Voltbox Speaker Charging Station by Ricardo da Silva is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2021 A' Design Award in Digital and Electronic Device Design Competition Category.
IronConsumer Electronics· 2021
Voltbox Speaker Charging Station
Client: Voltbox Llc
A' Design Award Winner in Consumer Electronics Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #100114The Design
About Voltbox Speaker Charging Station
The design blends style and functionality in one speaker charging station, with two retractable charging cables for Android and iOS devices and two fast-charging usb ports. While the user shares the charging station with someone, at the same time, enjoy some music while catching up with their friends, anywhere one wishes to be. Voltbox is a power bank that works indoors and outdoors, remaining a companion to be connected on and offline.
The Recognition
About the A' Design Award
Voltbox Speaker Charging Station is an Iron A' Design Award winner, a prestigious recognition granted to good designs that meet the professional and industrial requirements expected from well-designed creations. Iron winners demonstrate great skill, high specialization, expert understanding, and creative capacity of their creators. Voltbox Speaker Charging Station is expected to be a highly regarded, admired, and cherished creation that is practical and innovative. This Iron A' Design Award-winning design integrates industry best practices and has competent technical characteristics linked with know-how and talent. Voltbox Speaker Charging Station is respected for its thoroughness and is designed to provide quality of life improvements that help make the world a better place.
Interviews
Design Interview
What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
One of the main goals of technology is to bring people together. Makes us save time in our daily tasks so we can spend more quality time with our family and friends. Social media helps us keep in touch with the ones we love and miss, but sometimes drives us apart from the ones who are next to us. With Voltbox this issue is now just one more reason for us to interact and improve our coexisting!
What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
Current mobile phones use more battery power for all of the applications and the battery life of the phone is depleted rapidly causing the need to recharge the device more often. Typically a person does not carry a charging device or a wireless speaker with them and if so they often may not have access to a power outlet. The present invention for charging mobile phones in public places will offer a much-needed convenience.
What are your future plans for this award winning design?
Promote my brand and expand the range of electronic device development.
Grand Interview
Your innovative approach to combining charging functionality with social interaction in the Voltbox Speaker Charging Station has earned recognition at the A' Design Award - could you elaborate on how this vision of bringing people together shaped your design decisions?
One of the main goals of technology, in our view, is to bring people closer together. It should make our daily lives easier, allowing us to save time and focus on what truly matters—sharing moments with family and friends. However, while digital connectivity through social media keeps us in touch with loved ones far away, it often distances us from those right beside us.With Voltbox, we wanted to address that paradox. The design integrates functionality—charging multiple devices—with a social purpose. By combining a speaker and a communal charging station, we created a product that naturally encourages people to gather, talk, and share experiences while their devices recharge. Every design decision, from the layout and lighting to the tactile materials and sound quality, was guided by this vision of togetherness. Voltbox transforms a simple, routine task into an opportunity for connection, helping people reconnect in the real world.
The Voltbox Speaker Charging Station features an impressive 10,400 mAh battery capacity - what engineering challenges did you face in balancing portable dimensions with such substantial power delivery capabilities?
Balancing a compact, portable form with a 10,400 mAh battery capacity was one of the key engineering challenges we faced during development. We wanted Voltbox to be powerful enough to charge multiple devices and deliver high-quality sound, yet still lightweight and easy to carry or place on any surface.Achieving this required careful optimization of every component—from the battery cell arrangement and energy management system to the thermal design and material selection. We worked extensively on improving power efficiency, ensuring that the charging circuitry and speaker modules could perform at their best without generating excess heat or draining power unnecessarily.Through iterative prototyping and testing, we refined the internal architecture to maximize capacity within minimal space. The result is a balanced design that delivers strong performance and long-lasting power, while maintaining the sleek, portable aesthetic that defines Voltbox.
The retractable cable system in the Voltbox Speaker Charging Station offers an elegant solution to cable management - could you walk us through the development process that led to this patented feature?
The retractable cable system was born from a simple observation—charging stations often end up cluttered with tangled cables, which disrupts both functionality and aesthetics. Our goal was to design a clean, intuitive solution that would make charging effortless and visually pleasing.We began by exploring existing cable management mechanisms, but none met our standards for durability, compactness, and user experience. This led us to develop our own system from scratch. The process involved countless prototypes, testing different spring tensions, spool geometries, and cable materials to ensure smooth retraction without compromising longevity.The result is a retractable system that combines precision engineering with user-centered design. It not only keeps the charging area organized but also enhances the overall experience—turning what used to be a small annoyance into a seamless, elegant interaction.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- Voltbox is a Patented Portable Charger with two retractable charging cables that charge Android and iOS devices and two fast-charging USB ports. It Charges 4 devices at once and plays the favourite tunes on the Bluetooth speaker.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- 10.7 cm x 10.7 cm x 16.51 cm
790 grams - Tags
- voltbox, charger, clutter-free, device, everything, speaker, versatile, gadget, device
- Production Technology
- Manufacturing process: Injection moulding
Main material: Polycarbonate ( PC )
Electronic components: PCB circuit boards - Design Challenge
- The main obstacle was to get the highly restrictive UL certification keeping the ergonomically adequate dimensions for a portable product and its multi functionalities.
- Research
- Current mobile phones use more battery power for all of the applications and the battery life of the phone is depleted rapidly causing the need to recharge the device more often. Typically a person does not carry a charging device or a wireless speaker with them and if so they often may not have access to a power outlet. The present invention for charging mobile phones in public places will offer a much-needed convenience.
- Inspiration
- One of the main goals of technology is to bring people together. Makes us save time in our daily tasks so we can spend more quality time with our family and friends. Social media helps us keep in touch with the ones we love and miss, but sometimes drive us apart from the ones who are next to us. With Voltbox this issue is now just one more reason for us to interact and improve our coexisting!
- Project Duration
- February 2017 in Hong Kong and finished in August 2017 in Shenzhen, China
- Operation Flow
- Bluetooth Speaker pair to any smart device delivering the favourite music playlist anywhere with more than 18 hours of amazing sound.Is compatible with most smart devices and charges 4 devices at once. Its capacity of 10,400 mAh battery provides more than 3 charging cycles or rock on for more than 18 hours as a speaker, and the power stay maintains battery power for up 1 year. The untangling retractable cables can be plugged into other devices with a USB port.
- Patents
- The United States, Patent Application PublicationPub. No . : US 2019 / 0245360 A1
- Team Members
- Business development manager: Cristiano Milek
- Image Credits
- Video Credits: Agency NINETEEN87, 1-9-8-7.com, Director: L. Lonnie Peralta
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