Design and development of garment ironing machine

With the progress of human society and the development of science and technology, people’s requirements for products are getting higher and higher. Office workers’ demand for garment irons is not just the satisfaction of simple ironing functions. People are paying more and more attention to the external aspects of products. Modeling and inner emotional appeal. In recent years, my country's market has become more mature. In order to meet the "special" needs of different users, modern enterprise companies adopt mass production methods to meet the needs of the public and customized methods to serve individual users. In today's globalized market, user satisfaction has become a major concern of enterprises and a necessary condition for product competition. In modern markets where product homogeneity is more serious, consumers have also begun to measure product satisfaction from their subjective feelings.

The basic principle of the garment ironing machine technology is to suspend the fabric and use the gravity of the fabric to subject the fabric fibers to vertical downward gravity, and then cooperate with the appropriate temperature, humidity and pressure to change the structure and surface state of the fabric. Hot shaping method. Early Japanese steaming machines used steel plate steam chamber heating methods, while Italian steaming machines used steel pipe plates as heating carriers in aluminum alloy plates. At present, the German steamer generally uses stainless steel pipes cast in aluminum alloy molds for heating. After testing, the heating speed of the German steamer is the fastest, usually reaching the highest temperature in 18 minutes; the Italian steamer is the second, which can reach the highest temperature in about 22 minutes; the Japanese steamer is not as good as aluminum alloy due to the thermal conductivity of the steel plate. It takes about 30 minutes to reach the maximum temperature.

1. Analysis on the development status of steam garment ironing machine

1.1 Current status of garment steamer products

Garment ironing products were introduced to China from Europe and the United States around 1998. In recent years, with the continuous development of small home appliances, the domestic market has entered a period of development. In just two to three years, the garment steamer has developed rapidly and has become a Hot-selling new categories of small home appliances. The garment ironing machine adds the effects of high temperature sterilization and dehumidification on the basis of the electric iron, making it more convenient for users to use. At present, there are probably hundreds of brands of garment ironing machines. Among the hundreds of manufacturers, there are not only brand companies that specialize in manufacturing and developing garment steamers, such as Huaguang, Zhuoli, etc., but also large-scale comprehensive enterprises focusing on home appliances to develop garment steamers, such as Haier, Royalstar, etc. In the existing market, we can see two types of garment ironing products, one is the ordinary vertical garment ironing machine (Figure 1), this kind of garment ironing machine has a larger water tank and greater visibility and firmness. The water tank has a dry-burn prevention design and can iron multiple sets of clothes at a time. The overall weight is relatively large, the storage space is large, and the shape is relatively heavy. The other is a portable garment ironing machine (Figure 2). This garment ironing machine has a relatively small water tank, low water volume, easy handling and storage, quick ironing, sterilization and mite removal, and a relatively compact shape.

1.2 Problems with the garment steamer

At present, although European brands occupy a large proportion of the domestic garment steamer market, their share is also declining. The domestic garment steamer generally lacks technology and innovation, and there are few independently developed products. Most are imitating and copying foreign products, and there are more homogenized products. Although such a small product can help users accomplish what users want to a certain extent, it is still far from the perspective of satisfying users' psychological demands.

In recent years, small garment ironing machines have gradually appeared in the domestic and foreign markets, but from the current situation of existing garment ironing machines, garment ironing products are not perfect enough, and there are problems such as low water storage, inconsistent design with ergonomics, steam and easy hot hands. . The traditional large-scale garment ironing machine has complicated operation steps in the process of use, but although the small-scale garment steamer occupies relatively small space, the water mist conversion speed is relatively fast, and the use angle and range are relatively wide. However, there are also problems such as not being able to store too much water in a single use.

2. Analysis of user needs of garment steamer

User needs are the primary consideration in product design. The goal of product design is to meet people's needs, taking "people" as the core of the entire design, which is also the basic idea of "people-centered" in product design. In product design, designers must not only meet the user's physiological and safety needs, but also meet the user's emotional and self-needs.

2.1 Physiological needs

In the face of physiological needs, we must use the functions of the product to make up for the work that we cannot achieve and are inconvenient to complete. This design aims to meet the basic physiological needs of human beings, and regards design as a further extension of our own system. The design of the telescope is a further extension of our vision. It is a product produced by the garment ironing machine to satisfy people's clothing leveling. While satisfying the user's ironing, we can also provide the function of deballing and sterilizing clothing.

2.2 Security requirements

Safety requirements are the most basic requirements in product design. Whether the product is safe or not will directly affect our use. If the product design process of the garment steamer is not considered, it may cause huge safety hazards to users. The safety of the garment steamer mainly refers to the safety attributes of the product itself to the user's operation process. It is mainly used for active protection and protective measures before a series of accidents such as product leakage and dry burning. In the design process, the structure of the product must meet the physiological needs of the user, and the product should be suitable for the user's hand grip; the surface of the user and the garment ironing machine should not be overheated. Therefore, in the use of materials, it is necessary to consider the use of fire-resistant and high-temperature materials, use non-polluting materials, avoid unnecessary physical damage to users, use better quality materials, improve the physical strength of the product, and increase the service life of the product . At the same time, the shape design of the garment ironing machine should be kept smooth, and try to avoid sharp and sharp shapes.

2.3 Emotional needs

Subjective emotional needs are the process of interaction between products and users. Product design centered on user needs can enable designers to create useful, applicable and effective products. At the same time, designers also value the emotional needs of products in the design process. "Agreeableness" is playing an increasingly important role in user needs.

In the design of the garment steamer, the designer should fully consider the user’s psychological characteristics and have an in-depth understanding of the user’s demands on the product. In order to create a comfortable psychological feeling for the user, the designer should choose according to the psychological characteristics of the user population Suitable product form, material, color, interaction and function. In order to meet the characteristics of the quality of life of users, the appearance design of the garment steamer should be high-end in the product structure. Most users of the garment steamer prefer young women. In order to meet the aesthetic needs of these consumers, steam The overall design of the garment ironing machine can be partial to the simple and warm wind that most young people agree with, so that it can meet the emotional appeal of most women. In addition, the use of different colors will bring different feelings to users. Appropriate color matching can bring users a good experience, while cluttered and overly bright colors will bring discomfort to people and affect users’ psychological emotions. To a certain extent affect people's health. Therefore, in the color application of the garment steamer design, we need to pay attention to the appropriate use of colors, select suitable colors for matching and highlight the artistic treatment of colors. For example, fashionable colors are in line with the vivid and energetic side of young women; calm business understanding pursues simple and elegant color matching. In terms of interaction, the use of voice prompts in the voice processing of the garment steamer will make the cold product vivid.

2.4 Self-demand

Everyone in life has physical, mental and spiritual needs. And demand is the inevitable manifestation of human survival and development. The design of the garment steamer not only meets the basic functional needs, but also develops towards individual needs, so as to meet the needs of different people. For frequent business trips and young students, a convenient, space-saving, easy-to-carry garment ironing machine is also very important. In the existing garment steamers on the market, in addition to satisfying the user's function of garment ironing, some garment steamers also function as humidifiers. At the same time, for family users with children, the setting of a safety lock is also extremely important.

Three, the design principle of the steam garment steamer

Through the analysis of the current situation of the garment steamer, the existing problems of the existing garment steamer were found, and the analysis of the user's needs was adapted, and the design of the garment steamer was finally proposed to follow the following principles:

3.1 The principle of simplicity

From the perspective of product form, products tend to be more and more concise. From bulky computers to the use of current laptops, we can see that the so-called simplicity is to ask designers not to make unnecessary designs, and to solve the problem in the most natural and convenient way. Regarding product design, we have to consider simplicity in terms of principle, structure or shape. For commonly used household appliances, the simplicity of the garment steamer is undoubtedly one of the important design principles. For the simplicity of appearance, the concise design of the garment steamer can reduce excessive decoration and make the product have a strong sense of unity and integrity; for the simplicity of use, designers should consider avoiding users’ complicated operations. Cause product misuse, which not only fails to achieve the purpose of ironing clothes, but may even cause harm to users; in terms of the principle structure of the product, the simpler the internal structure of the product, the better the stability of its operation, and it is simple An effective structure can reduce the possibility of product failure during use and ensure its normal use.

3.2 The principle of ease of use

The ease of use of the product is very important to the users of the garment steamer. The product must have good operability during use. In the process of using the product, the user can easily understand the operation process of the product. In the design of the garment ironing machine, different symbol prompts and color prompts can be used to convey different information to users, thereby reducing operability errors in product use and avoiding some safety accidents.

3.3 The principle of aesthetics

Good products can promote the commercialization of products. In the process of designing products, designers must achieve beautiful effects while meeting product requirements. Beauty is an indeterminate, constantly changing concept of time, space, people and other factors. Users will see beauty from different angles and perspectives, and different effects will be achieved. Most of the users of the garment steamer are young women. Most of these people are simple and generous, and the shape is more focused on soft lines and curves. The color is mostly white, and the appropriate amount of different colors is added to match.

3.4 The principle of comfort

People's quality of life continues to improve, and product design with good comfort has become a necessary design principle to meet user needs. The overall shape of the garment steamer and the size and size of the components conform to the user's physiological dimensions. A reasonable size of the man-machine will directly affect the comfort during the use of the garment steamer. The size and weight of the portable garment ironing machine should be used by different people as much as possible. In the selection of product materials, materials with heat insulation and water leakage and electricity leakage should be selected to increase the user's comfort when touching.

to sum up

In today’s social environment, the abundance of quality of life leads to the rationalization of consumers’ desire to purchase. Consumers’ demand for products no longer focuses on functions. Consumers have higher requirements for crafts and materials. A better experience. Based on the current situation of serious homogenization of the garment steamer products, this article explores the needs of users of the garment steamer. It analyzes and studies the shape, function, material and structure of the garment steamer, and obtains a garment iron that is closer to the actual needs of users. Machine products, so as to achieve the purpose of reasonable and healthy development of steam garment steamer products.