Avledning av statisk elektricitet i kontorsstol

Abstract

Kinnarps is a company that develops furniture for offices, schools and elderly care and has previously developed an office chair called 9000 with ESD protection. ESD signifies electrostatic discharge which users and components need to be protected by through ESD protection. The company is now searching for a solution to introduce ESD protection for another model, Capella, which is the company’s best selling office chair. The project purpose was to develop an ESD solution for Capella, with a cheaper and simpler design compared to the chair 9000. Initially, a project plan was performed which included all phases from the classic product development process, that were set out in relation to the time frame. Subsequently, the pre study began with literature studies and fact-findings regarding ESD, market analysis of ESD products, Kinnarps AB, the chair Capella, the chair 9000, ergonomics, materials, costs and trends. Several interviews were conducted with various stakeholders such as cleaning companies, companies in the electronics industry and Kinnarps’ existing customers. Requirements and wishes from the stakeholders that had emerged from the pre-study, resulted in a function analysis, a semantic analysis and a moodboard. A requirement specification was listed with the technical requirements for the product. The function analysis, semantic analysis, moodboard and requirement specification was iteratively updated during the process. The generation of ideas and concepts were conducted using several different methods. The choice of concept was partly based on review against the requirement specification, the function analysis and the semantic analysis, but also in dialog with the employer. The final concept has the same design as the existing model of Capella, however all surfaces of the chair consist of conductive materials. These components are well assembled so that the static electricity can flow continuously through the surfaces, down through the wheels and into the floor. As a result, no wires or similar are required to connect components. The concept also consists of a metallic string that runs along the seams on the seat and back of the chair, to express the product semantics of ESD protection.