After a half-semester of researching and developing a product concept which we could take to the alpha-prototype stage, we settled on rise, the easy access oven rack.

Final Presentation Video

Each person on our team was tasked with creating a variety of sketched design concepts to stimulate discussion for how we should move forward on the project.

A simple CAD model to demonstrate the physical architecture and integrated design for our first prototype.

As part of my role on the team, I was tasked with ensuring that we had a solid schedule for the development of the prototype. I used a CPM to work out for myself and demonstrate to my teammates where we were in the project and delegate effectively.

We built our first prototype by retrofitting off the shelf oven sliders with a swinging platform. The mechanism was actuated by two windshield wiper motors.

How to create effective rotating connections was a critical aspect of our initial prototype. In this iteration we used PTFE bushings, which we eventually found where too low friction and lead to swinging.

After conducting more user testing with our first full prototype, we refined our design to address some of the critical issues our users had identified.

One major advantage of the driving mechanism we chose was that it could be completely concealed in the oven cavity and took up no more space in the oven than the sliders themselves. The gearbox drives the motion of the rack in two degrees of freedom, which creates the desired “up and out” motion that our users liked.

As part of the development of our alpha prototype, we decided to design our own sliders which took up less space inside the oven and allow us to optimize the trajectory of the oven rack according to our useability goals.

Driving the four-bar rack mechanism is a worm-gearbox. It provides a 100:1 reduction and prevents the rack from being back-driven. The output shaft is well supported by two large bearings, and the output forces on the shaft are configured such that very little net bending force is applied to it.

Once we fabricated the gearbox, we mounted it behind the oven and routed the cables from inside the oven to the back of the oven.

After a couple of sleepless nights, we had a completed alpha prototype for rise. As with any prototype, we had some issues with lifting the full load, but functional enough to demonstrate the desired features for the final presentation.

2.009 Final Presentation

Rise Brochure