Proposal

Container Efficiency Maximization Introduction: After examining our three assignments, we have chosen to focus the theme of our assignment on the environment and being environmentally friendly. Often, issues in regards to pollution and environment are brought up in society, but rarely are they effectively acted upon. We are constantly attempting to move towards a "greener" and environmentally friendlier lifestyle, but more often than not its more talk than action.

Proposal: A major issue we face today is chemical waste. We have decided to further look into the ideas proposed in Kevin’s assignment 1 as the basis for our final project. Our main concept is to create a mechanism that helps reduce the amount of chemical waste, which is harmful to the environment. We plan to achieve this through the use of 3D modeling, which will assist in hydrodynamic research. Through the study of hydrodynamic and with the assistance of 3D modeling we can simulate the flow of liquids, thus designs which will help maximize the usage ability of product containers.

Problem: Products we use on a daily bases such as lotion, toothpaste, shampoo, soap and assorted gel and cream products come in many different containers. They range from circular, rectangular, to other horribly inefficient polygonal shapes. Our focus is on the container’s shape design. Some product packaging shapes have a greater efficiency others are simply inefficient. According to the City of Toronto's research on the usage ability of those different kinds of containers, they found out that most people dispose the products when there is still 10%-20% left within the containers. It is usually too much of a hassle to use the product to the last drop. People often throw it out when it gets difficult to pour out of the containers. This misleads people into believing the product was fully used to the maximum efficiency. This cycle continues as people purchase more of these products and not fully utilize the entire product. Furthermore, this will create toxic waste by sending leftover chemical waste products to the landfill or spoil recycling batches due to cross contamination. Most of these products contain environmentally damaging chemicals. Consequently, it will keep on damaging the environment through ground water contamination and air pollutants. It is a cycle in which we are causing more harm than good to the Earth through the use of the current system. By emphasizing on Kevin’s assignment 1, we are proposing to design basic container shapes in order to maximize the use of lotion, cream or gel based products. We believe, by creating different container designs, we can save money for consumers through increasing the product efficiency and decreasing the social cost of using the product. Through the use of efficient product container designs we will also save money for producers via volume maximization and surface area minimization. More importantly, it can eliminate preventable chemical waste from being added to our ecological system.

Theories: We will use mathematical calculus theories of maximization and minimization in order to find out the ideal shapes for volume with least surface area. Chemical theories of viscosity with physics gravity theories in order to find different angles for different products in order to enable maximize the dispersal of the products from their containers. Through the use of 3D visualization modeling we can create redesigned product containers, which will follow the previous two theories to achieve the greatest efficiency and the least waste.

Deliverables: - 3D models in Photoshop for a few current products and their redesigned containers. - Excel sheet for basic volume maximization and surface area minimization. - Power Point Presentation - Real life 3D redesign of efficient containers.

__**Group breakdown**__ Kevin Liew – 3D Photoshop + description Loretta Din – 3D Real Life redesign + description Wilfred Tang – Power Point Presentation + Excel Calculations