Refreshing Design - The Horners Student Award

Each year the Worshipful Company of Horners runs a national competition for student designers.  This year MoDiP has had the pleasure of displaying three of the prizing winning designs.

DESIGN INNOVATION IN PLASTICS AWARD 2010

The Award was originally established in 1985 as the BASF Design Award and has evolved to become Design Innovation in Plastics, now owned by The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM³) and The Worshipful Company of Horners, with the continued support of Bayer MaterialScience as the principal industry sponsor. The theme of the 2010 competition, ‘Refreshing Design’, challenged student designers and design engineers to create a product that addressed economic and environmental concerns yet was innovative and ‘refreshing’.  

The Award acknowledges support from the following additional sponsors:

PlasticsEurope, a leading European plastics trade association. Cogent, the Sector Skills Council for Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Nuclear, Oil & Gas, Petroleum & Polymers

Materials KTN, which enables the exchange of materials knowledge and the stimulation of business innovation. PDD, an international product innovation consultancy. DuPont, a global leader in engineering polymers. Hi-Technology Group Limited, a provider of total solutions in plastics design, tooling and moulding. HellermannTyton , a leading supplier of products for fastening, identifying and protecting cables and a pioneer developer of data systems.  Brightworks, an award-winning UK product design and development consultancy.

FIRST PRIZE : SafetyNet, Dan Watson, Royal College of Art

A redesigned trawl net offering an affordable way to improve the sustainability and lower the environmental impact of demersal (bottom) trawler fishing

Dan wins a placement with Bayer MaterialScience, Leverkusen, Germany and a cheque for £1000

Demersal trawling is an imprecise, non-selective practice and fishermen targeting certain fish may inadvertently net other fish during the process. Fish caught in this way are both undesirable and unmarketable, and by European law, fishermen have to throw them back into the sea, invariably dead or dying. In addition, due to quota restrictions, only the largest and best quality fish are kept so that smaller fish are also discarded. Net mesh size should allow these smaller, almost always juvenile fish, to escape, but this is rarely the case. The SafetyNet sustainable trawling system addresses these problems by exploiting the natural behavioral and physiological differences between different species of fish in order to help crews catch the right fish.

The Escape Rings are designed to hold meshes open to allow juvenile, undersized and endangered fish to escape before the net is drawn in. By illuminating the apertures in the net's meshes the rings will act in a similar way to an emergency exit sign, alerting the fish to the danger they are in and providing an escape route away from it. The rings are offered in different sizes and are made of cast nylon with the illuminating lens made from polyurethane.

The redesigned net uses existing materials and technology and is raised off the seabed, massively reducing its footprint, reducing damage to the seabed and reducing friction, which means less fuel is needed to pull it. This not only cuts down on carbon emissions but also offers an incentive for use as it will save crews money in the long-run.

Supporting documents: Dan Watson pdf 1, Dan Watson pdf 2, Dan Watson pdf 3, Dan Watson pdf 4

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Precision D Shin Guard, Jaipreet Bahra, Aston University

A soccer shin guard incorporating smart polymer material. Jaipreet wins a placement with Brightworks plus a cheque for £100

The shin guard is part of a possible future range of shin protection equipment designed to counter the growing number of football injuries. It provides both protection and mobility. The base of the guard forms an innovative part of the design, giving extra protection, and another innovative feature is the provision of protection to the back of the shin.

The components are made with a core of d3o foam, an advanced polymer invented by Richard Palmer, ex RCA and Imperial College and a former DuPont scientist. D3o is an engineered material with intelligent molecules that flow with you when you move, but on impact lock together to absorb impact energy. It is in use in ski and racing suits and in biker jackets. The plastic packaging and point-of-sale have also been designed.

Supporting document: Japreet Bahra pdf

HIGHLY COMMENDED: flow • R • spiral, Helena From, London South Bank University

A shower head based on a ball and spiral mechanism designed to reduce water consumption by more than half

Helena wins a placement with HellermannTyton plus a cheque for £100

Each person in the UK uses 150 litres of water every day, 33% of which is for personal washing. Showering for more than 6 minutes consumes more water than a bath. Most people would like to change their behaviour yet still enjoy a shower. With this product a 10-minute shower will now use only 5 minutes of water flow.

Water flow in the shower head pushes a ball up a spiral inside the flow tube and stops the flow after 60 seconds when soap or shampoo can be used. When the shower head is placed back on its bracket, water pressure is released and the ball returns to its original position.  This saves water, money and energy, and reduces the carbon footprint. In addition, a visually humorous effect of filling a water balloon is created.

Supporting documents: Helena From pdf 1, Helena From pdf 2, Helena From pdf 3, Helena From pdf 4, Helena From pdf 5