BACKGROUND
My internship project during my overseas exchange to Zhejiang University.
Under the sub-group: "Healthy Living", my team and I were tasked to redesign the conventional air ionizer. After our preliminary research, we discovered that subjecting certain species of plants to controlled electric shocks would result in an emission of negative air ions.
This was our main starting point for designing of experiments and fabricating early prototypes to test this hypothesis. Our experiments were a success and we were able to proof and record our findings. Some key findings were the distance of coverage of negative air ions and the design for admission of controlled electric shocks.
In addition to conducting research, experiments and recording of results; my main role was to design and prototype the aesthetic design of our plant-based air ionizer.
The findings from our experiments during the first phase of this project was key in influencing the final design of our product.
The minimum requirement for satisfactory admission of negative air ions was to enclose the plant in rings of metal wire. The simplest design would be a cage, but that would be ugly and it prevents accessibility to the plant to water and change the soil.
After multiple brainstorming sessions, sketching and surveys... this was the final design.
"Vertical Rings"
3D Model done in Rhinoceros
Rendering done in Keyshot
Physical Prototype fabricated using Injection Molding Technique
