Solution
Solution/Product
Initial Prototype
This was the very first 3D design that we made. Obviously this model is very simple, but it did help us visualize what we wanted our final product to look like.
Final Product
This is our final product. It includes all aspects that we intended to include to make our product effective. Some of these include insulated foil walls, and silica gel lines the walls. We wanted our final product to be as effective as possible while still having the ability to be easily and convieniently used.
Community of Focus
Because our goal is to prevent food waste in schools, our target community will be school children. We feel that a massive portion of food waste in schools is from kids discarding their cold lunches. So by keeping them hot, we hope to eliminate this factor.
Major Steps
Some of our major steps in our process are pitching our product to our client and having it approved, distributing our product and collecting feedback, and presenting our product at the Windward Community Forum on March 20th.
Data Collection
We collected data by researching many articles, and implementing key findings in our notes that we later used to develop our product. We hoped that our extensive research would be beneficial in creating our prototype.
Prefered Partners
Our preferred partners are Citizen Sprout, Organic Kids LA, and Unity Meals. We feel that becuase they are the food suppliers for many schools, they would be the ideal partners for helping distribute our product. We also belive that they would benefit the most, compared to other partners.
Bugdet
Our budget is about $90 per KeepHeat bag.
This includes the bag, dividers, silica gel, gorilla glue, foam core dividers, and reusable heaters.
Exterior
We recreated something similar to this design. We made a sturdy, yet light resuable bag that can support the lunches. We wanted to create a product that would support and not counteract our heating goals
Interior
Some signifcant aspects of the desgin above that we also used are insulated foil and dividers. The insulated foil is crucial becuase it traps heat inside the bag. The dividers are also crucial to help stop the lunches from crashing against each other.
Week 2 Vlog
IMG_2686.movInformational Vlog
IMG_2673.MOVTimelapse Vlog
Results & Analysis
Was it Effective?
Yes! Our product outdid our control in every single measurement. The KeepHeat kept the food hotter and prevented it from becoming soggy. The insulated box itself was also able to retain much more heat than just the box without insulation. Based on our overall goal of keeping the food hotter and less soggy our product did everything we wanted it to. We can say with confidence that if you use our product, you will enjoy your food more than without it.
Food Temperature
This graph shows the temperature of the food inside (blue) and outside (red) our box before and after our test. We can see how the food stayed hotter inside the box than outside the box.
Food Weight
This graph shows the weight of the food inside (blue) and outside (red) the box before and after our test. We can see how the food outside the box got soggier becuase it retained more moisture and therefore more weight
Box Temperature
This graph shows the box temperature and the room temperature inside (blue) and outside (red) the box before and after our test. We can see how the temperature increase in the box was greater than that of the room temperature. This means that the food was in a hotter envionment inside the box.
Heat Pack Temperature
This graph shows the temperature of the heat packs before and after the test. We can see how over the course of 1 1/2 hours that the heat pack only lost around 15% of its heat, meaning that the box is well insulated.