These are some photos that we may not use.

This project started when we were brainstorming ideas for the problem of snow and ice building up on cars and driveways.  Some of our colleagues were discussing ways to remove snow and ways to build rigid structures to keep snow off of things.  We hit on the idea of building a soft inflatable cover like the bubble that covers the pool that we can see out of the hallway windows of our high school.

In order to get it into the Bubble we thought of an airlock system where you would drive into a depressurized area and then drive into the pressurized area.  But we decided that this would be costly to produce, and also be a hassle to set up and take down. 

Since it was early November, we had access to an inflatable bull Halloween costume we could use for testing.  We wanted to make sure that snow would actually fall off, so we took a snow-cone maker and periodically doused it in a heavy layer of snow. We then expanded upon this idea by inflating our own inflatable. It was a simple plastic square which was hollow on the inside and inflated relatively well.  We wanted to know if the fan would cause the inflatable structure to unroll off of a tube.  We tested that quickly using a heat-activated bag sealer and a roll of vacuum sealer rolls and it worked really well.

Through the whole experience, we were constantly debating the idea of whether the bubble should be deployed beforehand and have the snow fall off, or put over your car and inflated to push the snow off.  We decided to deploy before a snow fall.

Since our small plastic prototype showed that the basic idea would work, our next goal was to make it bigger and make it into a shape that would cover the car and also have a steep-sloped top so that snow would slide off.
We learned that some people were making custom inflatable lawn decorations cheaply by ironing plastic tablecloth  sheets together.  We tried that, but it was hard to do.  One slip of the iron and the plastic would melt through. We finally decided to use lightweight, slippery, but air-tight material like that used in typical inflatable winter lawn decorations, and to sew it together.

Our biggest problem throughout the whole experience was allowing the Automobubble to deploy in a curved or steep-sloping-roof fashion. In the end, we sewed it in the middle to allow it to bend over itself. This worked to some degree, but it put a big seam in the middle and didn’t produce the pointed roof we were hoping for. But we know that is possible because we have seen it in lawn decorations such as Snoopy’s doghouse.  

The final problem was how to get air into the cover when it’s rolled-up.  We decided to cut a hole in the cover, and attach it to a tube with a corresponding hole cut into it. This allowed the pump to be mounted to the tube, instead of being attached to the cover itself and going over the car as it unrolled. (The latter would be problematic since it would be heavier and harder to deploy, easier to damage, and the pump could also scratch the car as it goes over.)

The Automobubble is an inflatable tool used to prevent snow and ice build up on your vehicle. Usually, overnight during snowfall your car and driveway would be covered in a layer of snow and possibly ice, and if you want to get anywhere you would have to shovel it off. The Automobubble is mounted to a frame on the side of your driveway (and can be buried in the ground for a completely invisible look), and when it is inflated by the attached pump, it will unroll and cover your car with a protective layer. The Automobubble will fold over your vehicle with a pointy top, allowing snow to fall off it. It inflates itself at the touch of a button, so the only work you need to do is turning it on and turning it off again. The system inflates in a few minutes, so if snow is coming, turn it on and forget about it.