Mechcircuit Pūnaewele Hoʻohālike Launa Pū by Weijia Lin and Shuyue Feng

Mechcircuit Pūnaewele Hoʻohālike Launa Pū by Weijia Lin and Shuyue Feng is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2023 A' Design Award Kala in Hoʻolālā ʻEnekinia Huahana a me Hoʻolālā ʻOihana Competition Category.

KalaʻEnekinia· 2023

Mechcircuit Pūnaewele Hoʻohālike Launa Pū

by Weijia Lin and Shuyue Feng

Client: Zhejiang University

A' Design Award Kala Winner in ʻEnekinia Category

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Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #148666

View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Mechcircuit Pūnaewele Hoʻohālike Launa Pū

ʻO Mechcircuit he ʻōnaehana hoʻohālike no nā mea hana launa pū e hui ana i nā kaapuni uila a me nā kūkulu mīkini. He mākēneki a he mea hoʻoholo uila nā mākēneki neodymium, no laila lawelawe lākou ma ke ʻano he mau ami neʻe a me nā pilina uila. Loaʻa nā neʻe kaʻapuni a me nā neʻe pololei me ka ʻole o nā ʻāpana mīkini kuʻuna. Pani ʻia ka uea a me ka hoʻopili keleawe e nā mākēneki a me nā ʻāpana i ʻoki ʻia e ka laser, no laila hoʻopili a hoʻololi koke nā ʻāpana. ʻOki ʻia nā hoʻohālike mai nā pepa acrylic 2 mm, a hana ka ʻīnika kālā hoʻoholo uila i nā kaapuni. Kākoʻo ka polokalamu hoʻolālā kōkua kamepiula i nā mea hoʻohana ʻike ʻole.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award Kala

Ua lanakila ka hoʻolālā Mechcircuit Pūnaewele Hoʻohālike Launa Pū i ka A' Design Award Kala, he ʻike hoʻohanohano nui loa i hāʻawi ʻia i nā hoʻolālā kiʻekiʻe loa, nani a kupaianaha. He mau hana ʻālohilohi loa a hana noʻeau nui nā lanakila Kala e hōʻike ana i ka loea, ka makakoho a me ka ʻoi aku o ka noʻonoʻo o kā lākou poʻe hoʻolālā. Manaʻo ʻia ʻo ka hoʻolālā Mechcircuit Pūnaewele Hoʻohālike Launa Pū he hana kupaianaha, kūlana ʻoi aku, ʻoihana kiʻekiʻe a hou loa. ʻO kēia hoʻolālā i lanakila i ka A' Design Award Kala he mea hoʻokumu kūpono loa, mahalo ʻia e hāʻawi i ka pōmaikaʻi a hoʻoneʻe i nā palena o ka hana noʻeau, ka ʻepekema, ka hoʻolālā a me ka ʻenehana. He mea i ʻeleu ʻia e nā mea he nui ka hoʻolālā Mechcircuit Pūnaewele Hoʻohālike Launa Pū e hoʻāla i ka makemake, lawe mai i nā manaʻo maikaʻi a hoʻāla i ka kamahaʻo a me ka mahalo.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

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

Unique Properties: Mechcircuit enables non-expert users to design and fabricate interactive prototypes with electronic circuits and mechanical structures. Users can achieve mechanical functions like rotary and linear without using traditional mechanical parts. Meanwhile, instead of involving complicated operations like wiring and soldering in conventional electronic circuits, Mechcircuit applies magnetism and laser-cut slots to connect the components, making connecting and replacing quick and easy.
Dimensions & Packaging: Mechcircuit uses acrylic sheets with a thickness of 2mm. Usually the prototype is no smaller than 10mmX10mmX5mm. the size of the prototype varies depending on the actual design.
Tags: Interaction Design, Magnetoelectric Materials, Prototyping, Computational Aided Design
Production Technology: Taking advantage of the fact that rubidium magnets are both magnetic and conductive, we have designed mechanical structures with magnets. It is much easier to design and assemble than the traditional mechanical structure. At the same time the mechanical structure is still interactive. To facilitate user design and generation, we have developed computer-aided design software. The software integrates various modules for user-friendly prototyping. We used a commercial grade laser cutter for cutting and processing and conductive silver ink for the circuitry.
Design Challenge: Mechcircuit wanted to integrate the design of structures and circuits, while simplifying the design and manufacturing process. It was challenging to use a different design and fabrication approach than traditional ones and to use materials that were readily available. Based on several attempts, we finally chose rubidium magnets as the magnetoelectric material and used conductive silver ink paint to replace the traditional Dupont wire.
Research: Mechcircuit leverage the neodymium magnet’s natures of magnetism and conductivity to integrate electronics and mechanical structure joints into prototypes. We conduct the evaluation to explore technological parameters and assess the practical feasibility of the fabrication pipeline. And we organized a user-observing workshop for non-expert users. Through the outcoming prototypes, the result demonstrates the feasibility of Mechcircuit as a useful and inspiring prototyping method.
Inspiration: In prototyping, the design of electronic circuits and the design of mechanical structures are often carried out separately. In addition, the electronic circuitry and the mechanical structure also affect the prototype's styling. This makes the design often not optimal.
Project Duration: The project starts in July 2022 and ends in December 2022 at the School of Software, Zhejiang University, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China
Operation Flow: The mechanical structure composed of magnets allows the user to design and assemble easily. As the user manipulates the structure, the circuit signals change. The user can interact with the circuit by manipulating the structure.
Patents: All photos/videos are from Shuyue Feng, Department of Industrial Design, School of Software, Zhejiang University
Team Members: Weijia Lin
Shuyue Feng
Jiayu Yao
Jiayi Ma
Masulani Bokola
Ziyu Fang
Guanyun Wang
Cheng Yao