Annelies Berends Design

School of Design, Victoria University of Wellington

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Presentation Slides

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Proof of concept video showing the PH sensor reacting to contaminated water and the LED lighting up. The LED doesn’t light up when the sensor comes into contact with clean water.

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Arduino code I tried to adapt. I found sample code attached to the webpage I bought the PH sensor from. I tried to incorporate the LED output but had difficulties. I’m sure with more time it would prove to be successful.

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Arduino set up with connected PH sensor and red LED as the output. The LED flashes when the water is contaminated, if it doesn’t flash then the water is safe to drink. I had some issues with coding the Arduino and adapting the code to utilise an LED instead of a screen.

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Development sketches for the placement of the bladder in the jacket. It can’t go on the back as it would get in the way of the user’s tramping pack. Also includes a sketch of the bladder design which incorporates two compartments, the water filter linking them and the connected electronic device for water testing.

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Material experiment: I placed a cotton bud in the spout opening of the funnel. It caught most of the charcoal powder particles which previously would have made it through. The water ran through a lot more quickly as well, which I believe was due to the charcoal not clogging together in front of the spout. More of the water filtered through clean as well. The lower righthand photo is of the cotton bud at the end of the process.

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Presentation Slides of progress and model design.

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Experiment Outcomes with 3D Printed Model

I had very little success incorporating my design into the filtration process. Mostly I found that the water just would not filter through and I tried multiple times, changing minute details to see if it would work but I had almost no luck. The one time the water did begin to filter through clear it took 10 minutes for a couple of drops to come through which was not an acceptable outcome in my opinion. I tried only using the carbon powder and not the granules, taking out the filter paper, changing the ends of the model with prints that had larger holes. Nothing really seemed to work.

My model obviously needs more development, unfortunately, I have run out of time to do that before the presentation tomorrow.

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I tried multiple times to filter the water through the model but mostly I just got blackened water but the pigment had been filtered out.

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I tried pouring the water through the filter with the lid on but it just collected on top and dribbled off so took the lid off. But the water just collected in within the model and didn’t filter through.

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I placed a small disk of coffee filter paper to stop the carbon dust from leaking through the holes

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3D prints for water filtration

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Render of the interior chambers that will hold the carbon granules and powder.

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Sketches of idea development. The final set is the break down for the interior of the filtering device that holds the activated carbon (AC). I want to adapt a sports jacket for trampers so it incorporates an attachment that the filter can be hooked up to. The sensor would test for water purity and there would be something simple like an LED which flashes either green or red depending on water purity.

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I tried layering the two different carbons again but this time tried filtering blue and yellow pigments as well. I noticed that the water was still slightly coloured for each. I wonder as to whether the water filtered through the carbon too quickly and wasn’t able to purify properly.

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For this experiment, I layered the carbon granules on top of the carbon powder to see if the granules would help slow the flow of water so it could filter properly. I found that less carbon dust was carried through but it still took a few minutes for the water to filter through clear.