Practice IB Design Technology (DT) Topic 3.3 Physical Modelling with authentic exam-style questions for both SL and HL students. This question bank focuses on the exact syllabus content for 3.3 Physical Modelling and mirrors Paper 1, 2, 3 style where relevant.
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How would a racing helmet fitted with accelerometers and strain gauges to record results during a drop-test be categorized?
The design of a car is a process that has many stages. As a result, there can be a large number of prototypes and drawings used.
Some car designers are still using clay to make their first prototype of a new model of car, see figure below.
Explain why digital humans are used in car interior design.
Outline why isometric drawings are often used in car design.
Describe the difference between surface and solid modelling.
List one reason why clay modelling is still used to prototype models in processes such as car design.
Some villages near Siem Reap in Cambodia have problems with waste, in this case plastic bags, polluting the landscape.
Salin and Michael of the Treak Community Centre near Siem Reap have developed an innovative way of dealing with the issue of plastic bag waste.
Plastic bags collected by the Treak community are placed on a bed of sand that is heated by a fire. This shrinks the bags and makes them stiffer. The bags are then shredded into small chunks with scissors, see Figure 10. The shredded plastic is then used as a substitute for aggregate in concrete which is mixed by hand, see Figure 11. This concrete is then moulded into bricks, see Figure 12 and Figure 13, that can be used for construction.
40% of the bricks used for the Treak Community Centre were made using this method. The remaining 60% of bricks are standard clay construction bricks.
Outline why these bricks are an example of a composite material.
Designers use specifications to guide development and evaluation. Suggest the cost constraints and material requirements for the Treak Village plastic brick.
Explain why prototypes would be used in the testing and evaluation of the brick made by the Treak community.
Explain how the manufacture of the Treak Village plastic brick addresses the green design objectives of materials, energy and waste.
Figure 1 shows a car design modelled from clay.
Figure 1: A clay model of a car
[Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Opel_50_Jahre_Design_(14541643013).jpg, by Robert Basic]
Which of the following best describes a model that shows exactly how a product could look but NOT function?
The Gramovox® bluetooth speaker design is based on gramophones from the 1920s, see Figure 13. For the prototype, stereolithography (SLA) was used to 3D print the S-curve horn.
Pavan Bapu the founder of Gramovox®, is an entrepreneur and a product champion, see Figure 14. He crowdsourced funding for manufacture through Kickstarter and promoted the concept through live online broadcasts and newspaper interviews. He was inspired to develop the Gramovox® bluetooth speaker after seeing a 1920s gramophone in a shop window.
Figure 13: Gramovox, 2013. Gramovox Bluetooth Gramophone.
Available at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gramovox/gramovoxtm-bluetooth-gramophone
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Figure 14: Technori, 2015. Pavan Bapu Presents Gramovox. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mp5m8klziA
. Source adapted.
Outline one physical property that makes hardwood a suitable choice for the base of the Gramovox® bluetooth speaker in Figure 13.
Explain the benefit of using freehand sketches, physical models and CAD solid models in the development of the horn of the Gramovox® bluetooth speaker.
Explain Pavan Bapu’s role as entrepreneur and product champion in the success of the Gramovox® bluetooth speaker.
Explain how retro-styling has been used in the design of the Gramovox® bluetooth speaker.
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