Smart NOVA Beach
Shower
Taking care of water usage
The challenge
For my dissertation, I was hired to participate in the process of renewing UrbanEgo's product portfolio. So with the intention of relaunching their NOVA beach Shower, I was commissioned to redesign it with the main objective of avoiding the unnecessary waste of water that occurs when the button is left switched on by sea salt or misuse
NOVA Shower
Wasted water
Issue: Mechanical Activation System
The problem & Market opportunity
In Spain, water scarcity has grown over the years due to climate change. It is estimated that by the year 2030, 65% of the population will suffer the consequences of this phenomenon, so it is an issue that occupies and worries governments and authorities and forces them to rethink the ways this resource can be exploited
Design Objectives
This project aims to assist coastal town councils in alleviating this problem during the summer, when thousands of tourists throng the Spanish beaches. While it adheres to the design requirements established by the company and follows the sector trends
Sustainable
Easily manufactured in the company's workshop
Water efficiency
Economical for the company
Attractive for the user
Methodological Framework
For the realisation of this project, the design process was fitted into a methodological framework that would provide an innovative output, while being completely focused on what the user wants and meeting the established design objectives
FUZZY FRONT END HOLONIC
Furthermore, this methodological framework follows a roadmap which offers the company the opportunity to create a
product platform that will allow them to keep the product on the market for longer
Idea evaluation & selection
Idea generation
Research fields
FUZZY FRONT
END
ROADMAP
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Research
Generating features from the identified research fields and evaluating them through survey potential users.
This method helped me to find out what is already on the market, what could be extrapolated from other fields of use,
innovative features that may not even exist yet and the restrictions the shower must systematically adhere to by law.
Innovative features
(Ideality concept in TRIZ)
No need of touching to activate it
It only turns on when the user get underneath it
IDEAL BEACH SHOWER
No energy consumption
Energy self-sufficient
No shower body
As little material as possible
Pour only the water strictly necessary for showering
No waste of water
System to recycle used water
Users Survey
LAURA, 24
Student living in Barcelona
''I don't think aesthetic is important''
JONATHAN, 30
13 years of surfing experience
''I think adapting to disabled people is essential''
ANTONIO, 38
Spends his holidays in Cadiz's beach
''Recycling water is a must''
Eliseo & Dori, 56
Parents of a family of three
''We'd like to have a place to leave our stuff while showering''
Indifferent features: Users will not care about these features
Basic features: Users expect these features and take them for granted
Performance features: Features that provide a proportionate increase in user satisfaction. 'The more the better'
Excitement features: If you do not have these features, users might not even miss them, but including them creates a dramatic user delight
Product Platform
This product platform will allow the shower to evolve in the market according to the design objectives, which may change over time. When the Extended Product is reaching the end of its life cycle, the Potential Product takes its place in the market and the design of the next Potential Product begins with an eye for future trends.
Extended Product
Basic Product
Expected Product
Potential Product
....
Basic features
Basic features
+
Performance features
Basic features
+
Performance features
+
Some excitement features
Basic features
+
Performance features
+
Other excitement features
Features to include in the final shower:
Corrosion-resistant shower
Good anchoring to withstand strong winds
Adapted for disabled people
Anti-vandalism shower
Adequate water flow
Adequate water pressure
Anti-limescale system
System to recycle used water
Energetically self-sufficiency
It only turns on when the user get underneath it
Extended Product
Product Development
Once I know which features will be incorporated in my design, it is time to implement the needed systems to turn those features into reality. Not every developed system appear here, some of them were already implemented in NOVA Shower and others were realised just by dealing with suppliers.
SYSTEM TO RECYCLE USED WATER
ACTIVATION SYSTEM
ENERGY SELF-SUFFICIENCY
SYSTEM TO RECYCLE USED WATER
The solution for this requirement is to incorporate a channelling system to address the used water to a tank
PROBLEM DETECTED
THE WATER WILL REACH THE TANK, MIX WITH SAND AND CHEMICAL PRODUCTS LIKE CREAMS OR OILS
INITIAL IDEA
FINAL IDEA
GREASE TRAP
IT WILL DECANT
REMAINING OILS AND
CREAMS FROM FILTERED WATER
NATURAL SAND FILTER
THE SAND WILL BE
RETAINED IN THE CATCHMENT BASIN
FILTERING THE WATER IN ITS WAY THROUGH
PERFORATED MESH
Catchment basin
Tank
Drain
Wood strips
Pump outlet
ACTIVATION SYSTEM
The solution for this requirement is to replace the mechanical push button as activation system
Alternatives
Analysed
Pre-payment by
token or card
Electronic detection
system
By phone
Touch System
Pre-payment by
token or card
Electronic detection
system
By phone
Touch System
Technologies
Research
PIR sensor
Photoelectric sensor
Ultrasonic sensor
Testing Process
ENERGY SELF-SUFFICIENCY
The solution for this requirement is to install a photovoltaic system that takes advantage of all the solar energy available on the beaches during the summer and turns our shower into a self-sufficient product in terms of energy
Components Selection
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Testing Process
Studying the installation and finding its limits under different weather conditions
-
Battery's behaviour in high temperatures
-
Solar charge controller's performance
-
Test in cloudy conditions
-
Charging and discharging rate under different conditions
Installation in
shower
NON-ROTATING
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PANEL
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SCREWED
WELDED
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MAKING IT FLAT
ATTACHMENTS
USING EXISITNG SLOPE
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PHOTOVOLTAIC PANEL
360° ROTATION
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ROTATORY PANEL TO FACE
SOUTH REGARDLESS OF THE ORIENTATION OF THE SHOWER
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Final Design
Final Prototype
DESIGN PROPOSAL
This upgraded NOVA Shower adds two main features that not only prevent unnecessary water wastage, but also reuse the water, reducing waste to nearly zero. This makes the new product much more efficient in its use of water than the previous model, thereby helping councils to maintain services during the dry summers ahead across the country.
Electronic activation system supplied by photovoltaic panel
Water reuse system
This shower uses a photovoltaic kit to take advantage of the abundant solar energy available on the Spanish coast, achieving energy self-sufficiency and avoiding dependence on the electricity grid and the costs it entails.
Energy self-sufficiency
DESIGN PROPOSAL
Activation System
Thanks to this modern electronic activation system, the Smart NOVA Shower will pour water only when the user is there to use it and will limit the shower time to 30 seconds
Smart Detection System
DESIGN PROPOSAL
Activation System
DESIGN PROPOSAL
Water Reuse System
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DESIGN PROPOSAL
Water Reuse System
Water Cycle
Water Gets Dirty
Water comes clean but gets dirty after contact with the user (sand, oils, creams...)
1
Natural Sand Filter
The sand will be retained in the catchment basin filtering the water in its way through
2
Grease Trap
It will decant remaining oils & creams from filtered water
3
New Use
Filtered and decanted water will be channelled to the promenade gardens
4
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Less material
Same manufacturing process
Same material:
- Sustainable
- Durable
Smart NOVA Shower
NOVA Shower
Stainless Steel AISI 316L
DESIGN PROPOSAL
Details
Made from
company’s excess material
UC4 Treated Pine Wood
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ANALYSIS OF THE COMPETITION
It will tell me what is already on the market
ANALYSIS OF THE COLLABORATION DOMAINS
It will tell me what already exists in other areas of use
MUNICIPAL ORDINANCES
It will tell me what the shower must have (by law)
Add something to show that Urban Ego is part of a carpinteria metalica company, para justificar el uso de tanto metal en el sistema reutilizacion de agua y en los tubos que enganchan la placa a la ducha
Industrial design branch dedicated to designing urban furniture within ITEM Sevilla, a company specializing in stainless steel and metal structures.
Ways to improve:
- Pic with shower alone. Water isn't very real
- Methodologic framework. Add some animations to make it more clear to understand and visual attractive (text and colour squares can appear in different phases, for example first the red square of FFE, then the text with the stages, then the road map, and so on. Drawings on FFE stage could move like they are falling down into the user...)
- Product platform. add some animation. E.g. A rotative (or lineal) pictures slider where you can pass from one shower to the following one, displaying all the time a bigger image on the centre, surrounded by other two smaller images (the previous shower to the left and the next one to the right).
- Testing process, Activation system. Images slider to tell the 'trial & error' behind the selection of the final sensor
- Final solution. Explocionado de la ducha en movimiento (plataforma, listones, ducha, panel...)
- Final solution. Section where i can see the water recorriendo la ducha, callendo y pasando por los filtros hasta la cuenca de captacion
- Modificar la forma de la ducha (ver imagen en 'Image in context'/'Water reuse'), hacer sketching for initial ideas
- Anadir informacion sobre el proceso de fabricacion (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR2PMk6ewrw)
- Informarme bien de como se fabricaban las duchas en el taller de ITeM (metodo de fabricacion, tipos de maquinas que tenian alli, que piezas encargaban a otros fabricantes....) y disenar un sistema de reutilizacion de agua que fuera facil de fabrican en su taller.
- Paginas de los research fields. Dejar las imagenes pero poner menos texto, centrarme en lo que se busca en cada field y ponerlo en grande para que se pille del tiron nada mas abrir la pagina