Spark
For my final year design practice module, I’m tackling the issue of lead pollution in drinking water. Lead accumulates in the body over time, and even in small quantities can cause serious and irreversible health issues.
Spark is a domestic water purifier that uses Electrocoagulation, a process used to remove heavy metal ions from wastewater, instead of conventional filtration technology.
Electrodes
Electrocoagulation uses electrodes to pass a current through the contaminated water, coagulating the heavy metal ions and other contaminants. These then sink to the bottom of the tank, where they can be drawn off as effluent. The magnesium and stainless steel electrodes are removable for cleaning and replacement.
Filter
Although the electrocoagulation should remove all harmful contaminants in the majority of cases, there are certain ones that may require further filtration. I have included a removable aluminium shell that can house a replaceable activated carbon filter block if required.
Controls
The control panel is pared down to the essentials: a dispense button and an LED matrix display to show the remaining volume of water in the tank. This simplicity will increase the product life, and the matrix display used in-place of a conventional LCD will prevent the product from looking dated for longer.
Removable Tank
Spark can either be plumbed in and filled/emptied automatically, or filled manually each time the tank is empty. This offers flexibility to users who may not be allowed to alter the plumbing in their house.
The tank is held in place magnetically, and can be removed by pulling on the blue tab.
Spark
Spark is a domestic water purifier that uses Electrocoagulation, a process used to remove heavy metal ions from wastewater, instead of conventional filtration technology.
Electrodes
Electrocoagulation uses electrodes to pass a current through the contaminated water, coagulating the heavy metal ions and other contaminants. These then sink to the bottom of the tank, where they can be drawn off as effluent.
Filter
Although the electrocoagulation should remove all harmful contaminants in the majority of cases, there are certain ones that may require further filtration. The removable aluminium shell can house a replaceable activated carbon filter block if required.
Controls
The control panel is pared down to the essentials: a dispense button and an LED matrix display to show the remaining volume of water in the tank. This simplicity will increase the product life, both in terms of functionality and aesthetic.
Tank
Spark can either be plumbed in and filled/emptied automatically, or filled manually each time the tank is empty. This offers flexibility to users who may not be allowed to alter the plumbing in their house.