Louis Bradier

Credit photo : Esther Bussy

I have taken kiteboarding as a substitution to mountain riding sports for about a year now. With the experience acquired I felt that it was time to investigate the kiteboard technology.
Here is my kiteboard demonstrator. It is dedicated to my uncle Philippe which recently passed away and inspired me greatly regarding my professional orientation and handcraft passion.
The range for this design is freeride, the technical specifications are:
Size: 136*40 cm
Weight : 2,250kg
Concave bottom
Angled fins
Differential torsional/longitudinal stiffness
Deflective tips
Wooden edge

This is my new carbon fiber downhill longboard (SocBoarding Carbon #1), designed and manufactured by myself. It features a foam core construction with a torsion box, an impact tough injected polyurethane edge and load distributors. Tech. Spec.: Length: 1050 mm, Max width: 260 mm, Wheelbase: 900 mm, Weight: 1.5kg, Longitudinal and torsional flex: close to none

We were 27th out of 172 teams at the Shell Eco-marathon Europe 09 with 1082 km per litre of gas and beat the university record for the second year in a row (549 km/L in 2008). We designed and manufactured a brand new prototype for the Shell Eco Marathon with the Zenith Club. I was the team manager for my last year and in charge of the design and the manufacture of the composite parts (chassis, side wall...).

This project was a group assignment. The main innovation concerning the usual bag to carry skis/snowboard, is to integrate magnets in order to fit the bag over the car as a roof carrier. These magnets can be used to stock your equipment on the wall (see the advertisement at 9 pm), with the using of steel plates. It was decided after a market study (4P, marketing mix, market analysis...) to design this bag as if we were part of Dakine, because this is the current leader in luggage for ski/snowboard. The commercial represents the ideal riding day with the utilization (rendering) of the product along it.

This project was a group assignment. In order to develop during a course of initiation in industrial design, we had to design an herb garden in the style of the brand Alessi. We decided to develop a product particularly with the A Di Alessi spirit which means 'border line' to the market. It explains the two fake commercials which are around the story that emerge from the product instead of its real utilization.

This project was a group assignment. The purpose was to design a camcorder stabilizer by using value analysis and creativity methods (FAST, TRIZ...). Here is a video of the CAD representation.

This project was a group assignment. The goal was to analyze an existing product and decrease its environmental impact. We managed to bring the Eco-indicator from 216 to 91 millipoints (Eco-indicators 99), by modifying the source of energy, the source of lightning or the materials for example.

I managed to design and manufacture a prototype of a downhill skateboard wheel within 6 weeks. It was my bachelor individual degree project in Polymer engineering at Napier University (Edinburgh). Here you can download a test video of the wheels.

A friend and me designed and manufactured two streetluges made of composite/aluminium structure with composite fairing. We did it during our spare time.

During my second year in the Technical Institute of Technology in Material Engineering, I had to complete a group project with two other students. Our project was to carry out a propulsion system for an aquatic Human Powered Vehicle (HPV), so that we would be able to take part in a race called the SGM challenge. The system is composed of an air propeller fixed at the top mast. In the lower part of the mast there is a crank-gear (pedals and cog-wheel) implanted. Another cog wheel is placed at the top of the mast and linked to the crank-gear by a transmission chain. The materials used are aluminium and carbon fibre. I was in charge of the design of the transmission and adaptable seat.

This is a mechanical system which permits to stabilize a camcorder. This team project was done as a part of my baccalaureate (equivalent to A level). Here you can download a ski video which was made with it; no effects were had during the editing.