Blog Posts

1-2-18

In mid research I have a good idea about the products that I want to use for my product. I have talked to many campers and hikers about what they look for in a sleeping bag that would be an improvement to the ones currently on the market today and I believe I can make one of the most comfortable bags based off of the research I have done  I need to discuss my progress with my mentor because he is more knowledgeable about the materials used in outdoor products since he creates the products that we use today.

1-9-18

I talked to my mentor who suggested to not go the sleeping bag rout since it would limit my market for it and also be expensive and hard to make he instead pointed me toward silicon desiccant. This material collects humidity is non toxic and rechargeable. I am very excited to test this idea out and see how it affects humidity levels around the human body. He also gave me some great ideas on how to potentially use the desiccant in a real life application. One idea that he suggested would be to use a pillow case and sewing to help the silicon beads that absorb the water separate and evenly distributed for the best moisture controlling properties.

2-5-18

I'm getting close to coming up with my final product idea and to start testing as soon as i can get my materials in. My final idea includes fire resistant material that it filled with silica beads that will absorb humidity produced by the body. One of the problems that I faced was figuring out when to recharge the silica beads since they will be in the material and you will not be able to see the color change my solution to this is to put a velcro pouch on the blanket somewhere on the blanket so the user can keep an eye on how much moisture is being absorbed. When the color change occurs in that pouch the user knows when to recharge the product.

3-27-18

I have completed my final prototype, and I can not wait to test it to see how well it will do in a controlled environment

4-1-18

Started testing over the weekend and it did not go as I expected the results that I got where all over the place so I will be going back and trying a new method of testing so that I have the least amount of variables as possible. In the testing that I have done the readings are all over the place and the humidity levels are not where they need to be in order to be considered a significant factor in causing discomfort. I also am having some difficulty with technology the device that I am using to view the data is not the same one that I had when I first got the sensor so I will have to figure out a way to make that work.