Cool It
Interaction Design/Product Design
Interaction Design/Product Design
Interaction Design/Product Design
Interaction Design/Product Design
Interaction Design/Product Design
Interaction Design/Product Design
Interaction Design/Product Design
Interaction Design/Product Design
Interaction Design/Product Design
Designer(s)
Andrew Del Rizzo
Duration
6 Weeks
Recognitions
Every morning I make a coffee for myself that I bring to my desk and drink while I try to fully wake up. At the beginning, the drink is too hot for me to drink as it is right out of the kettle but over a span of 15 minutes, the drink eventually becomes colder and I sometimes forget to drink it as I get carried away with my work or whatever else I am doing. I wanted to create a device that would notify me that my drink is slowly getting cooler as well as cool my drink to a safe drinking temperature quickly so I can enjoy it while it is still warm.
Prototyping
Using an old computer fan attached to a heatsink that I had lying around, I knew that I could achieve the result I wanted with cooling a cup. I began some prototyping and testing out code with a temperature sensor and LEDs to make sure that I could get accurate readings of temperature from hot tea in a mug.
Making the Casing
I developed a simple casing and 3D printed it for the product to make it more appealing and to aid in holding the cup in place when resting on top. I found that this was a good way to tie the whole product together and clean up all the messy wiring while remaining functional.
Final Thoughts
This was a super enjoyable project to see through, even though it was much different from other projects I had worked on. I loved the fact that it actually worked as a product and it was also really fun to make the product video to showcase it in action.
