A commonly recurring issue among high schoolers is managing phone charge. Often times my own phone would die mid-day. While this problem has seemingly already been solved with the invention of the portable charger, most high schoolers refuse to use a portable charger. This became the new focus of our inventing: to create a portable charging product that people wanted to use.

Our next step was interviewing our target demographic: our fellow students. We engaged in multiple interviews in which the primary focus was unearthing people’s aversions to portable chargers. The standout result was that although people know that portable chargers work, they chose not to use them because they are cumbersome and difficult to remember to charge. This was a consistent complaint across all of our interviewees. This gave us two leading priorities: comfort and convenience. It was not convenient to charge your phone or a portable charger.

This was a theme that stuck out to us in our brainstorming. Originally we had designed a backpack that could charge the user’s computer, phone, and other electronic devices. This idea was promising and we even had a conceptual prototype. However, upon further research, we found that versions of this idea were already on the market.. There was far less room for innovation in the backpack-based charger than there was in some of our other ideas. A wireless charging pad that acted as a pocket in pants or sweatshirts was our other top contender. That was in competition with a built-in charger which charges through the sleeve.

To achieve convenience, we decided that charging was an integral part of the experience. If the user had to remove the pack and plug it in, then it would be no different than a standard portable charger. The area that we decided to pursue was wireless charging. Our two leading ideas were wireless baskets and powered charging  hooks. Seeing that we wanted the Choodie to be used right after charging, a wireless hook made more sense.

The next step was creating the charging hook, or “Chook,” which had many boxes to check. First, the hook needed to be made out of a nonconductive material. This means that we couldn’t really use store-bought hooks as they were mostly made of solid metal. Second, the hook had to be able to have two wires run through the back of it and connect to magnets at the points of contact. This kind of specification obviously required a custom hook. The easiest way to make this hook to our specifications was to 3D print a hook with a hollow core. The hook was designed such that the wire could be run through the wall and straight into the hook to connect to the magnets.

The magnets were attached via lead-free solder, heat shrink tubing, and electrical tape. In earlier prototypes, the magnets were incredibly susceptible to damage, so we implemented electrical tape along with heat shrink tubing to secure the solder so that the magnets wouldn’t fall off. Our choice of magnets for both the Choodie and the subsequent Chook were magnetic jewelry clasps. Importantly, these magnets were much more visually appealing than some of the more bulky options and far easier to attach. Also, the magnets were just strong enough to make a contact for the wires without pulling too hard at the clothing when detaching.

For the Choodie, the priority was comfort. Through multiple testing sessions, we found the best spot for the location of the charging pack to be directly below the back of the neck. This location offered a surprisingly well-hidden storing location, and when the hood was down the charging pack was even more incognito than before. To avoid wire noticeability, we gave each of the wires slack so that they would never pull tight while the Choodie was being used. We also ran the wires for the magnets through the drawstrings as they would be easily noticeable anywhere else. The wire connecting to the phone runs through the actual fabric of the Choodie and is extractable near the wrist. In this way, the charging mechanism is seamlessly integrated into the hoodie.

The magnets in the hood of the Choodie were tested and measured multiple times for the correct location. The wires were run through the drawstrings and then down the fabric of the hood so that the user wouldn’t feel it. This is the contact point with the Chook and is used to charge the Choodie. Much of the wires we stripped and reconnected to allow for adaptability to the magnets, charging pack, and iPhone. Through research, we discovered the necessary contact points and wires of the standard charging cable and we were able to isolate the necessary parts.