'Biotone' Mycelium Amplifier
SUSTAINABILITY, BIODESIGN, DESIGN RESEARCH
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the ‘Biotone’ Amplifier is a sustainable application to a modern portable guitar amplifier. The traits of mycelium-- fire proof, sound dampening, lightweight-- all contribute to an improved amplifier that is more ideal that most others in the market.
Team Members: 4
Duration: October - December 2024
Dimension: 14in x 6.1 in x 9 in
Material: Mycelium, Cardboard, Plastic Mesh, Recycled Internals and Knobs
The Amplifier
The final model comes with three internal speaker sets, a functional control panel, with its internals compactly housed within a firm mycelium shell. Even with its smaller size than a usual guitar amplifier, it is still able to produce sounds that are as loud and as clear as usual amplifiers, thanks to the sound dampening properties of mycelium.
Prior to growing mycelium, preliminary research was conducted on substrates and growing conditions to determine the necessary ingredients that would produce the ideal property for a Mycelium Amplifier.
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A research by Alves et al. from the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria in Portugal studied the growth of mycelium with different substrates. It identified natural, unprocessed fine shavings of wood as the best substrate as it produced the most durable result and does not add much weight to the finished product.
With this in mind, a test-batch was grown to make a front panel of the amplifier, but it failed to fully grow and produce the ideal smooth surface.
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One batch was added with coffee grounds, which again did not fully grow and also produced some discoloration.
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During prototyping, regular wood shavings from recycled wood was used as whether it was natural or not would not have made a difference.
MYCELIUM RESEARCH
& FINDINGS
PROTOTYPING
1. Growing The Mycelium
with wood chips, flour, and water
MOLD DESIGN
The amplifier was first designed on CAD (Solidworks), after which it was reverse engineered into a mold, taking into account the 5 degree draft angle and the tolerance required to successfully vacuum form.
​​Since the mycelium has to be grown as a hollow 'shell' to create the exterior wall of the amplifier, the intention was to create one larger and one smaller mold, and overlap them for the mycelium to grow in between.
The two molds are produced through vacuum forming due to its efficiency.
Two wooden blocks were produced in preparation. One was completed by CNC, while the other was made using table saw. (The CNC caused many gouges and chips in the wood, which was patched up using Spackle)
ABS plastic was used to vacuum form over the wood blocks due to its rigidity to prevent the mold from deforming during mycelium growth. The draft angle and rounded corner implemented on the wood blocks helped with its release.
POST-PROCESSING
The completed mycelium body was belt-sanded to discard of imperfections. It was then spray-painted with clear coat to preserve its look and prevent decay.
MAKING IT WORK
Components such as speakers, subwoofer, and mounts from an old working speaker was salvaged to use in the mycelium amplifier as source of volume output.
The internals, including motherboard, wirings, control knobs, etc, were taken from a group mate's amplifier.
Three holes are drilled in the front panel (also built with mycelium) to fit the three speakers, and covered with mesh to prevent dust and damage. The internals are all fitted on a custom built rack, which houses the motherboard, control knobs, wiring, and fuse, and is then fitted to the top of the amplifier. All the wirings are connected and soldered to the controls and motherboard and tested for its functions.
EXHIBITION & POSTER
We participated in an exhibition with our mycelium amplifier at U of I's Siebel Center of Design.
Through introducing our prototyping process, research on substrates, and final product, we were able to educate the audience on the value of sustainable design using growable materials, as well as their advantages over existing man-made materials.