Sunflower Seed Inspired Box

Mia Lamperes, Jazmine Binger

Problem Design Concept Map

Summary
Mail, shipping, and storage are one of
the biggest parts of our everyday life. We Introduction
To show our design concept we used
see postal workers and vehicles nearly cardboard to replicate how the
every day, and every afternoon we pick sunflower seed inspired shipping
up our mail from our mailbox. How many boxes are made. We are comparing
times have you opened a package and the sunflower shaped box to the
seen that over half the space was just structural integrity of square and
bubble wrap? Our project is proposing a rectangular boxes. We hope to
fix to the amount of waste produced by provide a cost effective alternative to
the postal system with both carbon the products used for shipping now.
emissions and containers. The Grumman
LLV is the most popular car used by the
postal service. This car gets an average
of 17 miles per U.S. gallon. Adding in
frequent stops to the equation, this car
only gets 10 mpg. The postal system
uses approximately 140,000 of these

trucks nationwide. Each gallon of

gasoline produces about 20 pounds of
Co2. Adding in UPS, FedEx, and other
postal services dramatically increases
the amount of waste.. We want to make
the amount of packages that are able to
Proof of This link goes to the full map
design.
Climate
fit into one of these trucks greater to
possibly reduce the amount of trucks
needed to upkeep the postal system. Concept
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Connection
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Our project is focused on how sunflowers
pack seeds together and mimicking this
in order to make shipping and storage The average UPS truck gets 10.2 to
more effective. Sunflowers copy the
fibonacci sequence, a spiral pattern
13.1 miles to the gallon. By reducing
the waste products and using a more
Bibliography
commonly present in nature, in order to compact packing system shipping Koljonen, Denice. "The Environmental Impact of Mail: A Baseline." Ed. Paul Robbertz.
pack their rounded triangular shape into companies can use less gas. "United Science Progress 73.4 (292) (1989): 457-68. Piney Bowes, 2008. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.
"Fibonacci Sequence Optimizes Packing : Sunflower Goldeneye - AskNature."
the most effective shape possible. Their Parcel Service Inc., the worlds biggest AskNature. AskNature Team, 29 Nov. 2015. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
Tom. "How Much Does It Cost To Transport A Shipping Container?" Container Home
shape also provides structural support in package shipping company, is using Plans Your Hub for Shipping Container Home Plans. Container Home Plans, 22 July
2015. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
order to protect the seed inside. data from customers, drivers and Powell, Alvin. "Postal Service Looks to Improve on 9 Miles per Gallon in Mail Trucks."
Phys.org - News and Articles on Science and Technology. Phys.org, 17 Mar. 2015.
vehicles in a new route guidance Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
Atela, Pau, Christophe Gol, and Scott Hotton. A Dynamical System for Plant Pattern
system that will save time and money Formation: A Rigorous Analysis. Diss. Smith College, Miami U, 2002. N.p.: n.p., n.d.
Its extremely apparent that the waste and reduce fuel burn. By the end of Print.

produced by mail is overwhelming. The this year, it will have saved UPS more
amount of carbon produced by shipping than 1.5 million gallons of fuel and
is also extremely dramatic. reduced carbon dioxide emissions by
14,000 metric tons, the company
said."