The development of a solar driven water purifier for emergency use
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Program
Product development (MPPDE), MSc
Publicerad
2020
Författare
Dackhammar, Pontus
Hansson, Edvin
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
Natural disasters are a growing global problem, which often negatively affect the
availability of clean water and sanitation by polluting water sources and damaging
water infrastructure. From the year 1995 to 2005, 90% of all disasters were caused
as a consequence of weather-related events. Out of these disasters, flooding and
storms accounted for approximately three quarters all of events. The aim of this
thesis work was therefore to develop a solar driven water purifier, to be used in an
emergency setting by providing 100 persons with clean water every day. The work
involved a pre-study, generation and screening of multiple concepts, detailed design
and calculations as well as a commercial analysis.
The final product is a stackable, robust, and compact system, designed to reduce the
costs related to transportation. The purification process consists of a pre-filtration
system and an ultraviolet disinfection unit, that reduces microbiological contaminants
by a factor of 104. The system receives power via solar cells and has a battery
that can provide the system with power up to 3 days without any solar radiation.
There is a flexible clean water tank with a capacity of 250 liters attached to the
body of the system.
The analytical result, in particular for the UV-unit, needs physical testing to be validated.
Therefore is it essential to build a prototype, preferably using the drawings
provided in the report, to verify the product’s performance. There is also a need for
more detailed design regarding the electrical system before a potential commercial
launch.
The estimated production cost for the system is 3369 SEK and given a unit margin
of 50%, this translates to a competitive theoretical listing price compared to similar
products on the market. By comparing the estimated total cost, including expected
maintenance, the results indicates that I would take approximately 7 months of usage
for the final product to have a significantly lower total cost than the LifeSaver
Jerry Can, identified as one of the main competitors.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
water, purification, ultraviolet, emergency, natural disaster