Cases
Waste compactor invention presented in Norwegian TV show by means of Materialise prototypes
Arvid Johannesen, Vik-Sandvik IDE and Materialise partnered up for the development of a waste compactor that compresses the contents of a standard-sized trash bin and was one of the inventions presented in the Norwegian “Skaperen” show.
It was amazing for me to see my invention in real life and to be able to touch it finally after being occupied with the conceptual process for about four years.
In 2004, Arvid Johannesen began to develop the concept of a system that would prevent his home trash bin from being overfilled between collection days. Four years later his idea takes shape and he establishes the company MPE Products AS and contacts Vik-Sandvik IDE to assist him with the product development of what will eventually become the Waste Compactor.
Recently, the Waste Compactor has been one of the star inventions in the Norwegian “Skaperen” show.
For this TV show, Arvid Johannesen needed a fully functional and cosmetic prototype to make his product stand out. This is where Materialise came in. Being convinced of Materialise’s expertise and our broad range of materials, technologies and prototyping solutions, Vik-Sandvik IDE decided to involve us in the early design stage.
For the “Skaperen” selection rounds, a single, semifunctional prototype of a preliminary design was needed to convince the jury. We combined our three additive technologies, Stereolithography, Laser Sintering and Fused Deposition Modelling to make a working prototype that was fully representative of the real thing. The components were finished and painted according to Arvid Johannesen’s requirements.
From the very beginning it was clear for us that a lot of prototyping would be involved: verifying the design, showing the product in a TV contest and performing long term application tests. As we believe Materialise is always able to select the best prototyping solution for every application, it was obvious for us to turn to them for this groundbreaking project.
As a result of the success of the first prototype, Materialise is currently producing a series of 60 fully functional prototypes using vacuum casting and Laser Sintering.
In parallel with the production of these small functional prototype series, Vik-Sandvik IDE is prepairing the design of prototype and production moulds with the assistance of Materialise tooling and moulding specialists.
