Week Nine

Hey Everyone,

This week we are working to update the kickstarter, the final report, and the final presentation. This past week we tested the phone case on various iPhones, although we were unable to test the protective strength of the case because we did not want to break an iPhone in the process. The case is a tight fit on the iPhone, and fits into a pant pocket with ease.

Dimensions (rounded to three digits) for case:

Thickness of bottom 2.00 mm

Thickness of bottom to top 10.5 mm

Length 126 mm

Width 66.0 mm

Weight approx 0.25 ounce

At this point in our project on week nine, we are happy with our color-changing iPhone case as an original idea that we can put on kickstarter, not so much to kickstart a business but to kickstart new ideas for customizable iPhone cases. Below are images of an iPhone in the case indoors (top) and an iPhone in the case outdoors (bottom) for comparison. 

This is our deliverable, and we are now going to get started on the Kickstarter page, the final report, and the final presentation. 

Farewell,

Etienne

Week Eight

Hey,

So we printed out a new case, and this time it is structurally sound. The case STL file, which was optimized for PLA plastic, is definitely a better, stronger, more protective iPhone case. It it sleek, and the side grooves give it sleek appearance and feel.

The color of the phone case indoors is a off-white plastic color, and outside it changes rapidly to a light blue. It does not turn as intense of a blue as we would like, but it definitely changes color. Below are two images, one of the case indoors (left) and outdoors (right) for comparison. I hope to get a slow motion video of the case changing colors soon on YouTube, so stay tuned.

We will now test the case on a phone for properties such as aesthetic appeal, protection, durability, and comfort to gauge how well our product might sell.

Until next time, 

Etienne

Week Seven

In week 7, we used our class time to 3D print our iPhone case.  We went to an engineering lab in the basement of the main building to find a specific 3D printer that fit the size of our photocromatic filament.  After an hour of printing we retrieved the case.  It appeared to be shaped very well.  The case changed color when brought into the sunlight.  But when we tried to put an iPhone in the case, it didn't work to well.  The strength of the plastic was not up to par and it also may have been a tad too small.  We are exploring the options of finding a new .stl file or editing the existing one in the coming week.

Week Six

After we found a CAD file of an phone case, we emailed the course director, Brandon Terranova, asking if he could print the phone case using the photochromatic filament.  He said his 3D printer works with 2.85 mm diameter material and our photocromatic material has a 1.75 mm diameter.  He referred us to another 3D printer that could print using our filament.  We will be in touch with the owner of the new 3D printer soon hopefully.

Project Overview

For our project we want to engineer a simple, effective, and elegant product that people will want to use. Through brainstorming, a problem that we found and that we would like to address is the limited choices of iPhone cases. Through research, we found that there are no color changing iPhone cases, and that inspired our project. Our project goal is to 3D print an iPhone case out of color changing material, that is both appealing to the eye and protective for the phone. We hope to create unique and desirable phone cases that consumers want to purchase. The material we will use for the actual phone case is either a thermochromic or photochromic plastic. These materials change in the presence of light and heat, respectively. The market for this product is iPhone users who are searching for a new protective, creative, ergonomic, appealing, and unique case for their beloved iPhone.

Pramod Abichandani Biography

Pramod Abichandani is an academic and a technology entrepreneur. He serves as the Director of the Second Year Engineering Curriculum and an Assistant Teaching Professor at the College of Engineering at Drexel University. He is the founder of LocoRobo Inc., an educational technology company whose mission is to introduce kids to programming using robotics. He received his Bachelors of Engineering (B.E.) degree in 2005 from Nirma Institute of Technology, Gujarat University, India, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Drexel University in 2007 and 2011 respectively.

His research interests are centered around optimal, multi-dimensional, data-driven decision-making, through the use of techniques from mathematical programming, linear and nonlinear systems theory, statistics, and machine learning. Specific technical areas include optimal decision-making for multi-robot systems under communication constraints, sensor fusion for naval ship monitoring, cognitive bias effects in handwriting forensics, and embedded systems design for data acquisition and control. Sponsors of his research include the National Science Foundation (NSF), Office of Naval Research (ONR), Will Eye Hospital Department of Reserach, Mathworks, Drexel ExCITe Center, and Drexel University's College of Engineering.

On the education front, he works on bringing innovation to the classroom by introducing novel course content, pedagogical methodologies, and evaluation techniques. He is leading research efforts that explore credentialing in engineering education, the scalability of engineering education innovations and technology, and engineering-specific learning theories for data analytics education. He has won several awards for his teaching, including the Continuing Excellence in Teaching (2010) award at Drexel University. In 2013, he was selected to participate in the National Academy of Engineering’s fifth Frontiers of Engineering Education symposium in Irvine, California where he presented his Data Science education initiatives.

Source: http://www.pramod.co/biography.html

Week Five

Hey,

     So just today our 3D Filament arrived in the mail from Makerbot, and I am going home to pick it up sometime before this weekend. Now we need to find a CAD model of an iPhone case, and print out a prototype to see how it works. From there, we will decide further on thermochromatic 3D printing filament options that we have. 

     Below I have included a render of an iPhone case that we found online through GrabCAD.com (https://grabcad.com/library/iphone-5-case-minimal-1#) and we hope to use this or a similar model for out prototype. Hopefully by week six we have a color-changing prototype!

Until next time,

Etienne

Week Four

Hey everyone,

So this week we made good progress, and we are headed in the right direction with creating a thermochromic iPhone case. The original research we did had us convinced that we should buy separate plastic to adhere to the iPhone case, but after deeper research we found that there is thermochromic 3D printer filament ink! This simplifies the iPhone case because now we are able to create a case and the color changing effect in one piece, rather than sticking them together. Thermochromic filament is difficult to come by, but the three sources we have found are, respectively, in China (Suntec from http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Factory-direct-sale-Blue1-75-3-0MM-Luminescent-PLA-filament-for-3D-printer-For-Makerbot-Reprap/1819140844.html), the Netherlands (Trideus from http://www.trideus.be/en/formfutura-thermochromic-ecopla-grey.html), and the US (Makerbot from https://store.makerbot.com/filament/pla#small). We decided to order from Markerbot, since they are closest and a well known brand. We purchased a small spool of "Blue Photochromatic" filament . We are excited to print a test case and see if it works!

Until next week,

Etienne

Week Three

We entered week 3 with the idea that our new project would be centered around a coffee maker that would start when your alarm sounded.  It would come equipped with an app much like the original blinds idea from week one.  After much internet research, it turns out that a coffee maker that automatically starts at your alarm already exists.  Needless to say we had to scratch that idea.  After more brainstorming we entered the field of mood/heat sensitive material.  We found a company that makes a skin for iPhone cases that changes color based on heat.  This skin does not protect an iPhone from damages from falls or spills.  We are going to create a CASE for iPhones that is heat sensitive, changes colors by the touch, and adequately protects the iPhone.

Week Two

Hey everyone,

During week two of our engineering design lab, we decided that maybe that designing an alarm clock app that syncs and raises your window blinds could be too difficult. We wanted to keep this same idea, of engineering some product that would make it easier to wake up in the morning. Through talking with the class advisors, they suggested creating an alarm clock app that syncs and starts your coffee machine, pouring you a cup of coffee. This project idea would be simpler than the window blinds, because instead of creating a window blind, we would be modifying a coffee machine. In our research, we found that for in-home appliancances, bluetooth technology is innefficient and that many companies used a wifi-based communication called Zigbee. Through Zigbee technology, consumers are able to sync their home appliances, and our alarm clock coffee machine would be just another appliance in the house. We will continue to explore different coffee machine options, different Zigbee / wireless connection options, and how to create a userfriendly smartphone app. Below is an image of a similar product called WeMo that communicates between your phone and your coffee machine.

Until next time,

Etienne