Thesis Project - Modular wall panels

I think if people even put forth the idea with some schematics-- whether it works or not-- they can patent it.

Looks like my brother found my ice cream sandwiches.... There are only a few left. He also found my hostess cupcakes and now there are none left.

I wonder if there are different patents for the new refrigerators with the doors that open only the door shelves part if you pull at the right spot or press a button but then open the full door if you hold it at the right spot or hit a button. I saw some of the new fridges with that feature at Best Buy. I forget what brand model-- I think LG- had a 30.6cu ft fridge and I kept playing with the doors. It even had a thing where you could have shelves on the door near the icemaker. The only drawback was it had one of those huge bottom drawers that kill my back if I try to reach in to them. Well, ok, that wasn't the ONLY drawback. There was the price and the fact that every time you shut one of the doors, the other door would pop open a little. I said something to one of the employees who was coming over to see what was up and he said "but it reseals afterward" and I'm thinking "but it still lets quite a bit of cold air out every time you shut one of the doors and that is pretty wasteful.

Of course, I know the doors had been opened and closed about a bajillion times so I don't know if they do that during normal operation when you first get them.

And wow, I'm really going off on a tangent. LOL.

To get back on topic, modular wall panels sound neat, but I don't really know what I would ever use them for.

Well from a business point of view, it's a great idea to have a built-in system that requires you to purchase the modules from them exclusively. Every time you have a new use or want to redecorate, it's back to the same company. That's the most compelling reason not to buy into the system, but there are plenty of suckers who will.

BTW that demo video showed me nothing about the product and very little about the skill of the animator.:2cents:

I couldn't even get the video to load earlier. I'll have to wait until after midnight and see if it will load for me. I wonder what software was used.

Ok. I finally got to load it.

Kendo, I think you need a little sound for the video. Perhaps some soft music (nothing boring but nothing annoying/distracting) or a voiceover describing what people are seeing. Even some text popups to describe what people are seeing would help.

I would also suggest that you show a cutaway view of the walls to show this modular system behind the walls. Had you not described what you were trying to show, I would have had no idea that you were trying to demonstrate some sort of modular in-wall system.

The video was modeled in SketchUp and rendered in Lumion. This is the first video I've ever made and is in very raw form. As soon as the model was somewhat showing a decent intent, I wanted to get it out for initial impressions. Clearly there is much addtional information that has to be conveyed which I continue to work on.

My advisor gave similar suggestions as discussed here such as narration, floating text, cutting portions, etc will give insight and focus to the stoic walkthrough. These were already intentions I had to add and develop later. I'll be working on an actual animation to illustrate the system's construction. I'll be attempting to learn Navisworks for the model animation, that should clarify the systems ease of use and flexibility.

As a business model, surely a patent on this would be ideal but I would want to license the connections between the structure and the modules to others for thier innovative ideas. There would be first-party wall accessories but licensing the expertise to other companies, say Apple, would provide a way to extend their brand experience.

*A floor to ceiling white gossy device stand/charger with speakers would be neat IMO*

A friend of mine makes SIP panel homes with a foam like product sandwiched between panelling. Her own house is made of them.

carnuck said:

A friend of mine makes SIP panel homes with a foam like product sandwiched between panelling. Her own house is made of them.

Click to expand...

Lots of hipe about twenty years ago, never seen one built.

Good luck with that, kendo. Hopefully you will have fun with the project. I've used sketchup, but am still a novice at it. I'm trying to figure out how to export things to Milkshape 3D and then make more detailed models then reimport the models as .skp files to use in sketchup. But the home repair projects are taking precedent over that. I'll have to look in to some of the stuff you mentioned and eventually play around with it since I have a fascination with graphics.

Since you might need licenses to use certain songs, you might just want to add in some sound effects or something when panning. Not sure on the exact ones. There is a show called "Income Property" where they use some sort of software to show how they will change a space and they add little sound effects along with some narration from the host.

the main problem that I have with your thesis is that you have no understanding of the structure of the items your hanging off of a couple studs.In order to use a design like this we would have to restructure every piece we have in our homes to make them usable.They would have to have enough structural strength to hang off 2 rails on the wal in place of 4 legs on the floor.What are we gaining?Four inches of unusable space under cabinetwork that would cost much more to build.Do you know how much weight a dresser full will take and how much load it will put on a wall hanging off of 2 studs spaced at 16" OC?
As far as the lighter items like frames and boards.It's not even a consideration.Thousands of ways to hang them and move them anytime you want.
Do you know what a French cleat is?They have been around for centuries.

Well the fact is that we don't know how much engineering went into this thesis because Kendo hasn't told us. I imagine he's working with hypotheticals here. But yes a deep, fully filled dresser will exert lots of forces on the the uprights.

Kendo, what keeps the wall from getting scuffed and such by a particular unit and how does that get covered up when the new unit is smaller?

oops posted to wrong place