The Blazing Brick
Smart Solar Powered Bike Light
The Challenge: Design a bike light that would forgive the user if they forgot to charge it. Incorporate other user-friendly features, such as a studier theft resistant mount, automatic turn on/off, and brightness adjustment. Prototype a build via additive manufacturing. Design to be feasibly mass manufactured by injection molding.
About:
Based on our research in the bike light market, we found a significant pain point around users forgetting to charge their lights and then having to bike home in the dark without a significant safety feature. We also found that users disliked the most prevalent mount of the silicone strap variety that jostled loose while riding. These mounts also left lights vulnerable to theft. Finally, users said that adjusting their lights mid-ride presented a safety issue when it required them to take a hand of their handlebar.
My Role:
Prototyping, CAD, circuit and printed circuit board (PCB) design, programming, market research
Team:
Isabel Dashiell, Griffin Souza
Process:
As a team we overcame many challenges, including a complete housing redesign to reduce the light width halfway through development, incorporating a side action for molding the undercuts in the rotary encoder mount, and developing a completely removable battery pack so that the light can be left on the bike to charge the backup battery via solar panel. We also prototyped the circuit from breadboard to PCB to integrate necessary sensors and controls.
We succeeded in fitting PCB and all components within the limited space constraint.
Initial Housing Design
After Redesign
PCB Design
Placement of Side Action (Marked in Green)
Result:
The result was a light with a 10-hour main battery charge and 1-hour backup charge via solar panel that would fully charge in direct sunlight in 10 hours. Main battery pack is removable. Mount is rigid and held securely in place with tamper proof screws. Controlled with two modes: an automatic mode with no user input required to turn on or adjust to, and a manual mode for users who want complete control over their light. 3 brightness settings. Delivered working prototype with full drawing package to ASME Y14 – 2009 geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, including injection molding specifications.
