How will the AirGradient Go look like?

A few weeks ago we got the so called T0 of the AirGradient Go enclosure. This is the first produced version when the mold is used the first time. It is used to check the fitting, stability of the enclosure. It does not come with the final texture, and is not polished yet.

We got 50 of these enclosures and are currently using it to test the first batch of prototypes. We also tested the enclosure and are quite pleased. The top part is PC (Poly Carbonate) which is one of the strongest plastic. Originally we were a bit concerned about the strength of the strap hole but it looks like now that the strap will tear before the strap hole breaks. The PC will be treated to be UV resistant to we do not expect it to yellow in sun exposure.

The bottom of the enclosure will most likely be white ASA (Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate) plastic. ASA is the plastic we use for all our other monitors and we have made very good experience with it. It is also UV resistant and very strong.

At AirGradient we believe in Function over Form. For a portable monitor it was very important for us to make sure it is weather resistant and does not need any sealing that might fail. So we designed the whole top part of the enclosure as one piece without any opening. You can actually fill water inside and use it as a cup if you like ;).

The bottom part is where we have all the ventilation slots for the sensor modules, a physical on-off button and a usb C plug.

In order to separate the display area with the surrounding area, we chose to work with texture. So the display area will be so called mirror polish and have a great transparency, and the surrounding area will have a more milky texture.

The current sample has not yet the milky areas applied and you can see on the below image the current T0 sample, and an AI enhanced version how the final version will likely look like.

We have RGB leds on the PCB and the milky enclosure will most likely allow for some nice color effects, e.g. to visualise the US AQI color bands.

Besides the application of the texture, we will also need to make two small changes, one is that we will add around 0.2 mm of plastic in the bottom part to make it better fit the top part (yes fractions of millimetres matter!) and we also need to slightly adjust the display area to fit the full content of the e-ink display.

By the way, we are also working with a local handicraft shop in Chiang Mai to have a small bag for the AirGradient Go made of local Northern Thai Cloth and with some opening at the bottom so that the Go can also take measurements inside the bag. We tested a variety of openings and the mash net has no impact on the measurement quality.

This bag will be included with each monitor and also help us protect it in our environmental packaging material.

The whole AirGradient team is excited about the AirGradient Go, and we hope you will also like it!