Openwear Draagbare Prototipe-boustel by Leijing Zhou

Openwear Draagbare Prototipe-boustel by Leijing Zhou is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2024 A' Design Award in Yster in Produkingenieuring en Tegniese Ontwerp Competition Category.

YsterIngenieurswese· 2024

Openwear Draagbare Prototipe-boustel

by Leijing Zhou

Client: Zhejiang University

A' Design Award in Yster Winner in Ingenieurswese Category

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Verified Award Winner
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View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Openwear Draagbare Prototipe-boustel

Openwear is 'n boustel om vinnig draagbare elektroniese prototipes te bou. Die boustel sluit 'n aangepaste Lilypad USB-ontwikkelingsbord, elf nuut ontwerpte modules en vinnigkoppel-kabels in. Elke module dra 'n toevoer- of afvoerskyfie en ses penne van 3 mm deursnee. Magnete van 10 mm deursnee word aan die agterkant van die borde vasgeheg, sodat die onderdele deur middel van magnetiese kussings aan klere vasheg in plaas van vasgewerk te word. O-koppelaars en boute verbind die penne. Prototipes kan direk op stof gebou, getoets en herrangskik word.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award in Yster

Openwear Draagbare Prototipe-boustel is 'n wenner van die A' Design Award in Yster, 'n prestigieuse erkenning wat toegeken word aan goeie ontwerpe wat voldoen aan die professionele en industriële vereistes wat van goed ontwerpte skeppings verwag word. Wenners in Yster toon groot vaardigheid, hoë spesialisasie, kundige begrip en die kreatiewe vermoë van hul skeppers. Daar word verwag dat Openwear Draagbare Prototipe-boustel 'n hoog aangeskrewe, bewonderde en gekoesterde skepping is wat prakties en innoverend is. Hierdie ontwerp wat die A' Design Award in Yster gewen het, integreer die beste praktyke in die bedryf en het bekwame tegniese kenmerke gekoppel aan kundigheid en talent. Openwear Draagbare Prototipe-boustel word gerespekteer vir sy deeglikheid en is ontwerp om verbeterings in lewensgehalte te bied wat help om die wêreld 'n beter plek te maak.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Openwear is a toolkit for building rapid wearable prototypes. It includes a modified Lilypad USB development board, 11 newly designed modules, and quick connecting cables. This kit facilitates rapid prototyping by enabling quick attachment and connection and allows users to directly build and test prototypes on the intended substrate like clothes.
Dimensions & Packaging: Development board size is ϕ50*1mm, module size is ϕ25*1mm.
Tags: Hardware, Electronic, Toolkit, Wearable, E-textile
Production Technology: For the modules, we have designed 11 different modules with input or output chips contained on each module. Each module has six 3mm diameter pins. For quick fixing, we fixed a 10mm diameter magnet on the bottom of the development board and modules, which works with the magnetic fixing pads to attach to clothes. For quick connects, we used O-connectors and bolts, which work well with the 3mm pin sizes on the PCB.
Design Challenge: The biggest challenge in the whole research was to achieve a rapid fixing and connection of the PCB. We tried a variety of methods including pins, buttons, velcro, and finally we chose to use magnets with O-connectors, which had not been used before.
Research: The success of the LilyPad has resulted in the creation of various development boards, such as the more compact TinyLily and the Circuit Playground with many sensors. However, these variations only modify the dimensions or integrate sensors, without modifying the Lilypad's method for constructing wearable circuits. This method presents a challenge in prototyping wearable circuits: sewing processes are time-consuming and set a high threshold for beginners. Furthermore, the troubleshooting process in wearable circuit prototyping often requires resetting and resewing. Once the development board is integrated into the fabric, the complexity of the debugging code also increases proportionally.
Inspiration: Common wearable circuits often need to be fixed using sewing, which is very cumbersome. To solve this problem, we took inspiration from magnetic buttons. We have embedded magnets in the back of the PCB to fix it using magnetic force.
Project Duration: The project started in August 2023 in Ningbo and finished in January 2024
Operation Flow: 1. Building the First Circuit Prototype: Select modules based on design requirements and assemble them on a flat surface for initial circuit testing and debugging. 2. Continuous Testing and Adjustment of the Circuit: Reconfigure module positions on the body for testing purposes. 3. Building the Final Circuit: Sew components directly onto fabric using conductive yarn or utilize sewing magnet fixing pads as an alternative method. This ensures flexibility and ease of removal.
Team Members: Leijing Zhou
Xin An
Yiqing Zhang
Yang Mao