An ongoing collaboration with SBB
As part of an ongoing collaboration with SBB, Creaholic worked with one of their teams to develop a carrying case for the railway workers’ new communication system, RACO. For that project, we developed a lightweight, robust case that enables workers to quickly access their tablets and smartphones and safely protect them from dirt, rain and impact.
These devices must be carried and accessed quickly. They run the communication system and other applications to manage the trains and wagons that the railway workers need access to. A radio set is connected to this system. Railway workers use it to communicate important commands that ensure coordination and safety during shunting and other wagon management activities.
During the testing phase, it was identified that railway workers have had issues with the quality of speech through the radio set, particularly in windy conditions. As at least one of the workers is riding on a train that is traveling at about 25 kph, this was a problem for many. The solution seemed obvious at first as this is a common issue with microphones in outdoor situations where wind is mostly mitigated with foam or furry wind screens. In this case however, the challenge was to find a solution that can be attached to the radio set and can withstand the rough conditions of being handled with greasy gloves and being soaked with rain.
Adapting to the elements
The SBB team had been experimenting with different approaches and had some experience from the development of previous communication products. What was missing was a way to properly verify their assumptions. SBB asked us if we could build a simple but sufficient test rig to help experiment with and iterate ideas.
We love these kinds of challenges and got right to work. Because even some of the biggest fans and blowers did not provide the wind speeds we needed, we engineered a cone that focused the wind to our specifications. Now we could go ahead and properly test and explore different shapes and materials to reduce the issues caused by the wind.
By recording these tests, we where able to compare the audio at different wind speeds and see the differences in the waveforms. This way we also saw when the internal digital noise reduction kicked in and out and how water in the foam influenced the sound quality.
Into the wild
With the help of these recordings, we were able to determine a shape and a foam for the final clip design that gave the optimal amount of noise reduction while letting water pass through it. The clip can securely be attached to the monophone receivers and if any water is stuck in the wind shield, it can be easily blown out. This final design was tested in a small 3D printed production series and then approved for further production shortly after.
In recent years, 3D printing has gone beyond just being a prototyping technology and has become more affordable. In production runs that reach even up to a few thousand, the price has become competitive with injection moulding and is much faster to implement.
In this project, we not only got the opportunity to support SBB with the ideation, testing and implementation of their carrying case, but we also developed and implemented a solution to an issue that was only recognised during the testing phase. Thanks to quick iterations, we were able to react fast and implement a solution only six months after the official roll-out of the new communication system.
This project was a great opportunity to show the strength of an interdisciplinary team of designers and engineers in close collaboration with the client and their knowledge. The success was owed to the client's trust in Creaholic, good communication and a passionate team.
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