DayLite
Product Design
CAD
Interaction
Mechatronics
Train drivers have it hard enough, but what about train drivers on a night shift? Sleep schedule, circadian rhythm, muscle deterioration, sudden blindness from coming into a station from the dark tunnels. All these problems, Daylite tries to fix.
Mechanical energy transfer chain axis from torsion spring to inverted DC motor with gear train
DayLite brings together electronics, UX design, and a single axis energy transfer chain to provide enough electricity to glow. The single axis includes a torsion spring, a torsion spring insert part to restrain free rotation, a bearing, a centrifugal ratchet, gear train, and finally the DC motor. parts are all secured onto the casing. The jobs that were allocated to me were the product casing and handle designs and the mechanical energy transfer axis.
Daylite is a portable stretching device which gets charged from the stretching, powering a time dependent light. Depending on the time of day, the light can change between a natural white to a warm yellow, this aims to adjust the circadian rhythms of train drivers. The light can be attached onto the inside of the drives cabins (cabs) to assist with the sudden blindness going into a station. Many 3D printable materials have been tested with our chosen light source, 5V LEDs.
Centrifugal ratchet connecting to gear train
Exploded view of all component parts
As DayLite is used for stretching, we tried to incorporate legs into the stretching and muscle development. To do this, the handles had to be designed in a way to allow for foot incorporation. The method that I chose was a simple extra part which the torsion spring rope connected to, shown in the video below. The red handle is made for both hands and feet, whereas the blue handle is made entirely for your hands only.
An Interview with the head of disabilities at TFL
DayLite was also shown to members of TFL (Transport for London), which helped greatly to validate our product as well as give constructive feedback. A further step indicated was to decrease the overall size of the product to make it more accessible. However, the main design of Daylite was generally liked from our interview. Hence the colours of our product (blue + red) are matching to that of the TFL colours.
DayLite received First Honours for the overall project and was an extremely rewarding experience to learn and improve new and existing skills.
