Kettlesense : une boulloire “senior friendly”

La bouilloire est un des produits de commerce les plus utilisés en Grande Bretagne mais sa conception la rend difficile d’utilisation voire dangereux pour que beaucoup de personnes, notamment les Seniors. L’agence de design basée en Grande Bretagne a conçu une bouilloire « ;Senior friendly ;» sous le nom ;: Kettlesense.

;

The kettle is one of the most heavily used domestic products and yet in its current design is difficult and dangerous for many people to use. Alloy Total Product Design revisited the design principles and developed a product that is better, more accessible and highly inclusive. The product takes a common sense look at the issues surrounding the creation and use of boiling water in the kitchen, from all aspects, hence the name: Kettlesense.

Responding to the 2001 DBA Design Challenge, run in conjunction with the Helen Hamlyn Research Centre, the brief was to redefine a mainstream product, service, garment or print that deliberately includes the needs and aspirations of currently excluded groups of people. Alloy looked at the brief as a challenge to improve the everyday experience of boiling water for all ages and groups.

Focus groups demonstrated that safety was of key importance encompassing the major actions of lifting and pouring. Other issues including filling, switch access and cable management were also of concern. For arthritis sufferers even the weight of the kettle without water was a problem; coupled with the fear of pouring hot water can make the whole process very stressful. Those with limited dexterity often find kettle lids impossible to remove, and the visually impaired can have problems knowing where the water will pour, especially when using small containers such as cups and mugs.

Alloy’s product consists of two main chambers; the lower ‘jug’, is removable by the user for filling. It has a smaller capacity than a normal kettle, and has no electronics, and is therefore considerably lighter. The jug does not have to be lifted or the contents poured, it is merely slotted into position under the upper ‘boiling’ chamber. The water is transferred automatically from the lower to the upper chamber, where it is boiled.

The water is then dispensed via a fail-safe lever into the required vessel, which means that hot water is never poured. The only filling operation is putting cold water into a simple jug, which never gets hot, and incorporates a tactile volume measurement for the visually impaired. Its shape is suitable for both one and two handed operation and has hold points suitable for those with limited dexterity. The switches are obvious and easy to use and there is a 180° high visibility powerlight. The user is protected by a steam cowl, which draws excess steam towards the rear of the product. To ensure that the chamber never boils dry an audio alert sounds when the boil chamber is empty.

All the technology is in general use in many of the current domestic appliances. Kettlesense has a similar footprint to an existing kettle and therefore can be incorporated at a competitive price. The Kettlesense concept is based on straightforward engineering principles that were verified with 3D CAD and by making quick ‘breadboard’ prototypes.

The water is lifted by a hollow element like those found in cheap coffee makers. We added tubing to the element to ensure it would lift the water the distance we needed for Kettlesense. Alloy modeled this in 3D as a starting point for the design. Because of the complex forms in the water jug and the boiling chamber we had to use the CAD model to calculate the internal volumes accurately. This enabled them to optimize size without restricting creativity in the generation of the form.

There are some innovative features to Kettlesense that required Alloy to validate them with prototypes. The pouring nozzle is set at a fixed height so they had to check it would not splash when pouring into a small cup or large teapot. By trying various orifice (hole) diameters they were able to find a size that would not splash while maintaining a satisfactory rate of flow. Alloy were concerned about steam getting near the customer’s hands. By trying various profiles they came up with a steam duct that captures rising steam from the vessel and safely directs it towards the rear of the machine where cool air draws it away.

Alloy is interested in talking to manufacturers about the long-term development of this product and hope that soon the general public will be able to reap the benefits of their design expertise.

“Taking something as everyday as a kettle and re-thinking it as an inclusive piece of design from first principles was a fantastic and stimulating challenge. The response to the product was overwhelming and we hope to take the development much further”, said designer Nina Warburton.

Source : http://www.creativematch.co.uk