Holly Jessop

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University of Nottingham > Engineering > Departments > Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering > PDM Exhibitions > 2023 > MEng students > Holly Jessop

A home digital printer designed to combat the user-based and environmental issues present in current printer models.

Both maths and art interested me at school, and I chose this course to develop my creative and technical knowledge. I have gained a variety of skills across a range of both individual and team-based projects, from sketching to verbal presentation. Several projects also involved a range of software, and I have experience in both design-based applications and engineering programs, including the Affinity suite, Adobe CC, Solidworks and Keyshot.

To gain further, real-life experience during my degree, I took part in the Year in Industry option offered by the department. As Junior Graphic Designer for the engineering consultancy Cundall, I worked on several design projects across a range of media and gained further competency in design software, as well as learning to work within a multidisciplinary international team. Returning to university for my final year was hugely benefitted by this experience, and I felt I was able to apply these skills to my project.

During my degree I have enjoyed both the creative and technical aspects, and would be interested in a career pursuing graphic design or CAD development. Studying Product Design and Manufacture at Nottingham has brought a range of both challenges and rewards that I feel has set me up for any future endeavours.

Holly Jessop, MEng Product Design and Manufacture

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NewLeaf Sustainable Home Printer

The desktop inkjet printer is a widely popular product, increasingly so since the recent shift to homeworking since the pandemic. Despite this, its design varies little across brands, resulting in a huge variety of products that all have similar issues, both user-based and environmental. Units are generally perceived to be prone to malfunctions while also being difficult to fix without a technician, resulting in their disposal and therefore increased associated waste. Cartridges are also notoriously expensive when compared to the device price itself, and often come wrapped in huge amounts of plastic while themselves being disposable. This, coupled with the damaging environmental and health-based properties of standard oil-based inks, further decreases the sustainability of this household item.

The task was to redesign a domestic inkjet printer, for use in a home office. The main aim was to improve the design in terms of both sustainability and user-friendliness, regarding the main device and the inks utilised.

The unit is an upright device, thereby taking up less space on a shelf or workdesk which, as identified, is often limited. It is primarily designed to be operated from the side or above, which allows the user freedom of choice as to a preferred device location, from on a desktop to a desk drawer.

The paper refill and ink refill inputs are both located under an easy to access flap, both reducing dust ingress and improving access to these ordinarily tricky features. A paper stack can be fed into the available slot, where it will be printed through the device, and deposited within the door, which can then be opened after operation to retrieve printed sheets. On the opposite side of the device, a similar door can be opened and a document inserted to be scanned. It was identified from user research that a scan function was important to prospective buyers.

Rather than using conventional, disposable ink cartridges, an alternative ink-transferring mechanism has been employed. The ink is purchased in small bottles, which are used to fill an internal ‘ink pot’ within the unit. A valve within these bottles prevents ink from spilling out when the bottle is not in contact with the refill point on the device, and the ink level can be seen visually through a ‘window’ on the printer itself.