Here are some of our thoughts on the process of bringing our design to full scale:

1. A careful evaluation of how the design is assembled and how it can be designed for ease of service is very important. This will probably require:
   • Access panels through the wall to be able to get to key mechanical systems such as the pneumatics. It might be advisable to have access panels that enable a full door to removed for it’s replacement to allow for quick return to service in case of any failure
   • Access to the inside of the sandwich panel doors either through the removal of one of the face sheets or sub panels that allow access to lighting, pneumatic attachment, rail attachment etc
   • The sliding structure.


2. Material Selection
   • Sandwich panels of acrylic and insulation foam were used for each door for manufacturability the acrylic face sheets might be substituted for more tougher material either perhaps polycarbonate or metal.
   • Similarly Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) was chosen for manufacturability and could be replaced by standard wall construction


3. Lighting
   • Experiments exploring how the increased space can be used to create more diffuse lighting would help more closely realize the initial vision of the door
   • Multiple strips could be used offset from each other to even out the lighting


4. Robust Mechanical Design
   • Standard track and carriage, rail and roller were purchased for the prototype. New hardware for the full scale design needs to be sourced to fit the increased dimensions and hold the extra weight.
   • Additional rolling constraints should be considered to prevent any door motion perpendicular to it’s intended motion.


5. Door Sealing
   • Familiarity with acrylic lead to its use for the door-sealing interface. It might be valuable to explore cast clear rubbers or foams to act both as diffusers and act as a passive safety measure in the event that other safety measures fail and the door closes on a visitor.


6. Safety Mechanisms
   • Further testing of the IR break-beam would be needed before its reliability could be guaranteed.
   • Addition of a tape switch would be advisable given 5Wits prior experience using this sensor type


7. Method for calibrating the alignment of the two doors motion
   • Exploration of whether a mechanical element could tie the motion of the two doors together might be valuable to ensure they don’t require calibration of the motion
   • Further testing to pneumatic control mechanisms on the quarter scale model could be used to develop a procedure for synchronizing the motion