POWERED BY YOU

OUR THOUGHTS

When we visited the airport we thought that the way finding system was clear and straight forward, there were no problems with queues the general atmosphere was very calm. We didn’t see any major problems with the airport. This led us to think what could we do with the airport; we came to the conclusion that as there is always a flow of mechanical stress (people walking through the same area continuously) producing an enormous amount of kinetic energy that goes to waste. So we have decided to harness this energy and use it throughout the airport or for the creators’ personal use; charging personal devices.

We propose to design two solutions to harness the energy created by all at Heathrow Terminal 5:

ECO- TROLLEY:

The initial idea behind the trolley is to use the basic concept of:

Weight + Movement = Kinetic Energy

To harness the kinetic energy created, we have decided to use the following device:

 

Uses piezoelectric chips as shock absorbers, which then charge a portable storage unit.

Our initial idea was to redesign the trolleys so that the energy harnessing mechanism could work, but then a discovery was made where the mechanism could just be attached to the already existing trolleys. Therefore we have decided against the idea of redesigning the trolley as it wouldn’t be a sustainable process to get rid of the hundreds of trolleys that are already in existence at the airport. Also, the device that is attached the trolley could be removed and used for other equip-ments such as a bicycle.

As a safety feature the trolley will have a chain attatching this plastic plug socket protector to the trolley.

INTERACTIVE FLOORS:

We thought of creating an interactive floor experience that looks like a glass floor that lights up whenever it is stepped on. The floor will also be harnessing the energy produced by peoples movements across the floor; all the energy produced by the movement on the floor will be used throughout the airport and the lights will be lit up with that energy. How the floor will be made goes as follows:

1. OLEDs will be used for the top layer, as they are flexible and durable.

2. The lights will link directly to the piezoelec-tric mat; to the ‘lit up’ surface. We will create an index where every unit of pressure will produce a different coloured light.

3. Placed on top of the already existing floor is the piezoelectric mat. This harnesses kinetic energy generated by crowds of people walking across the area covered by the mats. Theenergy created is temporarily stored and consequently distributed around the facility.

 

‘MAKING EVERY JOURNEY BETTER’

The excess energy that is produced will not go to waste, but it will go back to whom ever sup-plies the airport with energy.

We started this new experience with the concept that the passengers had to personally gain something from our idea: this was made possible by collecting the energy through the use of the eco-trolley to allow the passengers to consume the energy produced.As the journey in Terminal 5 progresses we thought it was only right to also include a more altruistic perspective to Sustainability.We made sure that they still personally gained something out of their experience at Heathrow, but that at the same time contributed to the making of energy for the facility, as well as for themselves (as seen in the previous section of the airport). What better way of contributing to helping the planet by having fun walking around the facility!

INFORMING THE USERS

The way we intend on informing the users about our two new eco systems, is by showing them live readings of how much energy they are producing overall for the airport. There will also be a more personalised reading available on the trolley at the beginning and end of the passengers’ journey.

We thought of informing the users on our Sustainable project by having live charts on the big LED screen where the check-in desks are. These charts will show how much energy is being produced around the facility as everyone walks around. The aim is for them to be constantly updated so that everyone can see how much they’re really contributing.

These are two examples of what the LED screens will look like. The reference to the number of lights bulbs that the energy collected is a good way to keep the users informed and excited about just going to at the airport as they will feel as if they are helping the environment on their Journeys. This is another way that we intend on mak-ing the users journey better. The other visual shows how much energy has been produced every hour. The red shows the most recent hour, whilst the blue part indicated the oldest hour.

POWERED BY YOU Project by: Dami Soluade

Chiara Ambrosoli

Jeremy Lau

Maureen Soliman