Product Video
Background
77% of samples from 7,758 school water systems had detectable levels of lead contamination
- ABC News
Current State of the Art.
Costs $0.66 per Gallon
Need Statment
Underfunded schools with lead contamination need a way to effectively and cheaply provide safe water for students and staff
Design Process
Initial Prototype
We wanted to understand the flow rate of the filter.
Result: Water pressure was too high, and we were only able to get a small trickle before it blew off.
Prototype 2
Identifying most standard threading for water fountain
Result: 3/8 NPT
Justifying Nozzle Diameter with Equation of Continuity and Kinematic Range Equation:
CAD
We redesigned the filter housing to press fit onto the filter. This new design allowed us to add female threading into the housing base, connecting the pipe fitting to the filter without having to epoxy it.
Results
IT WORKS!!!
Prototype 3
Our most helpful piece of user feedback was:
"What is that?"
We realized that our product looked alien to the average consumer. Therefore, for our 3rd prototype, we redesigned the nozzle's exterior to look more like a traditional water fountain aesthetically. However, we were satisfied with the trajectory of the water, so we maintained the same internal geometries as in Prototype 2
We developed multiple iterations of the input adapter to incorporate an O-ring instead of a press fit.
This design would have allowed the filters to be replaceable instead of the entire product. This design proved unsuccessful, so we reverted to a press fit with glue. However, if the project's timeframe was longer we would continue to iterate in this direction.
Final Form Factor
Prototype 4
Final Assembly
Our final design was printed SLA out of BioMedical grade resin. By printing out of SLA we reduced any leakage between the layers in a traditional FDM print. Additionally, this resin ensured that the entire design in food safe!
Final Product