Primary research, follow up user research, Shelterbox

Visit to Shelter box to meet with John Leach, Operations manager at shelterbox. 

primary research, follow up user research; concepts

follow up research trip to penryn boat yard to show my initial users my concept drawings and renders for the weighted tarpaulin clip concept. the photos below show the amount of tarpaulins used, and the opportunity for these to be turned into useable, functional rainwater collectors. unfortunately i was unable to contact my original users, however i did manage to speak to Chris, manager of Penryn boat yard. He was able to give some feedback on the design: "make sure there is enough grip to use in the wet. also if im using gloves i want to be able to use it as easily as possible." "its probably better if its an easy to see colour, something thats obvious if it falls off."

 these two photos show the difficulties of access during high tide. the first shows the tidal path that allows access to all boats along the bank. the second shows the makeshift bank access used by those for high tide boat access. clearly neither is easy to use especially when carry things.

following this visit, i contacted Shelterbox about further progressing the clip concept and to see if they think that it is a viable solution to be used in disaster zones

test day 2, the day the storm came

length: extended length just gets in the way, it just doesn't clamp enough or direct the water any more than small clips.
Weight; makes the most difference in terms of function. weight needs to be 2-4 times heavier than at the moment depending on material.

grip: it was wet and cold, and windy. more finger grip to make clamping easier. More clamping grip as with the wind some of the clips started to come loose.

after 4 hours in the storm, a couple of the clips came loose, emphasising the need for grippier clips.

Rainwater harvesting testing

this is the first working prototype. bulldog clip and a 100g fishing weight. initial testing on a tarpaulin was more successful than i expected. the clips worked better than i though they would in transporting the water to the funnel. a really useful point of the clips was using them to clip the funnel to the tarpaulin which really helped guide the water to the bottle. 

concept development

ive had a rethink, gone to my simplest ideas, back to rainwater harvesting, making use of already existing items on boats, minimal users expense and effort, minimal manufacture, maximum impact and result. simple, small, and highly useful, adaptable and usable in a variety of situations.

water wick tests 1 and 2

wick tests 1 and 2 did not work. nether wick, neither the string or cotton t-shirt absorbed enough water to effectively wick form one cup to another.

maritime museum visit and rainwater collection

the second attempt at rainwater collecting was fairly successful. 200ml in 6 hours during a cloudy misty day without much rain.

visited the falmouth maritime museum.

further secondary research

design for the other 90%:
i like the idea of backdating supposed 3rd world technology and adapting it to issues closer to home. All the concepts are simple and highly useful. The thing with these is that they provide really simple, elegant solutions to that suit their purpose perfectly.
Google Image Result for http://c1.ecoscraps.com/files/2008/09/qdrum1.jpg

Design for the Other 90%: Q Drum

Design for the Other 90%: Water

Design for the Other 90%: Ceramic Water Filter

Design for the Other 90%: AquaStar Plus! and Flow Through

Design for the Other 90%: Solar Dish Kitchen

Tim Dixon: Urban regeneration is creating 'transient' communities | Society | The Guardian

ShelterBox: - Home

UCD further secondary research

water quality: looking into the viability of using water from the fal river/harbour area. these sources show the standards that water as to meet to be considered safe to drink, as well as the quality of water in the falmouth area. there seems to be some concern about the quality of the water in falmouth, through contamination and deep water dredging. This potentially possess issues with using water directly from the area as a source of drinking/washing water.

Sustainable technology in action | WaterAid

WHO | Safe use of wastewater, excreta and greywater

http://www.falmouthport.co.uk/commercial/html/documents/FHCExhibitionPanels.pdf

Fal and Truro PHA

Mussel Farmers Concerned over Water Quality

rainwater harvesting:

with the potential risks of using contaminated water, rainwater harvesting seems to be one of the most viable and safe options for water collection. the UCF student handbook shows the amount of water that falls in falmouth on average per month. Water aid also recommend rainwater harvesting as one of the best ways of getting clean drinkable water. there are also several sources of harvesting methods, although most are centred on integrated housing solutions. 

Weather | International Student Handbook

Rainwater harvesting systems, storage tanks and pumps for sale from UK stock

Rainharvesting Systems-rainwater recycling, recovery, storage and reuse-water conservation

UK Rainwater Harvesting Association (UKRHA) - Recycling Water

UK Rainwater Harvesting Association (UKRHA) - Recycling Water

Rainwater harvesting | WaterAid

Rainwater Harvesting Collection Systems | RainXChange

Rainwater Collection - resources for cruising sailors

Water security:

water security is essentially the issue of water access. A lot of places have limited access to fresh water, and a lot of it is imported. water security relates to our continued access to clean water, or our potential lack of it. Finding ways of getting clean drinkable water is a bigger issue than just a small localised one. it has the potential to affect most of the western world and it has been said that the next world war will be fought over water. 

BBC News - Water map shows billions at risk of 'water insecurity'
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Viewpoints: The water debate
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Pulling the plug on wasting water

reverse osmosis:
the way that water pumps work is by forcing water thorough a semipermeable membrane that only water particles are small enough to fit through. This is particularly useful as it filters salty water to provide fresh water.
BBC - GCSE Bitesize: Osmosis
Reverse osmosis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
IDEO
Dezeen » Blog Archive » Biomass by Ahhaproject
Mvura Water Purifier by Julie Frost

intial UCD research no.2

the water cone

book: coolhunting green, by Dave Evans, 745.209 0511 EVA, outside chapter

www.watercone.com

initial secondary research into water and water filtration/purification/distilation

Camelbak's UV Water Purifier : the uv light cleans the water by killing harmful bacteria. it takes 90sec or so, and has a timer on the top, and your left with clean drinkable water. i dont think this would work at all for distillation, but it think it might be quite useful as a halfway stage, to clean the water. 

CamelBak.com water filtering straw. its quite a nice simple idea, but it seems quite complex in terms of function. its a nice idea though, being able to just drink clean water straight from dirty water. it could possibly be translated to a boating environment.

Vision for Hippo Roller Projects: what is really interesting about the hippo roller is its simplicity, and concept. It could be adapted to a more costal environment. it works because its the simplest possible solution to a complex problem, but also, in terms of accessibility, functionality, cost and deploy-ablility, one of, if not the best thought out and considered clean water device ive found. 

Watercone Solar Still Mage Water Management: this is a nice simple idea, and the key thing is that it works with salty water as it works through distillation. so it will provide clean and salt free water in a simple and cheap to produce, robust package.

Lifesystems Chlorine Tablets x 72: chlorine tablets are used in survival situations to to provide drinkable water from spoiled sources. its maybe useable.

Iodine Tincture: same idea as the chlorine tablets. they seem to give water a bad taste though, used more as a last resource than a regular use product.

Sustainable technologies | WaterAid: water aid work with water systems, access and sources for the 3rd world. finding suitable solutions to specific areas with little access to useable water. they have a lot of information both on drinking water quality and sources, both made and more makeshift. Its a really useful resource,.
Treatment of water | WaterAid
http://www.wateraid.org/documents/wa_technology_issue_sheet_2010_lr.pdf
Statistics | WaterAid
Sustainable technology in action | WaterAid

Water Filters UK | canal boats, caravans, campervans static mobile homes: looking at what is already available for boats, these aftermarket and inbuilt pumps came up. they work through reverse osmosis, forcing water through a membrane that only lets water particles through. they are very expensive though, and i think thats why a lot of boats don't seem to have them.

marine water pump | All about marine water pump and more

Fresh Water Systems - Water Systems | Mailspeed Marine

Eco Yachts: Code [e] – A Sun, Wind And Water Powered Yacht - Ecofriend

damien ummel: 'drinkbak' red cross water unit: this is an interesting idea specifically because its so simple and portable. its also simple to use, put water in the top, get water clean at the bottom. it provides very little users attention, which means people can begetting on with other things whilst its filtering water.

c-water by chao gao - iida awards 2010: this works just like the water cone,but being able to put it straight onto wet ground and not having to fill it makes it perhaps more useful as it is minimally time consuming, but highly effective. the compact size is also good, especially for boats with limited space. its something that could be used as and when required and just kept out of the way when its not being used.

jakub szczesny: water purification island: its an interesting concept because its more of a systems based approach, not because you can walk on it. its got a more communal aspect to it than the other products.

bas van der veer: a drop of water and bioplastic planter: using already available collection systems and just adapting them to have another use. it takes advantage of a pre-existing system and just makes it multi functional.

World Resources Institute | Global Warming, Climate Change, Ecosystems, Sustainable Markets, Good Governance & the Environment: its interesting to see where freshwater sources lie and there relation to where they are most used.