Therma Cleanse
Fall 2021
Therma Cleanse is a UV towel rack meant to simultaneously clean and dry towels.
Abstract:
This project was undertaken as a favor for a colleague in BU Questrom School of Business.
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Through this project, I realized how important great communication is, especially when conveying ideas to an audience that is brand new to the concepts at hand. In this case, my colleague and his team were fully unfamiliar with principles of manufacturing and failed to consider things like how to mount the wheels, and how to do it cost-efficiently. An engineer is needed at this exact point in their design process to oversee feasibility in a way that businessmen cannot and only engineers can.
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In the end, because my colleague and I have developed great communication skills, we were able to work through these obstacles to create a product that intersects business and engineering / technology innovation.
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This intersection between business and engineering is one that excites me, as I find myself fully interested in business and technology innovation, and this project showed me a potential real-world market for proficient communicators and proficient CAD skills.
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For more of my designwork for BU Questrom colleagues see Uvira and Escape Room.
Door Opened
Door Closed
Design:
The first step was to understand the form and function of the product: it was UV towel rack meant to dry and clean towels, but more importantly it was meant to be sleek and unassuming. The first product that came to mind as reference was an Apple iPhone, Mac, etc. This set the tone for the product overall.
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There were only a few requirements to go off of: general sizing, four wheels, switches and knobs for temperature controls - other than these, I had free reign to improve the product where it was needed.
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Because their whole team was comprised of Questrom students, some of their sizing recommendations were flimsy from a build quality standpoint, so these were adjusted. They also failed to consider manufacturing, shipping, and assembly - I recommended a wheel assembly at the bottom of the device for more feasible shipping, and suggested they outsource the wheels to save on cost.
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The resulting geometry, with material types assigned to their respective parts (towel rack interior was chrome, wheel mount and door handle were stainless, etc.) was complete. All that was left was to render clear images of the product (shown above in two states, opened and closed).