01
01 Background
CHT4 is a startup engineering company based in the Cambridge Innovation Center in Cambridge, MA. The company's mission is creating a wide array of innovative products to solve niche problems which require cutting-edge technology and design. I interned with the CEO and founder, Charles Terrill, designing some of these projects in SolidWorks and designing some prototypes in a workshop in Somerville, MA.
02
02 Continuous Variable Bike Transmission
I worked at CHT4 on a variety of unrelated projects that challenged my engineering design skills and stretched my critical thinking abilities. The idea behind the company was to create a large quanitity of new types of products and market the ones that consumers found most appealing. My first project was designing a gear system for bicycles that would do away with the traditional method of switching a chain between multiple sprockets, replacing it instead with a single sprocket that could change size. This proved a difficult design challenge, but eventually I solved the challenges and modeled the design in SolidWorks. An added benefit of this design is that riders can change to a different gear while standing in place, which can be helpful when stopped at a stoplight on a hill, for instance.
A CVT design for bicycles.
A CVT design for bicycles.
03
03 High-Powered Air Conditioners
Other projects I worked on include a large portable battery capable of powering 110 Volt outlets for powering desktop computers and other large devices on-the-go, an ecologically friendly way of heating water for homes, and a new type of air conditioner that promised ten times more power than a traditional one without obstructing your entire windows.
Powerful home cooling units that don't obstruct windows.
Powerful home cooling units that don't obstruct windows.
Although none of these designs made it to market, I gained a lot of insight into the patent process and a look at a healthy environment for entrepreneurship. I learned how helpful other founders can be and how valuable their advice can be.