By Amanda Djäknegren & Johanna Bergfelt-Ramos de Souza
Filling beer kegs at microbreweries is still a very physically demanding labour. Nowadays, kegs are often made entirely out of plastic where the most common kind is “KeyKegs”. While KeyKegs are a lot lighter than the metal kegs which were common priorly, a major disadvantage to KeyKegs is that they have to be filled upside down to ensure its good quality. As a result of this, the KeyKegs have to be turned manually rightside up after it’s been filled, including the 30 L of beer which now resides in it. As a part of the courses “MMT015 Produktutveckling: Behov & Krav” and “MMF274 Design och användaranpassning”, an affordable and ergonomic solution to this problem was created which helps the user in turning the KeyKeg over, and thus reduces the strain on their backs. Physical prototypes of the final concept was created and evaluated with the users.
The concept allows four KeyKegs to be filled simultaneously, and the height of the workbench can be adjusted to suit the needs of the person using it. There are several offloading areas where cleaning solutions and KeyKeg connections can be placed, since this was found to be a constant issue during the observations that were made. The flip-function of the workbench works similarly to a cushioned kitchen cabinet door, and slowly moves the KeyKeg down to a horizontal resting position where the user then can pick it up from, and tip it down to the floor. The orange accent colour used on the product indicates interaction spots with the product.
