This year’s crop of designs shortlisted for the James Dyson Award feature a wide range of innovations from the UK and other countries, including a bicycle that folds into its own wheel, an automatic wheel that operates without electricity and a cooling system that uses just a fraction of the energy consumed by standard air-conditioners.

The international award, run by the James Dyson Foundation, is open to product design, industrial design and engineering university students and post-graduates who have been out of school for less than three years. The top prize-winner, to be announced on 7 September, will receive £10,000 in cash, a James Dyson Award trophy and inclusion in the James Dyson Foundation’s publicity campaign. An additional £10,000 — in cash or equipment — will also go to the student’s university design engineering department.

Last year’s winner, Michael Chen, was a student from Middlesex University who designed a cycling jacket that signals the rider’s plans to turn to motorists and other road users.

This year’s shortlisted designs from UK-based students include:

Meccano: The electric-free automatic door

Rather than requiring electricity, this door opens when an approaching person steps on a footplate, which transfers that motion to a mechanism that opens the door. With a footplate on both sides, the door can be operated from either direction. A weighted balance system then closes the door after the person steps off the footplate.

Humo: The human dynamo

Embedded in a jacket, this device harvests energy from the wearer’s normal arm swing during walking or running. That energy can be used to power lights in the jacket, providing safety at nighttime, or could also be applied to mobile devices. Humo’s generating capacity averages about a half-watt.

Artica: Low-energy cooling

Artica’s “thermal battery” uses a phase-change material and latent heat for energy storage and natural cooling. The system uses less than 10 per cent of the energy used by conventional air-conditioners, and also filters out particles and pollutants in the air.

The Contortionist: Folding bicycle

Designer Dominic Hargreaves was inspired to create the Contortionist because he couldn’t find a folding bike he liked that could “take a bit of punishment.” Not only do all the parts of his bicycle fold up to fit within the circumference of its 26-inch wheels, but the folded-up bike can be rolled rather than carried.

Microfactory

The idea behind the Microfactory is to create a domestic, do-it-yourself manufacturing machine that can cut computer-designed patterns at home from a variety of materials so users can build a variety of products themselves.

Tags: Innovation