Fall 2020 Design I Final Competition
Section Y: Bubble Buddies
Problem Statement: How can structural airflow be better managed within an aircraft to control the spread of airborne viral infection?
Team Members: Devin Kennedy, Jeeva Senthilnathan, James Clark, Yichong Liang and Bryce Gould
Instructor: Daniel Travis
Hi team,
I’m happy to see you addressed ventilation as it seems to be a key component in mitigating spread. I would like to know more about:
-How the bubble attaches to the seat
-What the intended protocol is if a passenger needs to get something out of their bag in an overhead bin
-What safety measures you have put in place in the event that a rough landing or turbulence was encountered
Thank you!
Hi Karen! Thanks so much for your questions! The bubble attaches on the seat just on it’s overhead. There are extra latches put in place just for aircraft, but the nice part about the BubbleBuddy is it’s ability to be transported and worn in different spaces. The intended protocol for a passenger needing to get something out their bag in an overhead bin would be through the tray attached on the side, used for getting necessary personal items during the flight. They would of course need assistance from a flight attendant. For safety measures, our team specifically designed an emergency subsystem, with a cord and bungee latch attached to the seat. The passengers would stay seated, and then would safely exit the aircraft once the BubbleBuddy product automatically releases open once landing.
Good job, Bubble Buddies! Great work making it to the final competition!! I have a few questions for you:
1) How did dimensions drive your design? Did you consider different heights and sizes of passengers as compared to the size of seats?
2) What do you recommend for the airline attendants? What do they wear? Or are they more susceptible to the ‘dirty’ air being driven out of the bottom of all the passengers bubbles?
3) Do you feel that your device will be long lasting? How are these carried through the airport? Are they folded and then assembled?
4) Do you have sized bubbles for adults vs. children?
5) How often do you anticipate the filter needs replacing? What other maintenance do you envision?
Hi Dr. Salinas!
Thanks so much for your comments and questions! 🙂
1) How did dimensions drive your design? Did you consider different heights and sizes of passengers as compared to the size of seats?
The dimensions drove our design to make our product universally usable. It is easy to use and comfortable for all passengers. We relied our heights and sizes of different passengers based on the size of the seats and the average human height. There is an added feature where the BubbleBuddy has the ability to slide up and down for comfortability of adjusting the height for the passenger.
2) What do you recommend for the airline attendants? What do they wear? Or are they more susceptible to the ‘dirty’ air being driven out of the bottom of all the passengers bubbles?
The nice part about the BubbleBuddy is it’s ability to be transported and worn in different spaces. This makes the BubbleBuddy comfortable for flight attendants as well where they can walk across the aircraft and assist other passengers.
3) Do you feel that your device will be long lasting? How are these carried through the airport? Are they folded and then assembled?
This device will surely be long-lasting. These are carried through the airport just as you mentioned in your next question! 😊 Yes , they will be folded and can be placed in their carry on.
4) Do you have sized bubbles for adults vs. children?
As mentioned these are universally usable, with added features like adjusting the height, these are perfect for all adults and children.
5) How often do you anticipate the filter needs replacing? What other maintenance do you envision?
The filter would need replacing about every 2-3 years. This truly depends on how much the product is used and depends on the added features of the product being used for aircraft, as every aircraft is different. The other maintenance we envision is disinfecting the BubbleBuddy that can be done at home with alcohol, as well as testing the detector (in filtering) of the lights to show passengers the filtering process.
Thank you for your presentation.
1. Although there is much concern about spreading COVID-19 on aircraft, what is the scale of the problem you are solving? Is there a known infection rate for airlines that still mandate wearing of masks? Does this allow some airlines to start filling the middle seat again? Are some airlines filling that middle seat anyway…and do they actually have a higher infection rate?
2. It was not clear how the safety device works…it would have been nice to have seen a series of pictures of how this device helped and what happens to the bubble in the case of an emergency…because things that impede passenger movement is a problem during an emergency, especially in the emergency exit rows. Acrylic is not a an easy material to discard. I think the mounting considerations would have cleared some of this up.
3. The variable airflow feature is nice, but is there a minimum amount of airflow inside the bubble that is required to keep the passenger safe from asphyxiation?
4. What were the results of the user feedback?
5. I don’t think purchase-ability is as much of a concern for broken parts as much as in-field serviceability. Cleaning all that acrylic between flights would seem a daunting task. Did you consider how to make that an easier task?
6. Human factors involves lots of testing. Did any of you sit in the bubble for over an hour or two to figure out if it was even comfortable? I didn’t see this affixed to any chairs or mock-ups of a row of seats.
Thank you for your presentation. I think that this a great idea, but it needs more work. What was the hardest task and what would you do differently? -Pete
Hi Pete!
Thanks so much for your questions and comments! 😊
1. Although there is much concern about spreading COVID-19 on aircraft, what is the scale of the problem you are solving? Is there a known infection rate for airlines that still mandate wearing of masks? Does this allow some airlines to start filling the middle seat again? Are some airlines filling that middle seat anyway…and do they actually have a higher infection rate?
1.The scale of problem that we are solving is quite large as it is designed for pandemics. There is not a known infection rate for airplanes, but it is designed to not mandate the wearing of masks. Yes, this will allow some airlines to start filling the middle seat again! 😊 According to statistics, the middle seat do have a higher infection rate as more passengers were easily susceptible to catch in dust particles.
3.Yes, there is a control for the minimum oxygen level. It will mandatorily need to be above 19.5 for at least the minimum oxygen level for a human being.
4.The results of the user feedback was that
more passengers were less likely to travel in fear of the limited space for social distancing, and our product defeated just that through proper filtration of all air particles within an individual space guaranteeing 100% of safe travel.
5.There is an added feature for the BubbleBuddy to clean itself by using disinfecting spray inside the aircraft that can help the acrylic stay sterilized.
6. We tested our product multiple times with many passengers, and our results were that they were quite comfortable.
The hardest task we had thus far due to the DiggerDesign Labs being closed is cutting the acrylic with our hands. We would have clearly taken our tools to a hardware store where we could get more assistance to manufacturing our product a little more easier.
Thank you bubble buddies for your great video and unique solution to this semester’s CFP. After watching your video, I have a couple of questions regarding your proposed solution:
Is there a benefit to mounting the bubble buddy to the structure vs. a personal bubble approach?
What is the maximum addressable market? How many bubble buddies could be sold if every public transportation system implemented your solution?
What are the major risks associated with either setting up or operating the bubble buddy? How did the team mitigate these risks?
Are there any competing solutions on the market? If so, how does the bubbly buddy differentiate itself? What is unique/special/different about your approach?
What other options did the team look at when developing a solution to this problem?
Is there a benefit to mounting the bubble buddy to the structure vs. a personal bubble approach?
Yes, there are different benefits from the BubbleBuddy from an aircraft vs. the personal bubble approach.
What is the maximum addressable market? How many bubble buddies could be sold if every public transportation system implemented your solution?
The cost for a starting BubbleBuddy is $100 for all. The amount of bubble buddies sold in every public transportation system implemented by our solution would depend, since there are many variations of the different transportation systems.
What are the major risks associated with either setting up or operating the bubble buddy? How did the team mitigate these risks?
The major risks associated with either setting up or operating the bubble buddy with the detection of the virus itself. The team mitigated these risks by using a test for the detection of “smell”. We created a space for evaporated air particles with Kool-aid to show how the particles would be trapped through the filters of the BubbleBuddy.
Are there any competing solutions on the market? If so, how does the bubbly buddy differentiate itself? What is unique/special/different about your approach? What other options did the team look at when developing a solution to this problem?
Yes there is a competing solution called the Biovyzr 1.0. The BubbleBuddy differentiates itself through its lights to show the passengers its detection of airborne virus particles as well as its emergency subsystem. What is unique/special/different about your approach is the ability for our product to be attached perfectly to multiple public transportation systems. The options when designing this product was truly limited when developing a solution to the problem since Biovyzer 1.0 was the only product on the market.