The Self-Heating Lunchbox
that allows users to enjoy hot food anywhere, anytime. Designed in The Netherlands and made for food lovers all across the globe.
SteamBox, originating from The Netherlands, creates innovative self-heating lunchboxes designed for food enthusiasts globally, enabling hot meals anywhere through autonomous steaming technology.
"SteamTeam" GROUP 2
· Ana Barrionuevo
· Begoña Rodriguez
· Bektemir Pratov
Project duration: 4 months
Semester: digital manufacturing
PROJECT TIME: H2 2023
Role: lead industrial Designer
Define & Discover Phase
In the "Define" stage, designers identify and articulate the problem by understanding user needs, setting design criteria, and establishing project scope. This stage sets a clear, actionable problem statement to guide the design. Following this, the "Discover" stage broadens the designer's understanding through market and user research, technological exploration, trend analysis, and stakeholder feedback. This comprehensive approach ensures that designers are well-equipped with insights and a clear direction as they move forward in the design process, laying a solid foundation for innovation and solution development.
Problem Statement
The lunch box system heats any type of meal inside the container by boiling water below the container. However, the container property and structure do not allow steam to interact with the content of the container from the bottom, which leads to inefficient cooking of the food with steaming.
Design Brief
Client Overview
Product Overview
Problem Statement
Design Challenge
5WH
Stakeholders Needs
Stakeholders Mapping
Competition Mapping
DESTEP trend analysis
Functional Analysis
Requirements
RESEARCH QUESTION
What are the ways to allow steam safely and efficiently interact with food in the lunch box container, while considering user preferences?
RESEARCH REPORT
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
METHODOLOGY
RESEARCHES
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
APPENDIX
MAIN DESIGN REQUIREMENTS IN DIFFERENT ASPECTS
Desirability
The design should be easy-to-clean.
The solution should keep the lunch box portable and easy-to-carry.
The solution should not dramatically increase the weight of the final product.
Viability
The design should meet all food-safe regulations
The design should cost of €5,- per food container (based on 3000pcs)
The design should meet the DIN EN 12875-1:2005 standard for dishwasher safety
Feasibility
The design should achieve omniphobicity property - total liquid proofness
The design should allow steam to go through the food container (down-up)
The design should not change the whole structure of the Steambox
Develop Phase
In the ideation stage, designers brainstorm, sketch, and prototype to explore and refine ideas. They seek feedback to improve their concepts, assess feasibility, and narrow down options to the most viable ones. This phase involves creativity and iteration, with detailed documentation of the process for further development.
Design challenge
Redesign the container or inner structure of the lunch box in order to provide efficient steaming flow from the bottom to the meal inside the container, by meeting safety regulations, user preferences and not changing the whole product structure.
FIRST IDEATION
FIRST SELECTION
SECOND IDEATION
GAINED IDEAS
SECOND SELECTION
JUDGMENT FROM THE CLIENT
THIRD IDEATION
DIVISON OF THE GAINED IDEAS
THIRD SELECTION
IDEAS FOR NEXT PHASE
EXAMPLES OF HOW IDEAS HAS BEEN IMPROVED THROUGH ITERATIONS
VARIANTS OF X MATERIAL WHICH CAN BE USED AT THE CONTAINER BOTTOM
Deliver Phase
In the deliver stage of the design process, designers finalize prototypes, refine the design, prepare engineering documentation, and liaise with manufacturers to ensure the design is produced accurately. They also design packaging, create user manuals, ensure regulatory compliance, support market launch activities, and collect feedback. This stage is crucial for transforming design concepts into physical products ready for the market, requiring a close collaboration between designers, engineers, manufacturers, and marketing teams to ensure the product meets all functional, aesthetic, and regulatory requirements before and after its launch.
