Introduction
A public dustbin is an engineering product everybody uses in the everyday life, but nearly nobody knows that a dustbin is much more than a stupid box with waste in it. Everybody needs it, but nobody wants to have it in one’s field of vision. And with this already the big number of requirements to a dustbin get started.
The main functions of such a public dustbin are to collect the trash till the emptying, thereby to provide a clean environment. It should enable a controlled refuse disposal, improve the cityscape and appeal (in subconsciousness) to all people keep the city and environment clean.
For understanding the technical detail of a (simple) dustbin you must think about the included components. So, the components should contain an opening, a locking system, a fastening system, an emptying mechanism, a container, a collecting tray and an ashtray.
The system’s functional decomposition includes the possibility of being reachable for anybody, so the height should be user-friendly and barrier-free, but nevertheless inaccessible for food-searching animals. Furthermore the public effectiveness is very important. All in all there is a big double function: on the one hand the collection of waste and on the other hand the emptying operation (should be able to be fast and clean).
The logical composition of the system is subdivide in the public effectiveness (with the cityscape, consumer friendly, self-explanatory and utilizable properties) and the different types of dustbins in respect to the requirements.
Design Challenge
The user who wants to design a public dustbin is allowed to variate all in all seven input parameters which influence the embodiment:
- related design parameter 1: “height [m]”
- related design parameter 2: “radius a [m]”
- related design parameter 3: “radius b [factor]”
- related design parameter 4: “shape”
- related design parameter 5: “wall fixing”
- related design parameter 6: “Top”
- related design parameter 7: “opening size factor”