WATER FILTER PROJECT
Water filter systems are very expensive and not always durable, the guidelines for this project were to make a filter that was durable, inexpensive, easy to use, and that does not run on electricity. The filter needed to be able to filter 12 ounces of dirty water into a separate container. We could use any house hold item necessary to create a functional water filter.
DEFINING A PROBLEM
To ensure the project was completed on time my partner and I created a gantt chart and a team responsibilities chart, sticking to the charts made everything easier. It ensured that we remember what needed to be done by each day and what materials needed to be brought in to school. The gantt chart,team responsibilities chart, and the design brief are listed below.
Project Management Summary:
*Gantt Chart:
*Team Responsibilities
Identifying Criteria
BRAINSTORMING
*Our first design was two water bottles, one to catch the filtered water and the other one to contain the filters. The filters we wanted to use for this design was a layers of coffee filters and then a layer of cotton balls. The first design is below shown with pros and cons of the sketch that we found out when we tested the filter.
Research and Generate Ideas
Existing water filters:
Aquasana:
Pros: removes up to 97% of chemicals
Cons: One of the cheapest found are $139.
Pur:
Pros: easily connects to the sink, filters water well, durable, cheaper than average.
Cons: leakage issues
Aquasana:
Pros: removes up to 97% of chemicals
Cons: One of the cheapest found are $139.
Pur:
Pros: easily connects to the sink, filters water well, durable, cheaper than average.
Cons: leakage issues
While researching we found many different ways to create water filters, some using rocks and sand, some using cotton balls and coffee filters, etc. We tried multiple different ways to create a system that got below 50NTU.
POSSIBILITIES
There were endless possibilities for this project, and I am convinced that my partner and I have tried almost all of them. We tried a coffee filter then colored sand, then another filter, and fish tank rocks, and then another filter and larger rocks. We realized the rocks we were using were losing their colors and the colors went through the filter in turn making the NTU of the tested water higher than 50. Being that the rocks didn't work and the first sketch which is shown above did not work we sat down with one of our teachers and discussed other possibilities. Which lead us too feminine hygiene products.
REFERENCES
1. Water Filter Technology - sherry. (n.d.). Retrieved September 9, 2014,
from http://blogs.swa-jkt.com/swa/10848/2013/10/03/water-filter-technology/
2.
3.
1. Water Filter Technology - sherry. (n.d.). Retrieved September 9, 2014,
from http://blogs.swa-jkt.com/swa/10848/2013/10/03/water-filter-technology/
2.
3.
Design Proposal
Test and Evaluate
The first design we tested got 143 NTU.
The second design which was layers of coffee filters, sand, and rocks got 60 NTU.
And the last design we used and that is shown above got 30.8NTU.
Testing was very important we had to ensure that the device was calibrated because it would not read the right result unless it was calibrated.
The first design we tested got 143 NTU.
The second design which was layers of coffee filters, sand, and rocks got 60 NTU.
And the last design we used and that is shown above got 30.8NTU.
Testing was very important we had to ensure that the device was calibrated because it would not read the right result unless it was calibrated.
Refine the design
We modified and refined the design numerous times in order to get the NTU lower. We tried changed the location of the feminine products and the NTU's actually got higher, so we stuck with the design of the pad around the side of the bottle, the tampons in the middle and the coffee filter on the outside holding the materials in the bottle and acting as a last filter. The turbidity of the final design was 30.8 NTU which compared to our other results was actually well.
Conclusion
I learned many things through this project, the first thing is that making a filter out of household items is not as easy as I thought it would have been. We tried many different designs some which are not on my website because the filter didn't work and the water turned out darker than it was in the first place. We also had a problem when we forgot to calibrate the device which threw our numbers off. If I had to do this project again I would work on time management, we wasted times on the little things instead of creating a very efficient filter. On the other hand my partner and I had outstanding team work, we communicated very well and constantly tried to come up with better ideas on how to make what we were doing better. Next years students need to be advised of time, I did not realize how soon the date was coming up and got caught procrastinating. Over all I feel like I learned a lot about filters and got back into using the design process which I had not used in a while.