GB2479706A - Kitchen scales with recipe display - Google Patents

Abstract

Domestic weighing scales comprising digital storage and display of recipes which may for example be displayed and searched as scrolling text on an LCD. The scales may comprise a USB socket (e.g. supporting connection to a PC and/or USB memory stick) and recipes may be copied from a computer to an internal memory card inside the scale. The scales may also include a built in-digital radio tuner; clock; timer with alarm; music file player; and/or speaking weight reader; and may comprise a steel casing.

Description

Alain Potanah Part 1.

The high technology kitchen scale

Description

Executive summary

This report presents a new concept in the art of weighing foods and ease of accessing food recipes. The product is environmentally friendly both in terms of materials and energy because it reduces the needs of recipes books and is multi functions, where several kitchen devices are incorporated in the design. The reports shows, how there is a need for such a product. Originating from user centred researches the devise has evolved during the design process and has now reached the stage where it can be consider a new innovation. The product has the potential to be a successful marketable product.

The project explores key areas such as:

* Origin and description

* User needs, market requirements and pricing * Technical feasibility * Material production and costing * Sustainability Design techniques and methods used during the process are also discussed.

The high technology kitchen scale Project report Contents

1 Origin and description of the project Page 4

2 User needs, market requirements and pricing Page 8 3 Technical feasibility Page 13 4 Materials, production and costing Page 24 Sustainability Page 28 6 Design techniques and methods Page 34 7 Appendices Page 42 S References Page 43

1 Origin and description of the product

Origin Some technical modifications were implemented to an existing electronic kitchen scale, originating from user researches.

Description

A multi functions kitchen scale, incorporating innovative features, offering many benefits and conveniences for the users. The product utilised digital technology to facilitate storing and searching of recipes. A USB socket allows connection to a computer or a laptop, where files containing recipes can be copied and transfer on to an internal memory card inside the kitchen scale. A simple user interface and menu allows the user to access stored recipes files and music files. An LCD module display recipes in the form of scrolling text. The kitchen scale's USB socket also allows interface with a USB memory stick, where data can be accessed and stored. Other features include a built in digital radio tuner, clock, timer with alarm, speaking weight reader. The casing is constructed from stainless steel and has a mirror like finishing.

The project and development of the product was carried out by Alain Potanah working as an individual.

Supporting Material and guidance were received from the T307 course staff of the Open University and from internet searches and literatures.

Background and problem identification

The early stage of the project involved, choosing a topic and identifying problems or opportunities. The chosen topic was domestic electrical appliances because of personal interest, from experience gained working as an electrical field service engineer and association with the development of an electrical product brand.

A strategic review of shortcomings of solution to some existing products was carried out, they include: washing machines, vacuum cleaners, microwave ovens and electronic kitchen scales. The areas of interest or briefs, include, product safety, energy consumption, technological advancement-pros and cons, energy efficiency and recycling. The internet and library resources were used to gather information along with photographs of electrical appliances to identify key problems. The course's 1307 DVD and T21 1 DVD also provided information and guidance.

Having identified key problems areas and opportunities, such as failures, statements of needs and level of demand, creative problem-solving techniques were used. They include Brainstorming and brain writing, Users trip, chat, Mind mapping, Analogy and Morphological analysis.

Further research activities, such as product analysis, user research, observing others, focus group discussion, MET matrix, personal interviews and perceptual mapping techniques were used to developed a brief.

Advantages of the idea compared with existing products.

* Incorporates existing technology to provide many new features at a competitive cost.

* Performs as a multi function device, replaces several devices that are sometime used in kitchens, the benefits are less material and energy to manufacture and take up less space for storing.

* The benefit of digital interaction with a PC or Lap top to store and access of recipes from hard drives or the internet.

* The benefit of integrated digital radio with time * Constructed from steel it is robust and is easy to clean and maintain.

* Design with concern for the environment.

Easy to dismantled and components replaced.

The disadvantages include: * Cost to produce and sell.

* Some users group may not find the new features appealing.

* Some users group may prefer a standard kitchen scale.

* Some users may find the buttons too small to operate or the text on the digital display too small.

* Some users group may prefer recipes printed on paper, or books, rather than stored digitally on a micro chip.

* The scale uses more electrical energy than standard electronic scale, because in addition to sensors energy is required for logic board, audio amplifier and LCD display panel. A mechanical analogue scale does not need electrical energy to operate.

* If submerge under water the electronics may get damaged.

* Some new level of customer support must be provided to answer customer queries and technical problem regarding new features.

2 User needs, market requirements and pricing Design brief A high technology kitchen scale with recipe The popularity of cookery programmes such as Master Chef and Delia Smith and the growth in electronic digital kitchen appliances suggests there is an expanding market for a high technology kitchen scale. Findings from User researches and from the focus group suggest that such a scale should provide ease of use and facilitate cooking. Observations made suggest the elderly and small children can experience difficulty with taking measurement and interpreting scale readings. The product should accommodate the identified needs of users. In the production, usage and disposal of the product, the environmental impact should be considered.

Potential users are adults and children from 10 years old. Retail price should be not more than £100 and probably be in the range of £60 to £90. The product should be available in retail outlets in 12 months' time. Installation of the product should be simple and direct. Instruction should be clear and easy to follow. The product should be and appear to be safe and robust.

Goat: To design a low cost, environmentally friendly high technology kitchen scale, and ultimately to aid users with weighing foods and facilitate cooking.

Context: Identified that some user groups such as the elderly and young children have difficulties when using kitchen scale.

Constraints: * No funding for further research and development.

* Restriction to marketing information * Time to research and developed project.

* Technological knowledge and limitation Important criteria Improved user interface, displays text and has audio facilities.

* Recipes storage facility.

* Pleasing to look, touch and feel, aesthetical improvement.

* User friendly and modern appearance.

* Environmentally friendly parts can be dismantled easily for maintenance or recycled.

The design brief, and its elements, goal, context, constraint and criteria have changed accordingly to reflect changes in the design process. The brief is a part of the design process. The brief has been amended to focus on the demand rather than the solution.

Changes to design brief includes: * Selling price amendment.

* The title and body of text focus less on technical aspect * More emphasis on market needs and environmental concern.

Performance specification

* The Kitchen scale is easy to use at the first attempt. It has six buttons and incorporate user directed menu guide.

* The kitchen scale feels good in the hand and is easy to carry.

* The kitchen scale gives aesthetic pleasure it looks sturdy and robust, shiny metallic appearance.

* The kitchen scale is environmentally safe to use. It use rechargeable batteries and is design to last a long time and has multiple uses.

* The kitchen scale gives high cultural impression. It is expensive, but modern, high tech, class with additional pleasure.

* The kitchen scale give good impression to people with visual and hearing impairment..

* The kitchen scale allows quick measurement. It has auto sensing weight sensors that will reset to zero and display weight. It also convey information through integrated audio speaker.

Market specification

Sources of information where found from internet searches and surveys, they include personal interviews, group interviews, and internet interviews. Perceptual mapping techniques such as the Likert scale to measure attitudes, structured and semi structured methods were used.

Comparable kitchen scales The main strengths of existing products is that there are many choices of products available, with interesting features and specification to choose from. The price range is attractive from under £10 to over £100. Salter UK is a well establish manufacturer and supplier of scales dating back to the 1825.

Product promotion is well established in the global market.

Target market Interviewee's age group ranged from 10 years to 73. Male and female gender tested. Occupation ranged from students to senior professional engineer.

Needs and satisfaction * Compact design to facilitate storage * Improvement to interface and display * Design for inclusive users * Added features to aid cooking food * Ease of dismantling for maintenance and recycling.

Market research undertaken * Gathering information: Internet searched for information and on -line literature. (Sales and Markets of weighing scales) * Public library: A source of information from books and magazine.

* Surveys -(from most personal to least personal) including personal interviews, group interviews, telephone interviews and internet questionnaire. Personal interview include structured, semi-structured and non directive, (short and in depth).

* Likert scales -was used to measure attitude.

* Semantic differential scales-to find out how they think.

* User characteristic and persona User research undertaken Observing users in their own environment A user centred approach was used where some users were asked to carry out the task of baking a sponge cake. They had to take recipes from books and from internet recipe sites. Analogue and digital scales were used to weigh foods and had to be cleaned after the task.

During the activity the process of observation and recording areas of difficulties were made. The captured data was later analysed followed by brainstorming for solutions. This approach was useful at the idea generating stage of the problem, because it provided the stimulus for further exploration.

Focus group discussion.

A traditional market research method was also used this involved a discussion on using kitchen scales and weighing food.' The outcome of these user researches also contributed to the following: * Visual display constraint, interpreting measurement information from scale can be difficult for younger users and the elderly.

* Limited Inclusive kitchen scale design on market. Room for improvement for visually and hard of hearing users.

* The use of recipes books in kitchen takes up space and they are prone to food stains and liquid spillage. Measuring bowl supplied can be large and bulky compare to scale assembly. Impact on manufacturer's transporting costs.

* Storage constraint of kitchen scale, units is not used every day. Kitchen storage space limitation.

Research of existing products highlighted concerns in terms of environmental impact, example unit assembled together by clips fixings that are glued together. Not designed for dismantling without breaking. suggest a throw away product, not repairable.

* Marketing plans and economic viability.

Ideas for marketing the products that were considered include: * Approaching an established manufacturer of kitchen scale with the aim of selling the idea for a fee, assuming that a patent had been granted for the product.

* Contacting a patent agent for advice.

* Searching for more information about marketing a product, using internet search and books.

Constructing a marketing plan.

A price minus approach chart was constructed to re evaluate manufacture cost based on current market figures. See Fig 2 a.

Fig 2 a Price -minus approach (Based on Baxter, 1995) Target retail price = £80.00 Less, retailer margin say (30-50%) , say 40%, of retail price: = £32.00 Wholesale price (retail price -retailer margin): = £48.00 Transport and distribution costs is about 20% of wholesale price: = £9.60 Factory-gate price = (wholesale price minus transport and distribution = £38.40 costs): Target cost of manufacture: = £23.04 3 Technical feasibility Alternative ideas Alternative ideas were generated using creative problem techniques and they include: Morphological analysis, mind mapping, brainstorming/brain writing, gathering information and product analysis.

Four ideas were generated and they are: A folding weighing scale which was generated from an analogy of comparing kitchen scale to animals, the wings of butterflies was explored. The design resembled a large recipe book which when opened reveals an integrated weighing platform and LCD display.

* A multipurpose kitchen scale was generated from brainstorming sessions. This consists of a rectangular shape object container with four sides. The sides provide a surface for an integrated analogue clock, a calendar, a wipe board and an egg timer. The space between the sides is used to store cutlery.

* The scoop weighing scale. This is a spoon shape device with an integrated central platform.

which is connected by a lever to an electronic weighing sensor module. The platform is design to move down when a weigh is put on it. Movement of the platform when detected is processed and displayed as a weight measurement.

* The greener kitchen scale is made from Elfo, 100% plant fiber with no glue or resin. It is biodegradable plastic. The process uses a variety of raw fibers, such as sugars, waste and hemp. The device consists of three components; a coiled spring, made from bamboo is calibrated and positioned between a moving platform and a lower base section. A set of inscribed measurement on one the side of the moving platform is used to show weight of an object.

Evaluation process A set of criteria was used to assess and evaluate ideas with the aim to select best one. The evaluation was based on the performance and marketing specifications that were written in TMA 02 and they are: * The idea has potential for offering worthwhile environmental benefits such as reduced energy, resource consumption, and production.

* The idea has the potential for offering improved ease of use and performance.

* There is likely to be an existing or potential market for the idea * The likely cost of the product should not exceed what is considered that the potential market will bear.

* The idea should be technically feasible and cable of being developed in a few years.

The selection table shown below, Fig 3a was used to select the best design.

Fig 3 (a) selection matrix Selection matrix: my best five ideas for improving kitchen scales Shorlisted ideas Evaluation Datum scale High tech Greener Multi Scoop Folding Criteria (conventional scale scale purpose weighing scale scale) Kitchen scale scale Environment s + + + s s Benefit Usability + + + + + s Market + s ? s Cost s + ? ? s Feasibility + -s ? ? s Total (plus) 3 3 2 2 1 0 Scores Total (minus) 0 1 0 0 0 0 Overall score 3 2 2 2 1 (total + less total -) Key: + means better than conventional design ( datum, column) * means worse than conventional design S means same as conventional design or cannot decide Technical feasibility The work carried out so far to evaluate the technical feasibility of the product includes researching the following: (1) Will the idea work? Internet searches for technical information, and speaking to specialist electronic engineers for suggestions and comments were carried out. Electronic publications with access to circuit block diagram and technical data, made it possible to construct a proven model to support the feasibility of the idea.

(2) Are the technologies available? The electronics modules and components required for the project are available, they are found in everyday devices, such as an MF3 player or a mobile phone.

(3) Are the necessary materials available? All the components identified are available from specialist European and Chinese suppliers, found on the internet.

(4) Could the product be made economically? Yes by integrating all electronics components onto one main board, and using one microprocessor.

(5)Is the product performance good enough for to compete with rival products? (6) Does it pose problems of human use, maintenance and pollution? No major problems were identified; however the scale could be mistaken for a bedside radio.

* Technical limitation One area of limitation that were identified include the size of the LCD display area, this had to be within specification. Although a larger display provides better viewing performance the cost is higher to purchase. and it draws more current. The effect is that a larger and more expensive battery will be required hence considered an environmentally undesirable choice.

On the one hand if the display was too small viewing performance will be compromise.

One other limitation is the amount of data that the memory card will hold. There are limits to how many recipes, music files and photos the memory card will hold. A small hard drive was considered, however this will impact on cost, space availability and energy consumption.

Another area that was considered was the location of the USB socket. For ease of access the socket was positioned on the side of the scale, but was found to be prone to food and liquid spillage. A search for current technological development for a water proof USB cover is in progress.

Technical Novelty and patentability Perhaps an incremental innovation, some technical modifications were implemented to an existing electronic kitchen scale, in response to users needs and constructive discontent by the improver. The incorporation of new technology has so transformed the kitchen scale, that it was perceived as a new kitchen gadget', a digital data and storage centre for the kitchen environment.

However in terms of innovation and classification of the design several possibilities and combinations were identified. These include: * A new product line and modular innovation.

* An addition to an existing product line and modular innovation.

* A new to the world product and modular innovation.

The design perhaps has the potential to become a patent because, so far, searches indicate a new concept that it is not excluded, and involve an inventive step that is capable of industrial application.

Existing ideas and influence An internet search of literatures and patents were carried out for related ideas, and some relevant information found is shown in the table below Fig 3 b. (Patent office 2009) Design Country/inventor features date notes Cooking USA, Patterson et A cooking 19 Sept 2009 Detail description apparatus with al. chamber + of circuits and electronic recipe interface operation menu display Includes a controller, display and memory for storing recipes Foldable China, Yuncheng A folding 25 march 2009 Information on Electronic kitchen Lu portable sensors electronic scale Electronic kitchen China, Jialie Xiao A detachable 27 August 2008 Easy production scale electronic scale and manufacture Paterson et al's detailed description of electronic circuits and operation menu provided the stimulus to focus on the technical aspect of the kitchen scale design. It also highlighted that the operation menu was an area that needed further development. Yuncheng's foldable scale provided the stimulus to explore the application of miniature sensors. The design of the detachable scale has simple and reasonable structure.

Rough mock-up A proven model was firsi consiructed using salvage components and paris from discarded computer circuit boards and a radio. A module was constructed by interconnecting a combination of electronic components together. These comprise of a power board an LCD display board, and a logic board. A soldering gun was used to interconnect wires into position.

A bench power supply was used to measure current and voltage consumption. An average current of 300mA at 3.7 volts was recorded during operation. A small lithium rechargeable battery with the power to drive the circuit was then used to power the circuit.

A USB socket and lead connections conveyed data between a laptop and the proven model module. An oscilloscope was used to measured DC levels and logic activities. See fig 3c.

The module was programmed to display text and photos displayed on a small LCD screen.

See fig 3d and fig 3e.

The next stage involved constructing a rough mock-up, A Polystyrene block was used to carve out a model of the scale. The LCD display module was then positioned into place and secured with electrical tapes. Rubber feet were added and a USB connection was made, and the unit was activated. See fig 3 f.

The mock up model provided the base for developing further models using computer generated drawings. Various interface and layout was explored using CAD, see fig 3g and fig 3h.

4 Materials, production and costing Stainless steel was chosen and for the easing in preference to Polycarbonate. One of the reason is that steels are FDA approved, it is claimed that they are widely used in food processing equipment and can be recycled.

During the process of choosing materials, the CES selector database was used to compare Eco properties, Process ability scale and environmental resistance of suitable materials. The chart below shows comparison between Steel and Polycarbonate. The information shows that steel uses less energy to produce, 85.3 MJ/Kg compare to 116 MJ/Kg for Polycarbonate and can be recycled. The down side is that steel manufacturing produces more carbon dioxide 5.37 per kilogram of material compare to 4.2 for Polycarbonate. The costs to manufacture both materials are similar.

Steel was also found to have a lower rating for ugly points per Kilogram and has higher wear resistance than Polycarbonate.

Material comparisons Stainless steel Polycarbonate Units Properties Eco properties Production energy 772.2 -85.3 105 -116 MJ/kg Co2/kg of material 486 -5.37 3.8 -4.2 Kg/kg Recycle Downcycle Biodegradable Incinerate Tx Landfill A renewable resource Process ability scale Castabilty 2 1 -2 Formability 2 -3 4 -5 Machinbility 2 -3 3 -4 Weldability 5 5 5 Solder/Brazability S Environmental resistance Flammability Very Good Good Very Good Fresb Water Very Good Very Good Salt Water Very Good Very Good Weak Acid Good Very Good Good Sunlight Very Good Average Wear resistance * Production The scale can be made practically as a one-off or bespoke product, or for small volume. For Larger volumes, batch or flow lines may be suitable and ideally produced by an existing manufacturer of electronic kitchen scale.

Production requirements * The process of pressing or pressure die casting Steel Sheets into shape for the casing.

* Surface treatment of Steel casing, perhaps a mirror finishing for optimum visual impact.

* Mounting electronic components on PCB boards and soldering electrical connections.

* Mounting of electrical assemblies and components into position and securing by fixtures, inside casing.

Special requirements * Programming micro processor on PCB board and updating new firmware and software.

* For testing and calibration of stress sensors. Including electrical block assemblies and components.

* Functional and performance testing to meet design specification.

* British standard testing of product to current electrical and mechanical compliances to meet current standard.

Environmental consideration * A well managed production process to reduce material waste and reducing energy consumption during manufacturing.

* Supply and production issues.

Searches indicate that there are many suppliers and manufacturers of components and assemblies for kitchen scales emerging from Asia, predominantly China (Santiago 2007). Many large manufacturers of kitchen scales have economical links with china. The benefit of using suppliers from Asia is that large quantity purchase of parts can be more economical to buy in comparison to the European market. However there are some production concerns, they include: * Less stringent Environmental regulations and control regarding production outside the EU.

* Electrical and mechanical safety standards may not conform or meet the requirement expected.

* Small scale production may not be economically viable.

* UK patent law may not necessarily apply in Asia.

Supply of raw material * The cost of raw material may fluctuate over time and suppliers may increase cost of steel or other material.

* Competing markets may affect availability and cost of materials and components.

Economic viability In praising the economic viability of the idea, preliminary estimate of profits from expected sales was calculated. The payback method a simplest form of investment appraisal was used.

The payback period is the number of years required to return the initial investment in a project out of subsequent sales income.

In order to calculate the loan required to develop and launch the product the cost plus approach was used. At this stage this is an area of uncertainty because of unknown manufacturing methods, production volumes and different material used. Other uncertainties are complex matter such as overheads, administration, rent and depreciation. An estimate was made: Research design and development £10000 Equipment and tooling £20000 Market research and launch £10000 One -off development and manufacturing costs = £40000 * The number of years for payback = capital invested Annual profits Calculated figures from price -minus approach were used for the following: * Estimated sale of 3000 units per year at a retail price of £80 * Factory gate-price calculated was £40 * The unit manufacturing costs for production volume were estimated at £24 Running costs attributed to the product are things like marketing and sales, and a proportion of overheads. This was estimated to £1800 per year. The income from a sale of £3000 units is (f40 x 3000). The manufacture's costs on 3000 units are (24 x2000).

Using these figures: * (40 x 3000) -(24 x 3000) -£1800 = £46200 This gives a yearly profit of £46,200 for sales of 3000.

To pay off loan of £ 40, 000 would take 1 year but longer with interest and tax. Therefore only after one year or more would the product earn a profit.

Sustainability Environmental sustainability The five principles for sustainable design proposed by Edwin ( Datschefski, 2001, p.29) and Ecodesign improvements (Brezet and van Hemel 1997) were considered and where feasible, incorporated in the design.

The material steel was chosen from the CES database for the casing because it can be recycled, however the variety of metals used in small electronic components such as in integrated circuits can be very difficult to process and recover. A solution to this problem is to select smaller components. Other benefits include less current consumption and less material consumption, hence more efficient.

Ease of dismantling and reassembling the device was incorporated in the design. The benefits are parts can be removed effortlessly for maintenance or recycled.

To reduce the impact of energy consumption during use, the circuit was modified so that it can be connected and recharged by a small solar panel, mounted externally. One criteria that must be considered when selecting a manufacturer for production, is that the energy used is renewable, safe and cyclic.

Some negative and positive environmental impact of the design identified: * It was estimated that the electronics components required for the design will be similar to that used in the Nokia mobile phone. in exercise 6, blocks 3. The life cycle assessment identified electronics components as the likely source as environmental impact. Fire retardant used in Electronic circuit boards, emits toxic emission.

* One positive impact of the design is that it replaces books. Recipes can be downloaded from the internet and stored on a memory card. This may potentially reduce material and manufacturing, hence less impact on environment.

* The integration of (Digital radio, minicomputer, and weighing function) in the design is better for the environment because it replaces several devices, subsequently less transport cost, storage, and is cheaper to manufacture.

* The design uses rechargeable batteries to reduce material consumption.

Social sustainability The positive and negative impact on social sustainability identified includes: * The manufacturing, distribution and sales of the product may create more jobs.

* Generate tax for govemment.

* It will perhaps generate work for other manufacturers, local and overseas, such as parts suppliers.

* However the introduction of electronic recipe storage devices to replace recipe books may have a negative impact on the printing industries, perhaps a reduction in work force through job cuts.

* Suppliers of material for the printing industry may also be affected with possibly a reduction in the work force.

* Competing kitchen scales companies may incorporate similar features in their design, this may require them to make some manufacturing changes such as re tooling and modifying the production process and bringing in experts workers and retraining workers. The impact is manufacturing cost will increase, and perhaps some fimis will have to reduce their work force.

Life-cycle environmental issues The key elements of the kitchen scale lifecycle with the highest environmental impacts identified are: * Extracting raw materials * Manufacturing components * Impact during use * Managing the end-of-use of product.

These areas were highlighted when the scale was compared with a mobile phone in terms of technical similarities. (Vodaphone 2009).

Extraction of raw materials and manufacturing The extracting of raw materials and manufacturing components for the product accounts for more than half of the product's environmental impact. The extraction process for precious metals requires moving large volumes of earth and rock material. As much as 100kg of mine waste is produced in the process of extracting gold for a single phone circuit board, The negative impacts include: * High energy usage.

* Damages to biodiversity * Pollution caused by use of hazardous material.

Nokia have taken measures to reduce these impacts and one example is to design smaller phones, to reduce raw materials consumption hence having less impact on the environment.

The scale's electronic circuit design is based on reducing material.

Another area is encouraging suppliers to consider environmental impacts in the design process. By adopting EU directives such as (RoHS), the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment. Also to comply with legislation on waste disposal.

Energy consumption In the life cycle of the scale, energy consumption comes from powering the unit up during use. The electronic circuit for the scale was carefully designed to reduce power consumption.

Efficient chargers were considered, and companies such as Vodaphone are pushing for an industry wide standards for a universal energy efficient charger.

End of life Identified land fill and toxic emission as the main concerns. A scheme to collect and return to manufacture for recycling was suggested.

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Some life cycle phases are combined in MET matrix for simplicity = low negative environmental impacts V V = medium negative environmental impacts V V V = large negative environmental impacts (The Open University 2006) Ecodesign improvements for the design (Brezet and van Hemel 1997) Strategy Improvement options 1 Selection of low-(a) Use recycled parts for internal parts of casing, and advised suppliers to impact materials use recycled copper in electronic components.

(b) Ensure material banned under ROHS Legislation are not use and avoid other hazardous materials,e.g cadmium, mercury, are not used. Avoid other hazardous materials, e.g. PVC for electrical insulation (c) Minimise use of aluminium as the design is a short life product.

2 Reduction of (a) Further reduce size of design to minimise material consumed materials usage (b) Design should be easy to use with basic functions 3 optimisation of No ideas for this strategy production techniques 4 optimisation of (a) Reduce packaging distribution system (b) Use recycled materials for packaging reduction of (a) Incorporate a solar or human powered charger for batteries impact during use (b) Use a charger that automatically switches off after charging (c) Incorporate automatic diming LCD display to save energy _____________________ (d) Incorporate sleep mode to save energy 6 Optimisation of (a) Provide downloadable software from the internet to upgrade design initial life time functions and to down load new recipes and music files.

(b) Interchangeable casing to match kitchen decor.

(c) Create a classic looking, repairable and upgradable design that will not ____________________ date too fast 7 Optimisation of (a) Plan for product return to manufacture for a reuse, recycling at the end end of life system of life of its life ____________________ (b) Focus on design ease of components disassemble and reassemble.

8 (@)new concept (a) Solar powered kitchen scales has been created (b) Kitchen scale using plant fibres for casing has been created.

development Design techniques and methods During the early stage of problems identification stage creative problem solving techniques were used, these include: * Brainstorming * Design Diary * User trips * Mind Mapping * Analogy * Morphological Analysis During the phase of material and process selection the CES selector database was used. The database provided a vast amount of information to assist with materials and process selection, including environmental impacts.

In considering environmental impact of materials and processes, the techniques and methods used includes: * The MET matrix exercise was used to provide a basic qualitative environmental assessment of products.

* The ECO -it software was used for detailed quantitative environmental impact assessments of products and components.

* The course T307 DVD and T2 11 provided additional support material. The Philips and IDEO presented user-centred design and show creative teamwork taking place.

During the proposal and planning stage various techniques and methods were explored and some implemented these include: * User research methods from block 2 text * T 307 DVD, Philips designing for people, Market activity, total * T21 1 DVD IDEO design for users * Solid Thinking CAD software and the drawing tuition on the T21 1 DVD In the idea development and concept design stage, the ugly point system, the Ecodesign strategies and the rules of thumb were considered and used where appropriate.

Page 4 of 4

Description Fig 6

Electrical block diagram A DCin B Rechargeable batteries C Left speaker D Right speaker E RFAntenna F Wi-Fi device (Optional) G USB socket a) Co Appendix Appendix 1-2 supporting material for chapter 4 1\'Iaterial and Costing Appendix 3 Supporting material for chapter 3 technical feasibility, availability Appendix 4 supporting material for chapter 3 technical feasibility, mock up sketch.

Appendix 5 supporting material for chapter 5 sustainability, ease of dismantling Appendix 6 supporting material for chapterS sustainability, ease of dismantling Appendix 7 supporting material for chapter 5 sustainability, exploring energy efficient circuits Appendix 1 Fig 1 Screen shot of CES data base showing eco properties of steel (CES Database, T211 DYD, Open University 2008) ]-? :u i':*..

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Appendix 3 Suppliers and contacts for electronic components and modules.

Leon Engineering is base in Tsoka 8-Thesi Xiropigado-Mandra Attikis 19600, Greece Tel: 30 210 7770936, Fax 302107758925, Email info@leon-engineering.com Sensorland.corn is designed and managed by Mike Coope. It was established in June 2000 was.

Contact: Tel: +44(0) 1902 700973 Email: http://www.sensorland.com/ Site has links to exhibition, problems. sensor history, suppliers and catalogue.

References Baxter, M. (1995); Product Design: Practical Methods for the systematic development of new products. Chapman and Hall in Open University T307: Block 4 Guide, Designing for a Sustainable Future, 2006, The Open University, Milton Keynes.

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