The mission of developing 10 prototypes to solve the trash-collecting problems at Houston Bayou is both interesting and challenging. It was easy for me to come up with the first and second solutions, but when I came up to the sixth and seventh solution, I was stuck for fresh ideas. So I went back to the first stop, brainstorming all over, and I finally got new inspirations from the different interesting materials at ODEK and finished my designs.

Brainstorm

I brainstormed in the two ways: what kind of trashes do we have at the Houston Bayou and what are some of the basic ways we can collect them.

 

I figured that the trashes can be mainly categorized into:

1. floating ones vs sinking ones
2. things made up of metal materials vs things made up of other materials

 

 

Moreover, we can collect the trashes in 3 basic ways:

 

1. Some fixed arrangement that picks up the trash while let water pass through it.
2. Some floating devices that pick up trashes. We let go of them at the upstream and collect at the downstream.
3. Some equipment that can be arranged on a boat, helping people collect trashes manually.

 

Sketch and Prototyping of Ideas

I choose to present my sketch process and prototyping process together because they are both processes that help me think. Some of mine devices started as a sketch. Others, however, were born directly from prototyping, and were sketched later to be modified.

 

Now, I want to present you my ten designs that are devoted to solve the problem of Houston Bayou.

 

 

Components:

1. Submarine Electrical Magnet

 

This is a new equipment of the waterway clean boat team. The powerful electrical magnet, protected by the water-proof rubber materials, is designed to help the bayou-cleaners to collect the metal trashes from the bottom of the Houston Bayou.

 

2. The Static-electrical Ball

 

I got my inspiration from an interesting physics phenomenon I learned in high school –charged objects can attract something small and light. I want to design a device based on this phenomenon. However, I feel it really hard to apply this phenomenon on the bayou, as water is conductive, and the charges will go into the water. To solve the problem, I designed this ball with a two-layer structure. The inner layer contains charges, and the outer layer is made up of a non-conductive material that helps the ball float on water.

 

To clean the bayou, we can release the ball at the upstream. As the ball floats along the bayou, it will collects the light, floating trashes it meets. Finally, we can pick up the ball and the trash together at the downstream.

3. The Nano-web

The idea actually comes from the colander. I want to design a device that allows the water to go through it, but traps all the trashes. I then came up with this “nano-web”, which is a mimic of spider’s web. The web is made up of nano-wires that are highly sticky in the water environment. It will glue every trash that makes contact with it and won’t let go. Thus, the cleaners of the bayou can collect the web once in a while to collect the trashes it traps.

 

4. The Velcro Ring

This design is inspired by, obviously, Velcro. The Velcro Ring is a floating device that collects floating. Basically, this is a plastic ring with floating “Velcro” tentacles. These tentacles are full of sticky hooks, so they will collect the trash through their voyage along the river.

5. The Magnetic Board

The board is designed to be arranged on the banks. When floating cans drift besides them, they will be attracted to board and then stick to it. The board is an efficient trash collector as it only collects the trashes that contains metal and makes it easier for recycling.

 

Systems:

1. Funnel-Shaped Gatherer x Velcro Belt System

The system can be applied at the area where the water in bayou moves slow. It is made up of a funnel that gathers trashes floating on the bayou and an adhesive Velcro belt that sticks the trash collected and slowly moving them to the trash collectors on shore. Notice that the material of Velcro belt here is specially engineered that it can let water go through it but will glue the trashes. The nano-web material can be a great candidate.

2. Trash-collecting Tube System

The system is applied at the places where the bayou goes narrow. The system is made up of an activated carbon tube, a piece of nano-web and an plastic acclivity. The activated carbon can absorb the toxic elements in water, while the nano-web collects the large trashes. The acclivity can collect the trashes that go through the web. The system also serves as a man-made waterfall.

3. Integrated Web System

The system is an upgrade of the nano-web mentioned above. The web is consisted of stripes of nano-web, Velcro and magnetic sheets. As a result, it not only collects the trash, but also helps with the recycling process, as certain material (like soda cans) will be attracted to certain stripes(like magnetic stripes).

4. Water Wheel Trash Collector

The device should be arranged at the places where the bayou experiences difference in height. The “v” shape collector before the water wheel helps to gather the trash. The trash then goes through a water wheel and falls into a trash bag. The special feature of device is that the water wheels can use the gravitational potential of water and trash to generate electricity that can be used to decorate the bayou at night.

5. Integrated Kayaking Trash-collecting system.

(Inspired by the class discussion)

The system consists of a static-electrical ball, a magnetic stripe and a nano-wire ball. These three components are linked to a ship/canoe. So, when people kayaking down the bayou, the three components will collect the trash. It also helps the people kayaking to exercise as the system collect trashes, the kayaker will use more force to move forward. Moreover, the system also helps with sorting and recycling.

 

 

 

 

Yeah! Finally! Everyone is here!