Candle-Powered Heater for Northern Indian Communities Without Access to Electricity.
A safe, ceramic, candle-powered heater/A less expensive alternative/emotional connection with our users
Our users live in villages in northern India without access to electricity. Climate varied: 41 in winter, 95 in summer.304 Million people don’t have access to electricity (24% population)
Sample Village - Sadikpur India
Never been on electricity grid
Make own energy (cow dung, kerosene)
Make all the goods they consume, strong
Craftsmanship culture
Biggest problem: . million people die
Prematurely because of their current energy
Empathy Map
Stakeholder Map
Sketch and Materials Lists
Heater
3 terracotta pots (all different sizes)
1 terracotta base
1 bolt, 2 washers, 1 nut to secure pots together
Metal bar
Collar
Metal sheet
Drill
2 bolts, 2 nuts
Candle
Soy wax (no fragrance)
Candle tin
Candle wicks
Prototyping Process and Testing Result
Safety Considerations
Warning Label
The choice of color, font size, symbol and color contrast of “Warning” at the top of the label were chosen according to the level of hazard
Due to an international audience, positive and negative symbolism was used to effectively communicate correct and incorrect use.
Handles
Handles allow for simple, effective and safe handling of the ceramic heater
Handles were designed as elephant ears to not only fit with the cultural aspect of our target audience but also serves as a memorable way to avoid a burn hazard and use correctly
Summary
We began this project by conducting research on various communities throughout the world that don't have access to electricity. We decided on Northern India due to the varied climate and the strong crafting culture present in this region.
Once we narrowed down our target audience, we started thinking about the best ways to build our prototype. We came up with various design concepts and weighted the pros and cons of each of these concepts. Once we settled on our design, we began prototyping and making revision as necessary. Throughout the prototyping process, we tested our product in various settings to make sure that it was effective at generating heat. Finally, we did more research on ways that we could incorporate our product into culture of Northern India so that we could get people to want to use it. We learned that elephants are a holy symbol of good luck in India. For this reason, we decided to include an elephant on our heater.
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