Technical Communications: Omnibrella
Engineering Written Proposal

 

By: Konrad Zielinski, Sebastian Rogowski, Sayedul Islam, Elijah Berard

 

 

Introduction

Umbrellas are an item that most people take for granted in everyday life. Such a simple work of engineering protects us from unrelenting weather. When met with the challenge of designing a new “invention” so to say, our group got the inspiration for this design when one of our group members happened to go outside while it was raining. At the time, we were struggling with coming up with ideas. Some topics for the invention were thrown around, but none seemed satisfactory. And so, by simply opening up an umbrella, an action that millions of people perform everyday, our topic was found. Our group presents the Omnibrella, an umbrella designed for survivalists and those who love partaking in activities in the wilderness. A tool for not only protecting you from the elements, but also providing the user an option for collecting a safe source of drinking water, staying warm in colder environments, and producing energy and power for small electronic devices such as mobile phones. The Omnibrella sports a heating element, fully integrated within the handle, and a water filtration system built into the shaft of the umbrella. This along with 4 solar panels built into the inverted upward facing canopy, is what sets apart our product, the multipurpose tool that is the Omnibrella, from normal umbrellas. 

 

 Canopy

Determining how the umbrella is shaped is an important part of the entire way the umbrella works. The canopy itself takes up most of the materials and mechanisms in the umbrella, so it is essential that this part of the design is well thought out. Just by looking at the Omnibrella, you can tell that this umbrella is different from the ones used on an everyday basis. The canopy of the umbrella is not only inverted in how it is folded, but the entire canopy is faced upwards when it is opened up. The reason for this change is due to how the Omnibrella collects water. Since the canopy is facing upwards, the “U” shape of the canopy makes sure that a maximum amount of water is collected, providing an efficient, constant source when it is raining. Figure 1 is a screenshot of a 3D CAD model our group created, and it shows how the canopy is shaped. The canopy of the umbrella will most likely be created out of either polyester or nylon for the water resistance and durability the fabrics provide. The stretchers and ribs that support the canopy would be made from fiberglass for an optimal combination of flexibility and strength. The materials required for this section would probably amount to around 15 dollars to produce. In the event that the filter system is not required, you can open up a plug on the canopy of the umbrella, which will drain out whatever water is collected in the canopy.

Figure 1

Description: Taken from the 3D CAD model developed by our team, the picture shows the inverted upward facing canopy of the Omnibrella.

 

Heated Handle

An umbrella’s handle is the first thing a user’s hand comes into contact with. The umbrella handle often becomes damp, cold, and painful to use, particularly during the winter months. Electric heaters are integrated into the structure of the umbrella. The handle itself is mostly hollow, created out of aluminum, and the heater is installed on the inside of the handle. The heater is connected to a battery with wires that run through the handle, which then power the infrared heating wires which are coiled on the very inside of the handle. This is so that the handle can heat quickly and evenly. The heat will go through the metal handle and into your hand which will let you hold onto the umbrella during the winter. In figure 2 you can see how the handle looks like, it shows no outward signs that any heating element is there.

Figure 2

Description: Taken from the 3D CAD model developed by our team, the picture shows the handle of the Omnibrella, the heating element is built within the handle itself.

 

To power the hand warmer we need batteries. It is located on the very bottom of the handle. You can open up the lid that is right beneath the handle. It is sealed well so it can be waterproof. The heater is powered by a standard rechargeable 5000mAh battery through a step up converter, which reduces the complexity of the electrical components and gives us plenty of power in order to heat our handle. This will cost about 8 dollars. The batteries will be contained within a metal casing, which is also surrounded by heat resistant tape in order to prevent any sort of heat induced damage to the battery. A charging board will be set up within the metal casing, which allows the battery to be charged via a USB port. Along with the batteries, there will be an LED indicator that will tell you how much charge is left in the batteries. The LED is located right on the edge of the bottom of the handle. To know how much charge is left, the LED will have different color modes. Green will mean there is about 80 to 100 percent charge left. Blue will mean there is about 50 to 79 percent. Red will mean there is about 20 to 49 percent left. Also, if the red light starts blinking that means that there is less than 20 percent left. There is also a switch located on the handle to turn the heater on and off, which allows the user to conserve battery life, and prevents any complications that constant running would have on the battery. To turn on the hand warmer, the user must swipe the switch up and to turn it off you need to swipe it down. The switch and the LED’s combined will have a cost of about 2 dollars.

 

Filtration System

The filtration system integrated within the Omnibrella is an essential part of our entire design, and is essentially what most of the structure of the umbrella is built around. The way the filtration system works starts with the canopy. The upward facing design allows for rain water to be collected at a consistent and plentiful rate. As the rain gets collected, it rapidly descends to the center of the canopy where the runner is. The runner is the part of the umbrella that you use to open the canopy, which is also what the Omnibrella’s runner does, except for one change. The runner is vented in order to allow water to pass through the runner and into an opening in the hollow shaft. The shaft itself is made out of fiberglass, and leads directly to the filter that is built into the shaft. The filter itself is fairly small as it only needs to treat rain water. The filter itself would mostly include microfibers as well as activated charcoal in order to prevent any harmful parasites and bacteria that may be present within the rain water. After the water is filtered, it leaves directly through a side channel where the filtered water goes through plastic tubing and enters directly into a water bottle that you placed inside the cup holder that is also attached to the side of the shaft. All of this culminates into a fairly simple water filtration system, which you can see in Figure 3 below.

Figure 3

Description: Taken from the 3D CAD model developed by our team, depicts how the water filtration system looks like.

 

Solar Panels

Solar panels are another addition to the design of this umbrella. When you are out in the wilderness, having a proper energy source for your devices can be difficult, but with Omnibrella, you have an option to produce energy via solar panels. The canopy itself is outfitted with 4 of these solar panels, each around 2.5×5 inches in size. Each of these solar panels are then connected the a charge controller, situated inside a pocket on the underside of the umbrella, which regulates the current to a level appropriate to what the user is attempting to charge and converts that charge into an extendable USB-A cable and connector which can be used to charge whatever small device the user wants, as long as the user has an adapter for their device. The solar panels themselves would have to be protected by a translucent plastic film which would be built into the canopy. This ensures that the panels do not take water damage, while also allowing light to go through and get to the panels. If at any point the user wants to stop the solar panels from producing energy, a reflective cover could be put on top of the panels in order to do so. The positioning of the panels can be seen in Figure 4.

Figure 4

Description: Taken from the 3D CAD model developed by our team, the blue squares on the canopy roughly depict where the solar panels would be situated.

 

Rejected Proposals

There were many ideas that our group came up with when planning out the design for this umbrella, but most of the proposals were rejected in the end due to multiple reasons. Initially, there were a couple different ideas for the canopy. Our initial design was not fully upward facing, instead, only the fabric toward the center of the canopy would have been facing upward. This initial design was made because we wanted to make sure that the umbrella still provided sufficient cover for the user, but was ultimately rejected because of the possible limitation such a design would have in collecting rain. Our solution to this problem was to instead have the entire canopy be upward facing, but increase the diameter of the umbrella in order to increase coverage. There were a couple different ideas for the filtration system as well. Our group initially attempted to integrate the water filter within the shaft itself, but the limitation of the diameter of the shaft was a problem. What we ended up having to do is altering the entire method of collapsing the umbrella. Since the filter was in the way of the runner, there was no way to fully collapse the Omnibrella using such a method. To get around this issue, we made the umbrella into two different parts, where you could unscrew the top half of the umbrella, starting at the top of the filter, from the bottom half. Doing so would allow the user to first collapse the canopy, and then take apart the umbrella into two separate pieces for easy storage. Had we not included this into the design, the “folded” umbrella would have been around 2 meters in length. Going through all of these designs was an essential part of making sure our product works as intended, and it helped us avoid any sort of complicated mechanical problem within our design.

 

Conclusion The goal of our product is to make your life easier and to enhance your outdoor adventures, the redesigned omnibrella serves to create a more efficient version of the umbrella worth bringing without the drawbacks, as well as an efficient survivalist tool in one.  In general, the purpose of the standard umbrella is to provide a user with protection from inclement weather conditions like rain. Although the umbrella is sufficient in design to accomplish this task, it is pretty much functionless without rain. We wanted to give the umbrella more function and availability, such as integrated heating and filter technology powered through solar panels, and this is what we present with the Omnibrella. 

 

Reference Page

How to recharge batteries with solar cells. (2013, December). http://www.learningaboutelectronics.com/Articles/How-to-recharge-batteries-with-solar-cells. 

Quick, S. I. (2021, January 11). How to select a solar charge controller? – definitive guide. https://cleanenergyprojectnv.org/how-to-select-solar-charge-controller/. 

Umbrella manufacturing process. (2018, August 27). https://www.superain.com/umbrella-manufacturing-process.

Umbrella material, Umbrella Shaft MATERIAL, umbrella fabric material. (2018, September 28). https://www.superain.com/the-ultimate-guide-for-umbrella-material/.

Umbrella styles and size – your PREMIER Custom UMBRELLA MANUFACTURER,FACTORY, supplier from china. (2019, January 11). https://www.superain.com/umbrella-styles-and-size/.