Hurricane door Safe
Project
​
For ME204 Mechanical Design, the class was tasked to create a product to solve a problem. The first assignment was to identify and explain the real-life problem. After much deliberation, I finally settled in creating a removable door lock mechanism for hurricanes and other natural disasters. In 2005 I found myself hiding in a bathroom for two days because the front and back door had busted during hurricane Wilma. My family and I were safe, and no one got hurt, but there was a lot of damage caused by the debris and water that got in throughout the storm. This fueled my interest in creating a safe and cost-effective solution to secure the doors, affordable for developing countries.
​
Design Process
​
The design process started with concept sketches. Consequently, I developed a Pugh matrix (page 3) to rate and analyze the designs. Finally, I picked the best concept and the initial design requirements and specifications were settled.
​
The following one pager was used to present the idea to the class and review the initial design idea of the final product​.
The CAD model was developed in Siemens NX. The main purpose of the design was modularity for ease of installation and storage.
The design was validated by creating a Finite Element Model. FEA was performed to analyze the stresses observed in the components for the worst case scenario, a category 5 hurricane. After some modifications the product was ready to be prototyped.
For the final task, we presented the scaled 3D printed prototype and pitched the idea to the class, specifying the global impact of the product as well as the manufacturing specifications. Even though this was a design concept, I am looking forward develop the design for production.