DESIGN NAME: Life Ball
PRIMARY FUNCTION: Emergency Rescue Product
INSPIRATION: Every year, around 60,000 people die worldwide in natural disasters. The majority of the deaths is caused by building collapse in earthquakes, and the great majority occurs in the developing world (90%). This is despite the fact that construction solutions exist that can almost completely eliminate the risk of such deaths. Why is this? The construction solutions are both expensive and technically demanding, so that the benefit-cost ratio of such solutions is often unfavorable. In such cases a functional and less expensive solution would be helpful. Life Ball is a modular self-assembly life capsule designed for disasters. During the past decade, structural collapses caused by earthquakes have resulted in >100,000 deaths worldwide. While the majority of survivors of these events are found and extricated quickly, some are subjected to prolonged periods of entrapment before they are rescued. It’s a truncated icosahedron (like a soccer ball) based on a stainless steel rod skeleton, which makes it a strong structure that resists under the rubble and saves people who are inside it. It can be assembled anywhere and definitely takes some room, but as in developing countries, people are less concerned about the living space, which would be a partial alternative to reconstructing the whole fragile buildings which is in most cases unavoidable.
UNIQUE PROPERTIES / PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Life Ball is a modular, easy-assembly life capsule designed for disasters. During the past decade, structural collapses caused by earthquakes have resulted in >100,000 deaths worldwide. While the majority of survivors of these events are found and extricated quickly, some are subjected to prolonged periods of entrapment before they are rescued.
OPERATION / FLOW / INTERACTION: -
PROJECT DURATION AND LOCATION: January 2013 to September 2013
FITS BEST INTO CATEGORY: Social Design
|
PRODUCTION / REALIZATION TECHNOLOGY: The skeleton is made of 90 rods and 58 simple joints and 2 special joints of the door. Joints have the exact angle of one 138 and two 142 degrees. These parts and can easily be mass produced. 12 pentagonal and 20 hexagonal panels are used to assemble Life Ball. These panels are made of double sheet steel plates which is fireproof and have cushions on the other side. These panels are connected together using screws and installed on the skeletal structure. This creates a strong fort, which can resist the high weight of rubble. One of the pentagonal panels is the interior lighting part and there are two doors which are special due to the handle and different form of cushioning. There is also one punched hexagonal panel used for air conditioning. Other parts are completely the same and can be mass produced easily.
SPECIFICATIONS / TECHNICAL PROPERTIES: -
TAGS: Emergency Rescue Product, disaster, emergency kit
RESEARCH ABSTRACT: -
CHALLENGE: -
ADDED DATE: 2014-02-08 23:34:45
TEAM MEMBERS (2) : Ahmad Abedini and Ehsan Sayyad
IMAGE CREDITS: Ahmad Abedini, 2013.
|