The lime clock project : or how to get a couple of fruits to tell you the time

• Main Author: Andersson, Peter
• Format: Bachelor Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: Technology; Industridesign; Klockor; Teknik; Luleå
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-46066

The development of a lime clock has been a master thesis project for Luleå University of technology and Andrew Rogers Industrial Design, ARID in Adelaide, Australia. The goal was to develop a concept of a clock powered by lime fruit during fall 2007. It started with researching about batteries. A battery basically works by putting a positive electrode (anode) and a negative electrode (cathode) in an electrolyte which can conduct energy. In the case of a lime fruit the acid within works as the electrolyte. For the electrodes materials with different electric potential are used, in this case zinc and copper which creates a voltage of about 1.1 volt. The project then continued with benchmarking. The visual appearance aimed for was modern, contemporary, appeal to young design interested and have a Scandinavian touch to it. Other products with these expressions were researched for a general feeling of what the styling should be like. Then sketches were created to explore the area of lime clocks. These were then put on facebook to get user feedback. At the same time experiments were carried out to see what kind of a clock would work with fruit power. An LCD display turned out to be the only reasonable option. Two limes or lemons could power an LCD clock for two weeks. The experiments together with the user feedback led to a decision about which concept to elaborate. The concept chosen was a black or wooden L-shaped clock were the display was behind the fruit which were placed on a shelf. Details were figured out and sketched and 3d modelling was started. The product got a lid to exchange the electrodes and clean off dripping lime juice. An insert was inserted between the top part and the lid and a grip was placed on the bottom. This resulted in a computer model that is ready for manufacturing and renderings to show off the visual appearance of the product. Validerat; 20101217 (root)