Clean Air Workstation
All images from this project were located inside the shop, and so cannot be shown. Instead I have provided an image of me looking snazzy in my PPE
Solid Power’s lab is a clean air facility. It is constantly pumping in dry air from vents on the roof, as humidity is incredibly dangerous for the materials we are working with, and can result in toxic gasses or quality reduction in the coats.
There was a workstation where lab techs would work on the battery components, but it was found through analysis that the humidity from their breath, even with respirators, was damaging parts. This work station was 3 feet to the right and 3 feet back from one of the clean air vents.
Background
I was tasked with bringing clean air directly from this vent over to the workstation. My initial prototype used a shower curtain and acryllic to test my dimensions. The geometry needed to design this shape required significant trigonometry and calculations to result in a clean air path that didn’t have wrinkles. The final version was made out of vinyl and aluminum, and had a rotating bottom portion allowing lab techs to adjust where they wanted their eyesight to be.
I do wish that I was able to display this solution, as I believe it was more elegant that a description may let on. Analysis found significant reduction in moisture on the parts following my design.