This report describes the process of designing a ventilation concept for the renovation industry. The project is in collaboration with Breman Schoorsteentechniek, an installation company located in the Netherlands. The initial brief was kept vague on purpose and described a project in which I was to find a way for Breman, to make their products more recognizable on the market. At the time, Breman was starting to rebuild their companies vision with ecologically sustainable intentions.

The initiation of the project became a search for what the vision for this product should be. Next to a small analysis of the current workflow, a trends and development research was conducted. This resulted in core movements for the year 2030 in the fields of: sustainability, construction industry and general world developments. These were then used to communicate a proposed world vision and were discussed with the board members of Breman. From these meetings three ideas where generated. After consideration of the core movements and the initial aspirations of the project, the direction of ventilation in renovation was chosen.

After a short transition from this general vision to the design phase, I constructed a model in which I could order my decisions. The model made that the overall design stayed consistent and that gaps in the argumentation for the concept could be determined. Concluding from this model, I designed a component based product. This product consists of a full central ventilation system with integrated IoT functionality. A distinction was made between a full fletched version and a budget version. I implemented the product in a virtual space, to offer a more tangible impression of the product.

With the conclusion of the design phase, I continued to a small evaluation phase. The virtual space visualisations where used in meetings with experts on different levels of the ventilation industry and the field of plastic injection molding. The gained feedback on the feasibility, desirability and viability of the concept was then used in combination with left over insights of the project, to write recommendations for Breman. As a conclusion to the project, the initial brief is reflected upon. The final result is Breman flow, the next step for ecologically sustainable ventilation in the renovation industry.

The constantly growing world population has en ever-increasing food supply demand. With the decreasing quality of available agricultural land, innovations in the agricultural sector will play an increasingly crucial role. Increasing productivity, improving quality and increasing the nutritional values of the end products are key in combating the problems. In the seed industry, several germination tables and cabinets have been used for decades (figures on next page). These are used to determine the quality and germination power of seeds, and to find optimum germination conditions. These devices are low-tech, labor-intensive and prone to inconsistencies in results caused by subjective human classification.

The company Quantified from Leiden, along with the companies M91200 and Idematica, saw an opportunity to develop the germination table of the future; The QIEM-Array. It aims to automate some of the steps of germination research and provide advanced data to the user. This graduation project was conducted in the first phase of the QIEM-Array project. After a problem analysis, literature review and interviews with users, a first prototype was developed. This prototype has nine individually-controllable cells in which germination tests can be done. In these cells the temperature and light can be controlled, the moisture can be measured and pictures of the seeds can be taken. The data and pictures can be used for advanced analysis with machine learning algorithms.

The company introduced their new circular economy objectives for 2025 with the statement that they will close the loop by offering a trade-in on all professional medical equipment and taking care of responsible repurposing. Recycling has the least amount of value according to the circular system diagram of the company which means that a lot of valuable material will be lost in this process. The main goal of this study is to propose a redesign that reduces the total amount of waste and generate more value for the current closed-loop system by 2025. Product X has been taken as a use case throughout this study. A literature study on the Materials Flow Analysis in combination with Sankey’s diagram has been performed to develop a visual representation of the life cycle of Product X. The goal is to provide insight into the End of Life practice of Product X and identify new circular opportunities for the company. The results led to a focus on refurbishment and part harvesting to increase the repurposing value of Product X. The identified obstructions have been rewritten into design challenges which were the guiding principles for the redesign Product X. The redesign of Product X has an optimized architecture that facilitates material reuse up to 82%. Three different business cases have been performed concerning the lifespan of Product X to estimate the potential circular revenue of Product X in time. The results indicated that the early and mid-stage of the redesign are feasible for the current refurbishment process and the late stage of the lifecycle should be dedicated to part harvesting process to capture as much material value as possible. The summarized business case indicates that the current revenue income of the redesign could be increased by 11% of circular revenue if it would be implemented. A final Material Flow Analysis is performed on the redesign of Product X to gain insight on the impact of switching to a strategy like refurbishment that increases the material value for the closed-loop system.

In this thesis, a new method towards enhancing the quality of field prepared malaria blood smears is developed through the use of a newly designed, innovative tool. Malaria is a life threatening febrile illness caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through bites of infected mosquitoes. If the symptoms are not treated within 24 hours, malaria can progress to severe illness, often leading to death. The golden standard of malaria diagnosis, microscopy, requires a high quality thick and thin blood smear. The smears enable distinction of the parasites and assessment of the infection rate. However, currently there is no standardized way to prepare these smears, leading to inconsistencies in quality.

The field context shows to be the context with the lowest smear quality output, due to difficulties and errors in the process. The high proportion of low quality smears lead to misdiagnosis, wrong treatment and indirectly to preventable fatalities. Estimates show that 25-50% of the smears prepared in this context is of poor quality. To get an understanding where this problem comes from, the most impactful errors on the smear quality have been mapped; uncontrolled variables in the preparation process, a lack of experienced medical staff, degradation of the smears during air drying and unavailability of proper and clean (local) resources and equipment.

The Malaria Blood Sampling System (MBSS) has been developed with the aim to increase the quality of field prepared blood smears, by reducing the impact on the quality that is caused by the human, environment and available resources. The MBSS is not just a newly developed device, it is a new system and a new approach to blood smear preparation. It provides a more precise, effective and efficient way of preparing blood smears in the field.

The MBSS makes blood smear preparation more accessible for inexperienced people, this tackles the current problem of the lack of experienced staff and reduces the human impact on the quality. The increased accessibility is achieved by eliminating two of four uncontrolled variables; angle and pressure. In addition, the MBSS minimizes the impact of the blood volume variable, leaving the movement speed the only human controlled variable in the process.
The environmental impact on the smear quality is reduced by eliminating the possibility of dust, ants, flies and other debris to settle on the smears. The ability to dry the slide inside the device enables protective air drying. This makes diagnosis easier and more efficient, by avoiding that unwanted particles colour the stain, which would lead to much noise, possible interpretation errors and misdiagnosis.

One of the key aspects towards preparation of high quality smears, is making use of high quality equipment. Since the MBSS includes a high quality glass slide and a capillary tube, the impact of the equipment on the smear quality is controlled and the quality of the smear can be guaranteed. These items are included in the MBBS package; they eliminate the risk of using non-sterile, unclean or contaminated equipment.

The MBSS has proven to deliver high quality thick and thin smears. Data from tests with experts and amateurs shows that the MBSS scores higher on all aspects compared to the convention smear preparation method. There is an increase in ease of preparation, ability of preparation by inexperienced people, presumed smear quality, quality consistency and time efficiency. The MBSS has potential to be a game changer that will guarantee consistent high quality smears in low-resource and low-expertise settings, such as the field. Deploying the MBSS in the malaria diagnosis ‘infrastructure and system’ will establish and ensure higher efficiency and accuracy in malaria diagnosis, leading to an increase in the amount of correct treatments and fatality reduction.

The carbon emission of fossil fuels contributes to global warming. The start-up ZEF develops a sustainable alternative to create fuel. By capturing CO2 and H2O from the air, the energy from PV solar panels, and the right technology, they create methanol. Methanol can, among other things, be used as a fuel or to create plastics. This product is called a micro plant. With the development of large PV solar farms with 40.000 solar panels and 13.000 micro plants, methanol will be produced on a large scale.
The micro plant is a small chemical factory with about 50 different parts. These parts are individually, or within one of the four subsystems developed at TRL level 4. However, these parts are only developed at a technical level; the integration of these parts into a micro plant suitable for the mass manufacturing of 100,000 pieces has had little thought. Therefore the purpose of this graduation project is to guide ZEF towards an embodiment design for the micro plant. The four main design drivers that influenced the choices are price, functionality, environmental impact, and flexibility.
To get to an embodiment design the influence of maintenance, the architecture design, the insulation and the casing where researched.
Maintenance: The micro plant requires maintenance about every 2 to 5 years. The chosen maintenance strategy is preventive predetermined scheduled maintenance. The two extreme options for maintenance were maintenance at the micro plant’s location or automated maintenance in a garage. Option one was chosen because this allows for the flexibility to make changes in the maintenance schedule. This resulted in the requirement to have access to all maintenance interfaces and six control buttons for the micro plant.
Architecture design: Architecture design is about how the different parts are positioned relative to each other. Size of the parts, their heat and cooling requirements, their maintenance requirements, and their place in the system diagram determined their position.
Insulation: The material used for insulation is stone wool. Stone wool is cheap, durable, and has the proper thermal properties. It can be manufactured in different ways; for this project, the solution of a box made with stone wool plates, placed around the insulation parts and filled with stone wool flakes will be used. The insulation gets a plastic protective layer.
Casing: The core function of a casing is to keep all the parts stiff together and transport the air from the air filter to the air fan. It is unnecessary to have a casing that encloses the whole micro plant because most parts do not require an enclosed to ensure a 20 years lifetime. This design chooses a blow-molded air duct with a steel frame to embody this ‘naked’ casing.
In the end, the total costs of the micro plant were 700 euros, where the target price was 450 euros. The micro plant needs to be suitable for more PV solar panels, cheaper, or it is not feasible.
This project was only a starting point for product design, recommend is to continue the development on the product level, because the product level does influence the technical level. Also, getting from a concept to a product requires time and collaboration with multiple stakeholders.

Introduction
This project is about designing a tailor-made hand orthosis for hand support of patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) -Limb onset to increase independence during desired activities. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (2014), ALS, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease which attacks motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. This results in the wasting away of muscles, by which they are weakened. Patients gradually lose the ability to move, speak, swallow, and, eventually, to breathe unaided within an average of two to four years after the onset of the symptoms (Andersen, P. M., Abrahams, S., Borasio, G. D., de Carvalho, M., Chio, A., Van Damme, P., Weber, M. (2012).
Discover
According to the ALS Association (n.d.), ALS limb onset starts with distal muscle weakness (further away from the heart) and gradually move in the proximal direction (closer to the heart). This means that in most cases, finger strength is lost before weakness in the wrist appears, which is followed by loss of power in the arm. This study starts by evaluating if an arm balancing exoskeleton contributes to performing activities of daily living (ALDs) for ALS patients. However, not being able to control hand movement causes patients not being able to perform essential ALDs. An arm exoskeleton which lacks hand support will not contribute.
Prominent problem
Patients become highly dependent on the care of informal caregivers and assistive aids, which is emotionally and mentally burdensome for both. When patients can perform small tasks like ADLs themselves with assistive aids, it will contribute to the level of independence and unburden the informal caregivers. This study aims to investigate the most prominent problems occurring in the daily life of patients by interviewing four patients. It is found that patients primary prefer to complete dining activities independently because of alleviating their informal caregivers and avoiding home care during these valued times.
Develop
Based on this insight, exploration research is done to find the best way on how to support ALS patients during dining activities. The activity is detailly analysed by dividing dining into smaller actions, which presents the underlying problems. This shows that grasping objects is the first problem which limits patients. A second study compares the applicability of three types of hand support which solve grasp failure: active (dynamic) support, hybrid support, and static support are researched. These supports are discussed with patients and medical experts. The type of support which is operated by patients in the simplest way regarding basic movements and straightforward controlling is chosen to continue for further development. ALS patients can longer operate this type of support, and use this assistive aid immediately without long learning time.
Deliver
A tailor-made static hand orthosis is developed, which provides independence to ALS patients during dining activities. By automatically connecting and releasing to frequently used tableware, no strength of their fingers is required. The orthosis contributes to the level of comfort and addresses the individual differences for patients because it is tailor-made. The orthosis connects to frequently used objects by using a designed connector with magnetic capabilities and a mechanical lock.
Evaluate
This first iteration is evaluated by an ALS patient having mild paralysis in hand. The orthosis is tested while consuming breakfast consisting of fluid and food intake. The orthosis connects well with frequently used objects and operates straightforwardly and simply, which results in performing the dining activities with more independence and ease. Secondly, the results of the study are evaluated with an occupational therapist who agrees that this assistive aid could increase the level of independence for ALS patients. This first iteration can form a base for further development. Still, many iteration steps combined with user tests should follow. The first step would consist of improving the usability of the current connection to cups and other utensils like a fork and a knife.

This graduation project aimed at refining X!Delft’s value proposition and exploring the role of Design Thinking for their organisation. X!Delft is an organisation within the valorisation centre of Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), responsible for setting up partnerships with industry in favour of knowledge and technology transfer. X!Delft intends to create an ‘innovation ecosystem’ in which TU Delft, companies, and startups work together on “new inventions” (van Wijnen, 2019). However, stimulating collaboration between multiple companies in such an ecosystem proves to be challenging. Hence, the ecosystem is now predominantly used for company-specific challenges. To encourage working as an ecosystem, it is essential to understand the partners’ needs upon entering a partnership with X!Delft. This enables the creation of a relevant value proposition, describing how X!Delft’s service offering adds value to its partners.A way to incorporate the needs of partners into a relevant value proposition is by means of Design Thinking (DT). DT is a human-centred innovation approach suitable for understanding and providing for people’s and companies (latent) needs (Hooge et al., 2012; Carlgren, 2013). To discover what incentivises companies to opt for a partnership with X!Delft, seventeen semi-structured interviews and three creative sessions were conducted. The research uncovers a shared driver across the industry partners of X!Delft, namely the sense of suspense. Suspense is defined as “a feeling or state of anxious or excited uncertainty about what may happen” (Oxford University Press , 2019). It complements literature’s description of ‘uncertainty’, by adding a factor of excitement and wonder, triggering an impulse to act. (Lehne & Koelsch, 2015). In order to understand how to manage suspense, the pragmatist inquiry proved to be useful (Lorino, 2018). In this inquiry, one moves from an uncertain situation towards a future ‘belief’, by combining experimentation and reasoning. Similarly, design practices are beneficial to coming up with future-focused solutions when considering situations of uncertainty or ambiguity.This resulted in the proposal of a new approach, PACES. The approach structures and expands X!Delft’s services so they “Preserve And Cultivate Effective Suspense”. This ‘effective suspense’, which incentivises engagement in a learning process, is cultivated in six phases: perceiving, perspective, predicting, paraphrasing, probing and proving. PACES stimulates collecting information continuously (perceiving) and sharing insights, increasing the collective knowledge base (perspective) to generate plausible predictions. These are then made actionable (paraphrasing) based on the strategic intent of individual actors, ensuring company-specific impact through the development of experiments (probing) followed by implementation projects (proving). A first ideation step is performed to translate PACES into services, complementing X!Delft’s current service offering. These services aim to incentivise participation in shared knowledge creation, hence enhancing collaboration in the innovation ecosystem. It is suggested to implement these shared services gradually - first stimulating collaboration in the first phases, and slowly moving to the last phases, where most of the knowledge creation takes place. In conclusion, some direction for future research and further development of PACES are given.

As the oldest zoo of the Netherlands, Artis aims to provide her visitors with a carefree experience. Artis offers mobility support by means of freely available carts to ease the visit of young children and their caregivers. The identified shortage of children carts influences the visitor experience negatively. Increasing the number of carts is not considered an option because of the lack of space in the park and high costs per cart. Furthermore, the cart retains an iconic status within the park, which makes Artis hesitant to change. This research aimed to redefine the mobility support service for children and caregivers in Artis. The goal was to design a product-service combination that fulfils both the needs of the visitor, Artis staff and management. Wide-ranging research including interviews, observations and desk research brought together the views of the internal stakeholders and visitors. Synthesis of data points and insights showed that there is not only a shortage of carts and a lack of space, but that the current service does not meet the expectations of the visitor. The service was thought to be unpredictable, inaccessible and unavailable and the cart was considered unsafe, not suitable for all relevant ages, and had many physical shortcomings. Also, the service blueprint showed that the service challenges the organization by high demand for maintenance, unpredictable daily servicing and unwanted involvement of the front office. Concluding, both the service and cart needed to be redesigned to tackle the identified problems. Key challenges and design criteria were formulated to guide the design process; the service-product combination should provide suitable and safe mobility support for caregivers and children aged 1 up to and including 3 years of age which can be picked up, left and parked any time. A self-service is sought that is predictable and accessible. The service should provide sufficient capacity, require minimal (daily) maintenance, fit the park vision and should use minimal space in the park. An intensive design process followed and resulted in a product-service proposal. The proposed service provides readily available and predictable mobility support that fits children and their caregivers with different age-dependent needs. A large number of inviting and safe, one person pullcarts is offered which can be picked up and left at any of the ten compact stations throughout the park, thus stimulating intermittent use. It is a nonsupervised self-service using tokens. The cart is made of simply bent powder-coated steel tubes and weather-resistant wood, making the cart durable, relatively easy to produce and maintain. The carts nest in stations allowing for minimal use of space, they are unobtrusive and can be scaled up easily. The proposal was evaluated with visitors and main internal stakeholders. Visitors saw value in the possibility to take and leave a cart at the different stations and the availability of information made it accessible. Furthermore, the cart was considered safe. The Artis staff considered the concept valuable in the short term and long term and concluded that implementation of (parts of) the concept would improve the visitor experience. Review of the newly designed product-service concept leads to the conclusion that the proposal is an improvement on the current service. Time restrictions limited further development of the concept. Before the cart is production-ready, several parts need further development and testing with 1:1 scale prototypes. Meanwhile, elements of the proposed service can already be integrated to improve the current service. Interactions with new service touchpoints can then be validated in the park. When the new service is launched, practice must show if the stations are located in the right place and if the number of the proposed carts and stations suffices to stimulate the sharing of carts.

Ortovox, a mountain sports brand, existing for almost 40 years, is undergoing a rapid change. Through substantial growth, the organization has been pushed into a new position. The niche market was given up for a place among the leading brands in the outdoor industry. The new situation results in fundamentally different market requirements and consumer expectations. A long-term vision for the brand and the development of the product portfolio is more critical than ever. It is, therefore, the central question of this thesis if the organization should expand its offer into new categories. 
A variety of strategic design methods, involving various stakeholders and especially consumers in the process, were conducted to analyze the current situation critically. 
Internally, a clear vision of the strategic setup of the product & service portfolio was missing. Directly linked to that is the understanding of the brand, its uniqueness and positioning in the market, which is not distinct. The uncertainty results in a tentative culture, through which important industry trends or the right longterm decisions might be missed out. 
Reviewing the internal perspective of the brand with external stakeholders revealed that there is a discrepancy between intended brand values and the perceived image. Another discovery was that the growth of sales increased the risk of market saturation and overheating. With the product portfolio getting more and more directed at a broad group of consumers, the brand starts to dilute. 
To further grow in revenue and to establish a leading market position in the next 5-10 years, it is crucial to solving the internal and external problems by a strategic approach. The redefinition of the brand was identified as a suitable solution to tackle future orientation from an overarching perspective. 
The revised brand defines the primary brand purpose and brand promise, which is to enable lighthearted mountain experiences. This purpose can be realized through the harmonic conjunction of three, typically opposing elements: Serious functionality, cheerful style and nature. This specific combination is unique in the market and differentiates Ortovox from the competition. The new brand DNA builds the base for an innovation process, that translates the brand promise and core values into products and services. 
Five concepts with the most promising characteristics and the best brand fit are further elaborated. Care is an after-sales concept that revolutionizes consumer services in the outdoor industry. An emergency GPS is increasing consumers‘ safety during mountain sports. Two typical mountaineering products helmet and harness are enhanced by innovative features, which provide real value in the existing market. The range of concepts is completed by the digital Guide concept, which solves several user needs while broadening the brands‘ value proposition towards many touchpoints in the user journey. An analysis of the commercial viability of three of the concepts is intended to be a basis for decision-making.
By combining a brand-driven approach with consumer-focused methods, this thesis provides strategies and concrete products and services that will help Ortovox to stay successful in the changing context of the next years.

While touch Interfaces have greatly improved the user friendliness and functional possibilities of devices, haptic feedback has been lacking in user interface design. Good Haptic feedback not only gives confirmation of a key press, but also enriches the user interaction and improves the usability of interfaces.
This absence of haptic feedback is is generally not an issue when the users field of view is oriënted at the touch interface (as is the case with Smartphones and tablets), problems arise when features in the interface have to be controlled blindly, as is the case in automotive applications, where distraction of the driver results in safety risks. In terms of HMI design, the unique properties of Aito’s HapticTouch system has shown it can potentially solve these issues and even could enrich the user experience of automotive interiors. In reality however, when clients integrate Haptic Touch in their products, its application is generally limited to replacing traditional buttons, reducing its competitiveness when compared to other technologies. Broadly speaking, there two problems: The first one is that Aito has no demonstrators that show haptic feedback integrated with innovative UI designs. The second problem is that at this time, Aito has little experience in combining audio-visual cues with Haptic Feedback. This graduation thesis explores the possibilities in designing an affordable demonstrator that showcases the unique selling points of AITO®HapticTouch technology for automotive applications. To provide a sound foundation for the design process, internal- and external company analyses were done to identify the sustainable competitive advantages of Aito, trends and developments in the Automotive industry (until 2030) and companies/technologies that compete with Aito. Based on insights from the analysis, the following Design Vision has been formulated: Future automotive HMI’s should adapt themselves to the personal preferences of the user(s), taking into account the context the car is used in and the state of mind of the user(s) in relation to their physical and digital lives. With this vision, Aito’s Haptic Touch is central in making the UI contextual and personal to the user, while also being used as an additional channel of communication with the user in e.g. automated driving modes. The demonstrator presented in this thesis embodies this design vision: A light-weight structure with a wide range of personalised features, a minimalistic projection mapped GUI design, contextual to the driving situation and controls that communicate with the user through Haptic Feedback. To validate the design, a prototype version of the gear shifter panel was built to evaluate the use of projection mapping and the quality of the stack designs. The initial validation brought to light there is room for improvement in terms of HapticTouch integration. The estimated building costs were higher than the target price, but for a demonstrator of this complexity still acceptable.
If Aito would decide to continue developing this demonstrator, would therefore be to start small with the individual panels before integrating them into a fu a demonstrator on the scale of the one discussed in this thesis.

Msc. Roos Oosting and the Global Health Design Lab initiated development of affordable and high-quality electrical surgery units (ESU) as a step towards improving surgical care. The ESU is used as an operating tool to assist the surgeon for a high variety of essential surgical procedures. The ESU consists of a high frequency generator with an interface to adjust power settings, a return electrode and an a monopolar handheld that is used to perform the surgery. The main advantages of electrosurgery for low and middle income countries (LMICs) settings is that it is widely applicable, helps to stop and prevent bleeding, allows for precise cutting, facilitates better wound healing in less hygienic environments and has a valuable contribution to time efficient execution of surgical procedures.

A few low-end devices exist that—due to their stripped down, fully analogue and simple design— do not fully meet the demands that are needed for safe global usage of the ESU. As a result, the devices are used inappropriately and this can have serious clinical consequences for the patient, even more in low-resource settings like sub-Saharan Africa (Oosting, 2018).

The design goal of the project has been the development of a reliable, safe and intuitive user-interaction with the ESU system and a tailored design for maintenance in a variety of use-contexts in LMICs. The new design of the electrosurgery unit should be understandable for all electrosurgery users, thus surgeons with limited electrosurgery experience as well as specialists and surgical assistances.

The developed ESU system is designed to capture the primary needs and functionalities to perform surgery according to the 15 essential surgeries stated by the World Health Organization (WHO). These functionalities have been integrated in a safe and intuitive user interaction with both the high frequency generator as well as the monopolar handheld.

For situations where existing equipment and devices cannot fulfil the unique needs of LMICs, the process of designing tailored solutions should involve extensive consultation with end-users, as this is critical to promoting correct device use and protecting patient safety (Ng-Kamstra, 2016). Consequently, substantial qualitive research has been done by interviewing 15 Dutch surgeons that work or have worked in developing countries. This created an holistic framework on the user-interactions and barriers with the electrosurgical unit prior, during and after a surgical procedure and legit assumptions on required functionalities in use and sustainable maintenance prior to designing.

The developed concepts have been extensively tested with the intended target group by means of an explorative study in Kenya. Even though the developed ESU system requires future improvements to create a sustainable success, the designed system empowers the future accessibility of electrosurgery for LMICs. The ESU system increases safety and an intuitive user interaction concerning the limited electrosurgery experience and enhances reliability for maintenance in the variety of use contexts in LMICs. The developed trade-off has shown the great potential this designed ESU system can have on global surgery. Hopefully, this ESU system can in all sincerity make global electrosurgery accessible for everyone and everywhere.

Most cardiac arrests happen within the home and only 10% of these victims will survive. If a victim can receive CPR within the first 6 minutes of a cardiac event then their chances of survival increase to 45%.

LivisOra helps you prepare for this moment. Ora is a CPR training aid that assists anyone to master chest compressions and rescue breaths without attending a lesson. It has electronics that monitor the learner’s CPR performance and deforms to mimic the elasticity of a human chest. The accompanying App provides quality feedback on the learner’s CPR performance.

Ora is design for self-training within the home. There is no more worrying about scheduling and lesson costs. Everyone has heard of the saying “Practice makes perfect”. Training with Ora regularly is the most effective means of learning and retaining skills. Train with Ora to save lives.

The Need for Renewable Fuels
Global warming demands an urgent and thus dramatic change in the current focus and approach of producing energy. Current renewable energy production is mainly focused on solar and wind. However, for many industries their infrastructure is not adapted to electricity as an energy source. Therefore, a full transition to wind and solar is not viable on the short term. More than 50% of the current industry still relies on fossil fuels. This means there is a strong need for renewable fuels, like liquid hydrocarbons, which can directly be applied in the existing infrastructure.

ZEF: Reinventing the Chemical Industry
Zero Emission Fuels (ZEF), a startup focusing on the production of renewable methanol (also a liquid hydrocarbon), aims for a different approach in chemical industry. Current commercial routes to renewable hydrocarbons have not been succesful so far in the global market. By using a scalable number of microplants, opposed to upscaling an industrial size plant, the advantage in terms of cost per kilogram, saving money and time could be significant, because no intensive research and testing regarding upscaling is required. Instead of upscaling the entire plant, simply the number of microplant could be increased to satisfy the renewable MeOH demand. Hence, a small player as ZEF, with fast and cheap growing potential, is able to enter the methanol market by offering renewable methanol at competitive prices of $350/ton in a mainly fossil fuel driven methanol market. ZEF’s product is a fully automated solar panel add-on which converts air to liquid methanol. The microplant extracts H2O and CO2 from the air and uses it to synthesize methanol. This means that CO2 emitted in the atmosphere can be recycled into a renewable fuel. Hence, ZEF poses a solution to close the CO2-cycle. An advantage of the microplant is that it is location independent because water and carbon dioxide are available everywhere. The system is a series of nine subsystems, all of which are based on existing technologies and powered by solar energy. The aim of ZEF is to reach an overall system efficiency of 55%. The numbering-up approach requires the microplant to be suitable for mass-production.

The challenge
The backbone of the microplant is the subsystem which integrates the eight other subsystems. By integrating the different subsystems, the number of parts and thus cost can be reduced significantly. This is a requirement indispensable to the feasibility of the business idea. Thus, the central question in the perspective of the business case and this thesis is to verify whether a reserved budget of EUR 3,5 per backbone is realistic. Is there a backbone which can be designed to correspond to the technical and financial requirements?

Objective
The combination of technical requirements and a tight cost target demands a smart design of the backbone. Therefore, the focus is on product architecture, material choice and mass-manufacturing at a minimal cost. The result is a feasibility study towards the mass-manufacturing aspect applied on the backbone of an energy system. This should all be carried out within the boundaries of the business plan.
 
Approach
In essence, the feasibility study in terms of a cost analysis is straight forward. A material, volume and production method need to be determined in order to validate the business plan. First, a material needs to be found which is as cheap as possible and complies with the technical requirements. The technical requirements involve coping with aggressive chemicals, elevated temperatures and high pressures. Once a suitable material is found, the volumes are to be looked into. The size of the several subsystems needs to be estimated. Subsequently, a compact layout positioning is needed to minimize the total backbone surface area. Ultimately, the volume is determined by applying a Finite Element Method (FEM) and topological optimization through simulations using Computer Aided Design (CAD) software on the chosen backbone concept. This concept is an approach to integrate all essential functionalities related to the aforementioned other eight subsystems. A prototype of the concept, called the backbone “sample”, has been manufactured by computer numerical controlled (CNC) milling. Finally, a feasibility study was carried out to investigate the possibility for mass manufacturing of the backbone. This feasibility study was based on a cost analysis and on the results of the backbone testing.

Results
The result of this thesis is a product architectural layout applied on a three-plated backbone concept. The CNC-milled prototype (figure c) contains real size partial solutions for all main functionalities of the targeted backbone. These functionalities range from crossing canals subjected to different pressures towards the integration of valves, a buffer and actuators. Hence, the merit of the design is the possibility to copy-paste sub-solutions wherever needed in a future backbone design, even an injection moldable variant. Regarding the cost model, an approach is presented to quickly estimate the material price for a new backbone design. This approach is driven by a fixed amount of material required per functionality. This amount is based upon the material choice and the topology optimization. Regarding testing the CNC-milled backbone sample, the integration of functionalities has proven to be successful. However the custom made seals failed to be leak tight.

Conclusion
The feasibility study of the mass-manufacturing aspect of the backbone based on a cost analysis and results gathered from testing the backbone sample. A cost analysis has been carried out, based on a material suited for mass-manufacturing, design for mass-manufacturing itself and an amount of material necessary. This cost analysis was compared to the target backbone cost defined by ZEF. Based on the developments regarding the entire microplant design of May 2018, the backbone weight is estimated at 7kg and it is made out of the material PET 45% glass fiber (GF). This material is found to be in line with the numerous technical and financial challenges. The weight of 7kg assumes the integration of a 1.3l hydrogen buffer for 1 hour, a 0.7l carbon dioxide-water buffer for two hours, 1.5m piping, 14 one-way partially servomotor controlled valves and three solenoid operated valves. A safety factor of two was applied to guarantee the backbone to be self-bearing and provide support to the subsystems. The final design is a three-plated backbone measuring 200x400mm. Considering a production volume of 500 000 injection mold backbones, one backbone is expected to cost EUR 9,22. Thus, the cost estimation is not in line with the targeted cost of EUR 3,5. Also, regarding testing the backbone sample, the custom made seals have proven not to work. Therefore, the design should be reviewed in terms of weight optimization and detail design. Despite the results, the costs are not far off. Possible opportunities to cut costs are mentioned in the recommendations.

Recommendations
Based on new input of the overall microplant design, the parametric models of the material search and the volume estimation of subsystems, the cost analysis can be adjusted. Hence, these models are a valuable benchmark for further research. Regarding the detail design, it is recommended to work around seals in the next backbone design. These seals are a weak point in the current backbone design and are susceptible to failure. By avoiding seals, the risks with regard to performance and assembly are seriously reduced. Therefore, in a next design step injection molding experts could be approached to help think about a backbone design which is suitable for injection molding without seals.
With respect to the design of the backbone, it is advised to keep cavities as small as possible. For every aspect, which is subjected to higher pressures, ranging from canals to buffers, it must be checked whether it can be reduced in volume. The smaller the pressurized surface area, the lower the stresses on the material, the less material is needed, the lower the backbone cost. Thus, it is recommended to prioritize design for weight optimization in the next backbone design. In relation to weight optimization, design for hybrid materials needs more attention. Other important considerations are mounting the backbone to the solar racking system, cavity creep as a result of a long term load case exposure, permeability of the material with respect to H2 and CO2 and the effect of mutual influences of temperature, chemicals and pressure on the material choice.

Gerrard Street is a company that designs and produces a modular set of headphones called BIRD. The BIRD is not for sell, but is part of a subscription to consumers. If something breaks the user can request a new part for repair as part of the service. In the near future Gerrard Street is going to launch a new Bluetooth, Wired and Noise Cancelling variant of the headphone, but what can they do after?

This project is about MAYER a Bluetooth speaker designed using the Gerrard Street philosophy and attending to the needs of consumers. This project uses the agile bussiness canvas a main methodology.

Wimoto is a motorcycle engineering company, owned and run by Wido Veldkamp. Wimoto has a strong focus on engineering and the related driving characteristics, compared to the more lifestyle oriented competitors.
Wimoto’s unique combination of skills and the related quality of work is outstanding but the connection between the company and its potential customers leaves room for improvement. There is an opportunity to interact with customers in a more understandable, appealing and profitable way.
A low threshold option for custom suspension upgrades for multiple motorcycle models is provided to differentiate from the ‘shallow customs’ that currently dominate the custom scene. Connected to the values of the company, the product increases awareness of the importance and possibilities of suspension design and helps customers with decision making. In this way Veldkamp’s expertise can be used fully and new customers are more likely to make an inquiry.
The physical part of the design is a cantilever swingarm that can be adapted to the different motorcycle models. This is partly done with the use of a parametric model, which is constructed in Solidworks. The parametric model also allows Wimoto to apply new geometric design to the donor motorcycle, which is essential for improving driving characteristics. The design is theoretically validated for stiffness using finite element analysis. The simulations showed an improvement in stiffness compared to original swingarms.
The complete upgrade was validated with the build of a prototype and test rides. Building the prototype showed what the upgrade exactly means for the company. Test rides proved that the driving characteristics improved substantially and the subjects were sincerely surprised with the experience.
How the design should exactly be implemented, is not yet fully defined but recommendations are given.

This graduation project was initiated by the bottle-up foundation a, small scale company established on Zanzibar, East Africa. bottle-up was founded to tackle the waste glass problem on the island by repurposing and recycling. Through a collaboration with waste collection company Zanrec a monthly volume of 17 tons (15500 kg) of glass is brought to the bottle-up workshop. From this volume only 160 kg is used to make accessories that are sold to tourists visiting the island. For the remaining 15000+ kg a solution needed to be developed.

Unfortunately the waste glass cannot be remelted in Zanzibar. The significant capital investment required to build a melting facility, paired with the lack of steady electricity supply, and the relatively small amount of glass waste on it island, make it unfeasible to develop in the short term of this project. The search for an alternative solution is the starting point of this project.

Conducted context research led to the desire to transform waste glass bottles into cullet to serve as aggregate replacement in bricks. The bricks with glass aggregate should compete on durability, strength and price with the locally produced bricks.

Material research was conducted to establish the feasibility of this idea. A lot of scientific research is found on the topic, mainly because of a risk-factor caused by using glass as an aggregate replacement. It causes the chemical alkali-silica reaction (ASR), an expansive reaction that occurs in the mixture when cement paste and reactive aggregate become humid. The expansion causes an increase in volume that generates internal pressures sufficient enough to disrupt and crack the fabric of the concrete. It can decrease strength down to 85% compared its initial strength.
Luckily data reported in literature also shows success mitigating the potential risk of ASR. A fitting solution was found for Zanzibar. The usage of low-alkali cement lowers the pH value and does not trigger the reaction. With the use of this low-alkali cement different sample bricks are made on Zanzibar. These bricks were brought to the Netherlands to conduct compressive strength tests on. The results are compared those of local Zanzibari bricks to find the right balance between economical and mechanical feasibility.

From this research the bottle | brick (bb) was born. The bb is made from the chupa (bottle) mix, containing 35% aggregate replacement with glass, which accounts for 42% of its weight and is at least twice as strong as the local brick. It is slightly more expensive to produce due to the complex set up. A production cost overview is provided outlining the required investments and costs.

A business implementation and process plan was made with which bottle-up could take the bb into production. The initial bottleneck of the recycling process was glass cullet production. To improve the system a glass bottle crusher is created: The farasi machine. This low-tech and cheaply produced machine can process up to 10.000 bottles a day, which is 8 times as much as the current supply of bottles. The machine is designed, prototyped and built on Zanzibar. It is still being operated every day to process glass. bottle-up is considering to further develop the bb and the recycling process next year.

When people experience pain, discomfort or motion limitation in their hip joint they can get a hip implant. This implant improves the movement and decreases the pain and discomfort. Due to several reasons such an implant needs revision after ten to fifteen years. This revision surgery is a long and invasive surgery. When an implant is fixated with bone cement this surgery is even more cumbersome. Research shows that the lifespan of cemented implants is better than uncemented, but because of the difficult surgery surgeons are choosing uncemented implants more often, leaving the patient with a lesser implant. The aim of this project is to improve hip revision surgery in such a way that surgeons would choose cemented implants over uncemented.

Observing several surgeries, interviewing different stakeholders and reading literature showed that the main issue with cemented implants is the fixation of the new implant. This new implant needs a soilless surface to attach to. Removing the cement to ensure this clean surface is really hard, riskful and time consuming. Observations made clear that there is no strict procedure for this part of the surgery and that the amount of instruments meant for cement removal is almost endless. All the found insights were translated into the following design goal:

Compose a minimal cement removal set of “my precious” instruments that could be used for HRS, that fits a fast, feasible, clear and safe cement removal procedure and lets the orthopaedic surgeon remove cement in a safe, efficient, confident and tangible way.

To achieve this design goal a new procedure, a suitable minimal instrument set and a new cement removal instrument are designed. The procedure gives the surgeon more grip on the surgery and enables routine building. The instrument set supplies the surgeon with the right amount, not too much and not too little, of instruments needed to perform cement removal. And the Guido, a drill guide that helps the surgeon with removing the part of cement that is hardest to reach, makes the cement removal faster and more safe.

The procedure and instrument set are discussed with medical professionals to validate whether it would solve the current problem. Besides that, a prototype of the Guido is made, which is tested on fake bones by three orthopaedic surgeons. The procedure, set and the Guido all were received very well and the surgeons could not wait to work with it.

The concepts seem promising, but need further development. The materialization of the product needs to be finished and a CE certificate needs to be requested to be able to test it on cadavers.

Methodology: literature research, conversations

Advances in technology during the last decade have made piloted vehicles a reality. With an increasing level of vehicle automation, the role of the driver changes from controlling and observing the driving environment into becoming a passenger. However, with the introduction of piloted driving, the user has to trust his life to a machine. Therefore, one of the most important factors in the human-car relationship will be trust that the occupant places in the piloted vehicle (Waytz, Heafner, & Epley, 2014). In fact, the feeling of trust will have a major impact on the acceptance of piloted driving and is an important factor in the judgment of autonomous systems (Garcia, Kreutzer, Badillo-Urquiola, & Mouloua, 2015). However, recent scientific surveys indicated that people are interested in the new technology, but hesitate to trust piloted driving vehicles (Schmidt, 2016, Schoettle & Sivak, 2014, Kyriakidis, Happee, & Winter, 2015). In order to define the future domain and context for this thesis, the target year is based on different expert forecasts on the development of autonomous driving. According to literature, it can be concluded that due to developments in technology, fully autonomous driving will be market-ready between 2025-2030 (ERTRAC, 2015; Rupp & King, 2010). Due to the fact that the next generation vehicles for 2020-2023 are currently under development, the selected target year for this thesis is 2030 in order to create a visionary input for the subsequent fully autonomous vehicle generation of Audi. The theoretical analysis about fully piloted driving and the related problem of trust in combination with the developed future context scenario of 2030, which will be discussed later in this thesis, led to the following mission statement: “Design of an AI Companion that evokes the feeling of trust by creating a relationship that is characterised by authenticity and control” Based on the mission statement, the interaction analogy of “using a compass for guidance in unknown territory” and the derived product qualities of “vivid”, “reassuring”, “familiar” and “magical”, the AI Companion was developed. The AI Companion is an innovative haptic interface concept for a fully piloted vehicle without a steering wheel and pedals with the objective to build trust between the vehicle and the occupants. By simply laying on hands, the AI Companion generates a magical, haptic movement that allows the user to feel the upcoming driving manoeuvres of the piloted vehicle. By actively moving the AI Companion the user has the ability to communicate with the vehicle and therefore shapes its driving dynamics. Through the interaction with the user, the AI Companion creates an individual piloted driving profile based on the needs of each occupant. In order to make the functions perceptible and to test if the AI Companion concept fulfils the desired product qualities in order to evoke the feeling of trust, a functional design prototype was build. To evaluate the concept, a user test with 47 participants was carried out. The user test revealed that the developed prototype satisfies the desired product qualities to a large extent. That in turn forms the basis for a trustful relationship between the user and the product. Therefore, it can be stated that the AI Companion has a positive influence on the feeling of trust in the context of a fully piloted vehicle.