普象-让好设计发光

Project Brief Longido is a town in the Northern region of Tanzania that has a chronic water shortage. We worked alongside the faculty of Environmental Engineering and the Sprott School of Business to create a solution that would be both affordable and viable for the local Maasai people while addressing the clean water issue.

Initial Research & Sketches Initial designs covered a wide variety of water-related design solutions. I chose to pursue the design of a solar still that would allow greywater to be purified by the power of the sun.

A small sample of the research that was done trying to learn as much as I could about a different culture and the resources available to design with.

Research Trip In order to do some first hand research and talk to the local Maasai people I took a trek to Tanzania with some classmates to get initial feedback on our ideas and do some prototype testing.

Assembling the Prototype Solar Still A solar still works on the principles of evaporation and condensation, like the rain cycle on the earth. This cycle purifies the water because only pure water evaporates, condensates on the top surface of the still, and is collected. The dirt and bacteria remain in the basin of the still and can be disposed of later.

Back in Canada From the first prototype I tested in Tanzania I had proof of concept that the solar still could use the power of the sun to purify greywater. The next step was to start designing the final product trying to use local materials.

How it Works Leftover greywater (from laundry, etc.) is put into the feedwater tray at the top of the pail. The dome lid is then placed on the the still and is left to sit out in the sun all day. Evaporation occurs in the dirty greywater, which then condenses and runs down the dome to collect in the bottom of the pail. At the end of the day residents simply take off the dome and they have a pail with the purified water. 

The Path Forward While I liked the form factor and projected cost of the 5 gallon pail solar still there was one large issue. The output was projected at only 1 litre of clean water per day. To make this viable residents would need to own many solar stills. So it was time to go back to the drawing board and building off what I had already learned I started on version 3.0

Final Design Direction The sketch on the top left hand side of the previous page turned out to be a key sketch. Though it was fast and rough it had the idea of the cone on top of the laundry tub. The tub would sit inside a vacuum formed plastic basin on a stand which would allow the clean water to be retrieved via a spigot at the bottom.

Building the Final Prototype Once the final design was complete it was time to CAD out the solar still, produce some renderings, and build the final prototype.

The end! Special thanks to the many who helped out along the way: Professor Bjarki Hallgrimsson, professor Chantal Trudel, Troy Anderson, Onita Basu, Virginia Taylor, Alanna Brunskil, Avery Price, and my classmates.