Monday, 17th of October 2011 - CAD3

After further refinements to the design from the group members, the features started to become those that could and would be set in stone to allow use to think about presentation. Now that the housing, base, mechanism and flame dial were set in place.. the application of some of the other key technologies were sorted. These were: SAFETY, LEVITATION, FAN 

All of these components really needed to be considered off of one another. The casing was going to be a product of the housing diameter as well as fan size, the fan size was a factor of anthropometric's and casing size, and the levitation was going to be a product of the fan size and casing size. For these reason the fan was modeled first with anthropometric data considered of the 99%tile male being able to hold the fan comfortably in his fingers (big enough) and the 1%tile female being light enough, and have enough grip to be able to hold comfortably.

Render: Fan design."L" for levitate

 From here the glass casing could be designed with a few of these factors considered. As a secondary safety measure the casing needed to be tapered (fan large enough) that if the magnets were to fail for some reason, the fan would have something to fall onto that wasn't the flame. Originally it was thought that the levitation could occur from the bottom forcing the fan upwards and it would also double as a catch point (seen below) though it was still seen that an added measure of safety was needed in protecting the fan from falling into the flames.

Render: Fan, casing and levitation stand

With both the fan and the casing modeled we could start to see what options in terms of the levitation stand could be utilized into the design. A simple stand that followed the contours of the glass casing was the outcome of the groups discussions. This would allow and easier manufacture as well and assembly when it came to it.

Render: Batter storage in base.

In this discussion with the group, it was also decided that primary source of energy would come from a 9V batter to be stored in the base, under the circuit board. This will be sufficient as the only constant source of energy draw is the electro-magnet, with the servo motor activating when required. This will be supported by a smaller back up battery built into the circuitry to make sure power is shut off completely every-time (bringing the servo motor back around and cutting off the gas supply).