E-Sea Power : The Design and Standardization of Chargers for Electric Boats

Sammanfattning: The current concerns about global warming are increasing the demands for electric vehicles (Ou- chi, Bando, Kodani, Hirata & Mubin, 2012).With the increasing demands, electric boats have now come into focus (Sierzchula, 2014). However, there is yet to be developed standards for charging of electric boats.This is where this thesis project comes in, as this thesis is a part of the E-Sea Power project,which is a project to develop a new and safe standard for charging of electric boats.The thesis project was completed at the company No Picnic in Stockholm, through the work of my final master degree course, in the education of Industrial Design Engineering, taught at Luleå Uni- versity of Technology. The objective of the thesis project was to provide a basis for the facilitation of the standardization of chargers for boats, with the possibility of full-scale tests. Where the final aim of the project was to develop both a normal charger standard and a quick charger that is to be mounted in a harbor, being able to utilize the harbor’s own electricity grid.Where in this context, a normal charger is a slower charger that charges with the users own cord and where a quick charger is a fast charger which has a built-in charger cord and handle. The project was divided into need, design, and function to make it structured and easy to follow, going through the design phases Immersion, Ideation, and Implementation.Throughout the project the current state was firsts analyzed, going on to several brainstorming and evaluation techniques and then ending with the building of final CAD prototypes, of both a normal charger and a quick charger, through the use of the software Solidworks, Keyshot, Photoshop and Maxwell.The projects focus has been on finding creative and ergonomic new solutions, with good user experience and accessibility. The final result of the project is two modular new chargers, with belonging to the same product family. Both a quick charger, which has had the thesis main focus and a normal charger, which has also been developed. The quick charger is a tall charging post that has a built-in lamp consisting of four fluorescent lamps and a, on the outside hanging, charging cord mounted at the top.The charger has two component houses which house necessary components. One that houses the CCS charger female and infor- mation label and one that houses the screen, IR sensor and emergency stop. The main feature of the final quick charger is its charging arm, which bends down with a hidden hinge, enabling the required total reach of 5 meters, while helping lift the charging cord for the user and giving the best possible light were the user is. The normal charger is also a charging post with the same type of house as the quick charger. How- ever the charger post is much shorter and it has only one house, which houses two Type 2 females instead of one CCS female.The normal charger also has a different lamp consisting of small LEDs, so that the user is not disturbed by its brightness at its lower hight, but still gaining enough light during use, where the surrounding light is lacking.