with solar heat that the water is transported out of your clothing and into nature. It achieved this using nothing but the environment around it.Realizing that there was a need for something a little quicker we developed the clothes dryer. This machine promised faster drying times without need for a backyard, making it extremely desirable for people in small scale living conditions, such as apartment residents. The only trade off is that it required power, and lots of it. In total a dryer is responsible for 2% of a households monthly power usage. This becomes significant when it is only operational for around an hour a week, or 0.5% of the time. With an emerging importance to reduce our household power consumption, and due to and increase in the n of apartment residents (growth of 17% in '04), we have a need for a compact drying device that will dry machine washed clothes while demonstrating a significant reduction in power usage. The Airline was designed around the ideals of the emerging need for power efficient products. It is entirely self powered, requiring absolutely no external power sources, only using the environment around it. Furthermore this product is efficient, enhancing the most optimal conditions for drying clothing, without the use of excessive heat that can damage clothing. It achieves this with an enhanced drying process, where everything is configured for optimum energy efficiency. A solar panel collects and powers the ventilation fans located at the base of the main unit. The main unit housing the clothing pivots with the sun ensuring that the solar panel and the clothing is receiving optimum sunlight. This pivot is maintained by a wound clockwork timer that is automatically wound when the unit is deployed. When the products moisture sensors can no longer detect moisture being vented off the clothes. It will divert its power to recharging internal batteries to assist in powering the unit in low light conditions, even at night. The Airline is compact and practical. Installed on the balcony space it is designed to be minimally intrusive into the users environment. It is designed to be a seamless addition to the building unfolding when in use and then collapsing out of sight behind the balcony ledge as to not take away from the tenants views. The product can cater for a weeks worth of washing able to also cater for large items such as towels and bed sheets. Clothes are masked through a motorized venetian slat system allowing sunlight to reach the clothing, while providing an angle that masks the clothing from onlookers. The Airline is constructed out of aluminium, steel, polyethylene, and Bayer Makrolon polycarbonate. Processes of extrusion, welding, die cutting and sheet metal folding make up the internal frame, injection molding for external panels available in a variety of colors. |
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