Garrin Schaap BMED 213-71 HW #2 1) Select a device, material, or process of interest that involves some aspects of biomimetic design. Describe the need for this design and the specific function that is (or will be) addressed by the design. Being from the Central Valley, I have experienced many hot summers where I would constantly be looking for shade when outdoors. Normal solid shades such as umbrellas can cause the shaded area to become almost as hot as the unshaded area. This is because of radiant heat from the shade material heating up. Fractal shade is a modern solution to this problem. Fractal shade solves the problem of radiant heat and the specific function is to provide a better shade alternative. 2) Describe one or more biological systems that exhibit properties that would benefit your design. One biological system that exhibits properties that are seen in the fractal shade design are trees. Trees naturally provide shade that is pleasant, cool, and soothing because of their fractal structure. This structure creates a shade that allows for some wind to come through the leaves, thus cooling down the tree and reducing the radiant heat that is produced. The leaves at the top of the tree move fast in the wind with a small range of motion. The leaves at the bottom of the tree move slowly in the wind with a larger range of motion. This produces a cool shade that also lets ambient light through. 3) Describe the method/materials/designs proposed to imitate the natural design of the biological system. What parts of the biological system will be reproduced and what parts will be replaced by other means? Fractal shade took inspiration from the fractal structure of trees and utilized that design to create their shade. This shade has two parts two it. The first is a sheet cut with a triangular fractal pattern to mimic the layout of the leaves that are toward the top of the tree. The second is a sheet cut with a hexagonal fractal pattern to mimic the layout of the leaves that are toward the bottom of the tree. The two sheets are sewn together at the short ends. The triangular sheet is shorter than the hexagonal sheet to try and reproduce the small movement of the top leaves and the larger movement of the bottom leaves respectively. 4) Assess the technologies used in the design. Are there limitations to the design based on a lack of available technology? What advances in technology would improve the design? Or, does the design take full advantage of existing technologies with no lack of functionality or excess cost and complexity? The technologies that are used in this invention are fractal design and canvas sheets. I think that this design takes advantage of available technology. I think that there could be improvements in the materials that are used to create the fractal shade. But as for the functionality I think that this shade is fully utilizing current technologies to provide comfortable shade. References 1. Caity Hughes, Jordan Johnston, and Ali Fuller. "The COMOLEVI Forest Canpoy.", Innovators by Nature, March 18, 2017, https://innovatorsbynature.wordpress.com/2017/03/18/the-comoleviforest-canopy/. 2. “fractal shade.” YouTube, uploaded by sky o, February 25, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKWjIfIq1jY.
