Power Cube

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Graduation project | BA. Product Design

Battery Vending and Recyling Service

Mar 2018 - Jun 2018

Author

Xiaodi Tang

Faculty of Urban Design

Wuhan University

Supervisor

Prof. You Lu

Faculty of Urban Design

Wuhan University

Introduction

Power Cube is a sustainable service design addressing the difficulties of recycling disposable batteries. This project systematically analyses the current status and development trends of waste battery recycling. It delves into the core challenges within China's domestic recycling systems and products, subsequently proposing targeted improvement strategies.

Through meticulous examination of user behaviours across the entire battery lifecycle—encompassing purchase, usage, and return—the research precisely identifies behavioural feedback and latent needs at each stage. Guided by a user-centred design philosophy, the paper specifically maps users' emotional fluctuations and psychological mechanisms during battery-related interactions, ensuring the recycling system incorporates thoughtful consideration at every detail.

To enhance public willingness to recycle, the proposed design boosts user motivation for battery return by maximising convenience and implementing incentive-based feedback mechanisms. Innovatively integrating automated vending systems with traditional battery sales models, it formalises the recycling process as a standard component of the battery sales chain. This integration aims to strengthen the holistic responsibility awareness among producers, sellers, and consumers for waste battery recycling.

Problem Statement

"The waste of the era"

With the continuous discovery, application, refinement, and replacement of materials, the single-use dry battery, as a crucial portable power source, remains irreplaceable – a status it has held for the past century and will likely maintain in the short-term future. Even if cleaner, more environmentally friendly new energy sources replace dry batteries in the coming decades, vast quantities of used single-use batteries discarded today have already become 'the waste of the era.' Containing a certain proportion of heavy metal elements, improper disposal of these batteries can cause widespread environmental pollution. Over time, this accumulation also poses a serious threat to human health.

Research progress

This project began with an investigation into dry batteries and their recycling. I examined various methods for handling waste dry batteries internationally, analysing their advantages and disadvantages. Subsequently, I compared the current status and future trends of waste battery treatment from the perspectives of both China and developed foreign countries. This comparative analysis provides a clearer view of existing deficiencies in China's current approach to waste dry battery disposal, thereby identifying potential entry points for my design of a domestic waste dry battery recycling system.

User Research

Furthermore, I conducted surveys and interviews to gauge public attitudes towards battery recycling, gathering materials and evidence to inform the design of a user-friendly dry battery recycling system.

A series of investigations targeting general battery users revealed minimal demographic segmentation by age or gender in consumption patterns. However, purchasing channels demonstrated significant concentration, predominantly occurring at local convenience stores and small supermarkets, with online platforms accounting for a substantial proportion. Utilising this empirical data, I simulated the end-to-end journey of a typical consumer, from battery acquisition through usage to final disposal, documenting behavioural patterns at each stage.

User journey map

The figure below is the user experience map that I have summarised based on the collected and organised research information. Many behaviours exhibited intrinsic linkages to users' emotional states. To visualise this relationship, I developed an emotional fluctuation curve synchronising observed actions with corresponding psychological responses across the usage timeline. The lower red waveform vividly illustrates consumers' volatile emotional states throughout the purchase-to-recycle continuum, while the superimposed green trajectory represents the optimised affective experience achievable through targeted service enhancements.

Design Concept

Power Cube is a product-service combination that integrates waste dry battery recycling into an automated vending system. This approach incorporates battery recycling into the battery sales process, offering users greater convenience and feedback mechanisms to enhance public awareness of battery recycling. This integration also provides a basis for the functional and aesthetic design of the subsequent model.

01. Scenario