Conceptual Design of a Small Electrical Appliance with Multiple Uses Following the Design-to-Last Approach

Abstract

Nowadays a large variety of small electrical appliances are available to perform many functions and most of them are intended for tasks usually done in the kitchen. Different electrical appliances often have the same or a very similar main function such as heating a fluid (coffee-maker or tea-maker) or transferring heat to an object (bottle sterilizer or heater, food heater). Sometimes these products are designed for just one specific function, as in the bottle sterilizer or the heater, without considering how to apply them to other elements that could also be sterilized or heated. One of the design approaches that may guide the future of sustainable design is to design objects to last, thereby increasing their use. This work analyses the possibilities of integrating multiple uses to extend the life and use of a small electrical appliance, the main function of which is to heat, while proposing a conceptual design and assessing the improvement in its expected use.