Projects
Electric water kettle
Assignment
Design an electric water kettle with 360° element
Details
This kettle was the first of a series of 3 products (a breakfast set): a water kettle, a coffee maker and a toaster The water kettle project was supported by Otter Controls. The design concept of the water kettle was then translated to the other two products. The initial concepts for all three products were developed in Rhino and further engineered in SolidWorks.
The actual CAD data were used to render the models. They were exported to 3dsmax with the use of powertranslators and rendered with Vray.
The visualizations proved to be an esential part of development. The mathematic shapes almost screamed for clear visualizations. And because of these visualizations, Tristar was able to show the designs to clients, long before there was a physical prototype available.
Resposibilities
Gijs de Zwart was responsible for details like the working of the hinge and the opening mechanism of the cover.
Thermo electric coolbox
Assignment
Design an electric cover for an existing passive coolbox from ConaBride.
Details
Based on existing components, the 'passive' cover (designed by Conabride) was translated into an 'active' variant. SolidWorks was used to design the cover, preserving the simple design as much as possible.
One of the challenges with this project was to maintain the right inner height for 1½ litre bottles with the addition of the thermo electric parts.Another important issue that needed to be taken care of, was the pallet stacking: since this article was meant to become a 'price-fighters item', this was considered a very important design criterium. The biggest challenge however was, like with many other projects at Tristar, to communicate smoothly with the Chinese manufacturer. Quite a lot of communication was necessary to keep the product simple and logical and to preserve the design-intent. Especially the latter aspect is often a difficult issue, despite the fact that communication is done with 3D models.
Resposibilities
Gijs de Zwart was responsible for the design, and detailing as well as the communication with the manufacturer.
Raclette
Assignment
Design a simple 8 person raclette with integrated stone grill and tepan-yaki, with main focus on low production costs.
Details
Because of its simplicity, the design of this product was done almost completely in SolidWorks using parametrics. A lot of attention was given to achieving an even distribution of heat among the 8 small pans, as this was one of the main problems we found with existing models. Another issue that had been taken care of, had to do with cleaning. In this design, the heating element was a separate part with a connector in the center.
Resposibilities
Gijs de Zwart was responsible for the design and visuals, as well as the communication with the Chinese manufacturer.
Website Kenau
Kenau is a very special motor yacht, designed and developed by Gerard Petersen. The yacht, which was designed mainly in Rhino, is not a conventional motor yacht with a lot of noise and large waterwaves, but a silent boat, driven by a small electric motor. It's a yacht that respects its environment and passengers. Despite its small motor and silent operation, Kenau still has a top speed of 20km/h thanks to its ingenious trimaran concept.
StudioGijs designed and built the website for Kenau, using notepad++, php, xhtml and css.
