Ink cartridge 

2020

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COMTE clara

KACHOU Cyril

GIRARDELLO Amélie

Overall sight

As students we write a lot with pens, even in the era of digital. The tree of us are former prep class students which means that we used to write many pages every day of the week. So we tried to think of the best tool we could imagine to work with us and tried to solve some of the current problems around pens. We focused on the ink cartridge of the pen the current way for it to work and how to improve it. In order to do just that we use ideas lab innovative websites. It’s a great help to designing a new solution, it helps keeping a guideline while still having an overall sight and it widens your perspective rather than narrowing them. So you can sort all of your ideas without forgetting any of them or losing track of your doing. It doesn’t invent a new object for you but it helps you to see the most eligible solutions to your problems.

Major Steps

1. Key Map

In this part we write in the software all the problems we can think of, in the actual system and all the partial solutions we could imagine. Then we have to link every problem with the one linked to it , finally we linked the problems with the solutions. At this step, we found different solutions as : 

• a refillable pen 
• the refile system might be a tank
• a tank that we are able to wash
• a pen made with quality
• a pen that is easily refillable and doesn’t need a lot of external tools

This part is really useful to just throw any problem or solution we can think of and then see which problems or solutions are coming from one another. Then linked the problems with the corresponding solutions.

So at first it looks kind of messy but eventually it organizes itself in a very natural way, on one hand we don’t put aside any idea yet but on the other hand we still have a way to sort them.

2. Parts 

In this part we describe our system and the environment in which it evolves. We need to contextualise our system so we can design solutions that make sense and are feasible. It also helps to enlighten the problem link with the user.

So we chose our system which is a pen with a tank. This pen needs mechanical energy which is produced by our fingers and controlled by our eyes.

3. Multi-screen

In this part we can compare the past version, the current version of the system and the one we would like to design. The block diagram is divided in three versions of the system each divided in tree blocks that represents the environment , the system itself, the user. Each block of each version is linked with the following version with improvement parameters.

So we started by the original pen without any tank. Then it evolves in the pen with a tank that is well known today. We tried to improve this pen in an inventive pen in which the tank is refillable. For each type of pen we defined three types of system. 

• The subsystem which is made of what actually control the pen
• The system which is made of the pen itself
• The super-system which is the ink and the paper.

This part was not the most helpful for us, we had a hard time to use it efficiently. Our system is probably not enough complicated for this part to be helpful in the design process

4. Laws

In every system we consider 9 laws that we can apply to any system. In this part we precise those laws compared with our system and then we rate each law depending on the impact on the system.

This step was tricky as we all had different views on what grade attribute to each law but we came to an agreement. It really going to help define our priorities on what to improve in our system, we could consider it as a turning or key point of the project.

5. Contradictions

In this part we write the contradiction in three different categories “Confort (time), Quality of usinage (cm3), tank volume (cm3)” . So we assign parameters depending on the fact that they are in favor or not of the category. In each category we defined a Va and its contrary and in each Va we put different evaluation parameters which are favorable for the Va or not.

Once we enter all of this in the software it gives us a graph

We decided to eliminate the quality of the usinage in the following of our project for many reasons. First it is the most difficult thing to change in the current pen, then the solutions to the problems linked with that topic are not the most efficient or the one that most improve the system. So we focus on the Comfort and Tank volume topics.

6. Resolution

After defining the contradictions, we tried to solve some of our contradictions. At this stage, we solved tank volume and the confort. Through the TRIZ matrix we were able to associate our contradiction with the parameters of the matrix. For example we filter the quantity of air bubbles with the area of a mobile item.

7. Solutions

Finally the last step was to find solutions that respond to our problems. We thought of different things : 

• the connected pen : A pen connected to your connected watch or your smartphone via bluetooth. This pen is able to change its tip in order to readapt it for the use of the pen on a tablet. This will work with a battery.

• Easy opening : You can open the pen in two parts with only a simple press of the finger instead of having to unscrew it.

• Jerricane : Huge tank of ink that you can storage at home so you can refill your pen at the end or the beginning of the day

• Level control : It's a gauge that enable the user to control the level of ink left in the pen

• Retractable pen tip : The pen tip is able to be store inside de pen

For each solution we defined its complexity, its advantages, its disadvantages and the risks.

The final invention

The final invention contain five main ingredients :

• The tank. It’s a built-in tank that people can fill with a hand-sized jerrycan (above 7,0 x 5,0 x 3,0 cm). The tank has a little hole (like in cars) so the user doesn't spill ink.
• A connected cap. It can be placed on top of the pen and allow people to use it on tablets without scratching the screen. The cap can be clipped on the bottom of the pen. The goal is to allow people to interact with both digital and paper interfaces.
• A glass on the handle. The glass shows the level of ink in the cartridge. The goal is to inform every time the cartridge needs to be filled.
• The opening. Is simply made to be easily openable.
• The retractable tip. This technological part is already present on classic pens but we decided to move this practical interaction in feather pens. 

The result is a pen which combines comfort and efficiency. This pen have huge arguments for its marketing :

• It is eco-friendly due to its capacity to doesn’t waste ink and cartridges. The ink is perfectly used and the digital part safe ink. (It also save money)
• It is fashioned to be useful and have a good writing feeling.

To conclude, we think our invention is a refinement of pens. The principal consequence of this innovation is the canceling of many little issues that spoil writing.

This pen allows people to transition in a cleaner way to write in a society of wastes and is digitizing.