Research on Technical Literature:
Research into other water filter designs, health and safety codes, as well as patents was conducted to ensure that the best design could be presented. There are currently a wide range of designs for water fountains, many of which require electricity to run and regulate temperature. Companies that provide water fountains, are obligated to keep their water fountains plugged in. The average height of stationary water stations typically range from 38-43 inches, generally between waist and chest level of the average person. For this design, it is important that the cart can be successfully movable with just 1-2 people, where generally an average adult should be capable of pushing around 60 pounds – anything significantly greater than 120 pounds would not be acceptable. Another important characteristic of the water fountain that was researched was the standard pressure of garden hose, usually between 40-60 psi; but, can be as high as 80 psi or higher depending on the length of the hose. The flow rate for the average bubbler was found to be approximately 0.86 liters per minute. For the water safety, chemicals found in a garden hose water include: lead, antimony, bromine, organotin, phthalates, and BPA, so it is vital to ensure that the final design filters out all toxic chemicals.
Patents:
(None found — Open Source)
Codes and Standards:
- EPA – Environmental Protection Agency
- SDWA – Safe Drinking Water Act
- NSF – The Public Health and Safety Organization
Design Process:
In order to narrow down the overall problem, and identify the most important needs and requirements, a Five Rules and Hierarchy table was created. This allowed the team to view the primary needs, secondary needs and tertiary needs of this project based on our customer’s requirements before beginning the design process. For this project, each member of the team was tasked with creating a few of their own designs. The team then compared each of their designs, and listed benefits and drawbacks to each. The top designs were then modified and compared in a decision matrix, where health safety, durability, ease of assembly, portability, weight and cost were all taken into consideration. This allowed the team to agree on a final design that was presented to our client for confirmation.
Before moving forward with the final design selection, it was vital to create DFMEA and PFMEA charts in order to determine future potential risks for the fittings, cooler, drain, filter, frame, spouts, tubing, and the wheels of the Wishing Well as well as target issues that may arise during assembly and designate actions that would improve the process, respectively.
Final Design Selection:
The final design that was selected, displays the cooler centered on the cart with the water supply line centered along the cooler length. The drip trays will overhang on the cooler and the drainage bucket will be fixed on the width of the frame. The spigots are to be spaced about 12” apart and at least 9” above the drip tray, and around 26” above the ground. The pneumatic wheel diameter will be at least 8” – 10” overall to allow the cart to travel on various terrains. The water will travel through a hose with a diameter of ½” which will supply to the filter, and will feed the water to the ½” diameter pipes up from the bottom of the cooler. The ½” diameter pipe will reduce to a ⅜” Tee, which will connect on either side to the coils. At the top of each coil a second ⅜” Tee that will connect to the spigots.
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