User Interpretations of Virtual Prototypes: Physical Place Matters

Abstract. Technology is known to affect users\u27 understanding of virtual products. We study whether also physical place in which the product images are presented affects our understanding. To study this, we conducted user tests with furniture prototypes that were presented in 3D virtual environments. We focused on user interpretations of virtual prototypes in two distinct physical places: in a fair and in a virtual environment laboratory. The results reveal that, in the laboratory, users broadly focus on technical features, whereas, in a fair, the users\u27 main focus is on product models. The implication of our study highlights the influence of the place in virtual prototype presentations

A CO-CREATION TOOL IN WALK-IN VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT: MAKING PROSPECTIVE WORK VISIBLE

The focus of this paper is on user participation in product design process. Ours is a human-centred approach in which users\u27 expertise is acknowledged and which addresses the development of future products, rather than the current situation in users\u27 work. This type of user participation applied to co-creation is possible when the users\u27 prospective work is made visible. This paper presents a tool with which product users can experiment working with the product under design. As the product designers can observe the users\u27 actions with the tool, their understanding of the users\u27 work practice increases and their discussions with the users improve. The tool, VIP2M, is a virtual environment for prototyping a mobile working machine and constructing it in a walk-in virtual environment. We built it following the tradition of design science research and evaluated it by user tests. The study shows that virtual environment is a useful base for constructing appropriate tools for product users\u27 participation in the product design

Experimental study and mathematical model development for the effect of water depth on water production of a modified basin solar still

Freshwater is constantly shrinking with the confindness of water resources. Therefore, desalination of seawater is given great attention. Renewable energy sources also become of high importance to reduce carbon emissions. Thus, this study is concerned with the design, fabrication, and testing of a new single-slope double-basin solar still as a renewable energy-driven desalination system. It differs from the conventional solar stills by having two basins. The experiments were conducted to compare the performance of both conventional and modified solar stills. As a design parameter that substantially affects the performance, the still water depth was investigated. A new straightforward, accurate model is developed to predict both systems' performance for the design and optimization within a maximum deviation of ±6.6%. The results indicated that the day's productivity for the new and conventional stills at 2 cm water depth was 2.855 and 1.785 L/m² per day, respectively, by an increase of 59.9% with a thermal efficiency improvement of 61.3%. Also, a rise in the equivalent water depth de from 2 cm to 3 cm reduces the accumulated productivity by 14.36% and 15.41% for the SSDBSS and SSSS, respectively. Additionally, the daily thermal efficiency of the SSDBSS and SSSS is 25% and 15.5% for water depth de of 2 cm, respectively. The maximum values of the total heat transfer coefficient were also evaluated to be 15.4 and 55 W/m².ºC for the lower and upper basins of the modified system, respectively, and 30.18 W/m².ºC for the conventional system.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Thermal Performance Evaluation for Two Designs of Flat-Plate Solar Air Heater : An Experimental and CFD Investigations

The main objective of this research was to create two different configurations of a flat-plate solar air heater, namely, Conventional-Case A and Modified-Case B, and develop a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model using ANSYS R15.0. The purpose of the CFD model was to simulate the heat transfer behavior of the proposed solar air heaters under unsteady conditions. The RNG k-ε turbulence model was employed for this CFD study. The experiments were conducted on sunny days, under the same conditions as the Egyptian climate. The results of the experiments show that the simulated CFD model and the measured outlet airflow temperatures, relative humidity, and velocities of the two tested solar air heaters were compared. The developed model made very satisfactory predictions. Moreover, the deviations between the average CFD outlet air temperatures and the experimental results were 7% and 7.8% for Case B and Case A, respectively. The CFD-simulated average relative humidity was reduced by 31.6% when using Case B compared with Case A, and it was reduced by 28.8% when comparing the experimental data to Case B. Additionally, the average CFD thermal efficiencies obtained for Case B and Case A were 28.7% and 21.6%, respectively, while the average experimental thermal efficiencies for the cases were 26.4% and 18.2%, respectively. The proposed model can be used to design and simulate other solar air heater designs.Peer reviewe

Diffusion of Innovation: Case of Co-Design of Cabins in Mobile Work Machine Industry

This paper describes the development of using virtual reality for work content in one application area over a decade. Virtual reality technology has developed rapidly; from walk-in CAVE-like virtual environments to head-mounted displays within a decade. In this paper, the development is studied through the lens of diffusion of innovation theory, which focuses not only on innovation itself, but also on the social system. The development of virtual technology is studied by one case, which is cabin design in the mobile work machine industry. This design process has been especially suitable for using virtual reality technology

Evidence Against a Correlation Between Ease of Use and Actual Use of a Device in a Walk-in Virtual Environment

Technology acceptance and its use are assumed to be based on the perceived usefulness and ease of use of the technology. We studied one aspect of that by focusing on a possible correlation between the actual use of a device and its perceived ease of use. For studying technology that is new to users, we investigated the use of a locomotion control device in a walk-in virtual environment. We organized a user test in which participants browsed virtual shopping items by walking or by controlling locomotion with a device. Data were gathered in two ways: First, we observed their actual device use, and second, we asked users to evaluate the ease of use of the device. The analysis illustrates that there is no correlation between the actual use and ease of use of the device.peerReviewe