IB Design Technology 3.3 Physical Modelling Questionbank

How would a racing helmet fitted with accelerometers and strain gauges to record results during a drop-test be categorized?

The Gramovox® bluetooth speaker design is based on gramophones from the 1920s, see Figure 13. For the prototype, stereolithography (SLA) was used to 3D print the S-curve horn.

Pavan Bapu the founder of Gramovox®, is an entrepreneur and a product champion, see Figure 14. He crowdsourced funding for manufacture through Kickstarter and promoted the concept through live online broadcasts and newspaper interviews. He was inspired to develop the Gramovox® bluetooth speaker after seeing a 1920s gramophone in a shop window.

Figure 13: Gramovox, 2013. Gramovox Bluetooth Gramophone. $image online$
Available at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gramovox/gramovoxtm-bluetooth-gramophone
$Accessed 10 September 2020$.

Figure 14: Technori, 2015. Pavan Bapu Presents Gramovox. $video online$ Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mp5m8klziA
$Accessed 10 September 2020$. Source adapted.

A design team is developing a new handheld garden trimmer. They construct a full-scale model using foam and wood to evaluate the weight distribution and the comfort of the trigger placement for different users. Which of the following best describes this type of physical model?

A product designer is evaluating the impact resistance of a new protective casing for a smartphone. They construct a physical replica of the casing and embed miniature sensors inside it to record the specific forces and vibrations experienced during a series of laboratory drop tests.

Which type of physical model is being utilized in this scenario?

The global packaging industry generates over 140 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, primarily derived from non-renewable petroleum. New international agreements, such as the UN Plastics Treaty, are compelling manufacturers to find sustainable alternatives to single-use plastics. In response to these pressures, designers are focusing on clean technologies utilizing algae-based polymers.

Algae-based bioplastics are carbon-neutral and biodegradable. Although biological plastics were first prototyped in the early 20th century, they remained largely ignored by the mass market until the recent focus on environmental resource management.

Clean technologies in this sector aim to reduce the carbon footprint of production while ensuring that the end-of-life stage does not contribute to oceanic pollution.