We decided to divide up our responsibilities in order to get the most done in the least amount of time. We made a Gantt chart to divide up our responsibilities over an extended amount of time. Our Gantt chart displays our team responsibilities as well as our individual responsibilities.
Brainstorming
- Plastic Cup
- Face wipes because they collect dirt
- Cotton Balls
Research
www.pinterest.com
This design was our original goal, but once we started testing we realized it was harder than it looked, yes it was cheap and contained easily accessible materials, but when we tested charcoal it made the water dirtier than before. |
www.offthegridnews.com
This design seemed pretty advanced, but supposedly purified water to drinking water purity. We decided not to go through with this design because we did not have access to all the materials and it would take the most amount of time. |
lifestyle.howstuffworks.com
This design uses capillary action to pull the clean water up through the rope and into the clean dish. This seemed the easiest and most effective design, but you had to let it sit overnight which took the longest. |
Explore Possibilities
We tested 5 different materials we had not done too much research on. None of the materials worked very well because we tested them without any other filter. We noticed that the charcoal, cotton balls, and the blue netting had the least turbidity so we tried to include them in our prototype.
Decision Matrix
Criteria- Durability Efficiency Effectiveness Easiness 1-5 scale
Charcoal 4 4 3 3 14
coffee filter 2 4 4 5 15 tie
cotton 3 3 3 5 14
sponge 4 4 4 3 15 tie
Charcoal 4 4 3 3 14
coffee filter 2 4 4 5 15 tie
cotton 3 3 3 5 14
sponge 4 4 4 3 15 tie
Final Sketches
Model and Prototype
Test and Evaluate
Turbidity values- 1st 145 NTU
2nd 133 NTU
Our last resort was to add a book cover to the bottom to use as an "emergency" filter if any water escaped through the edges
After book cover 94 NTU
We did not succeed in designing a successful water filter, but 94 NTU is not a horrible turbidity value considering our first test was 145 NTU. If we had extra time we could have troubleshooted some more until we got our desired value, but we ran out of time.
2nd 133 NTU
Our last resort was to add a book cover to the bottom to use as an "emergency" filter if any water escaped through the edges
After book cover 94 NTU
We did not succeed in designing a successful water filter, but 94 NTU is not a horrible turbidity value considering our first test was 145 NTU. If we had extra time we could have troubleshooted some more until we got our desired value, but we ran out of time.