Modular panel toilet
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional toilet design and manufacturing processes require significant time and effort to re-engineer the flush engine for new designs, leading to varying performance characteristics and inefficiencies, particularly in terms of energy consumption.
Innovation Solution
A modular toilet design featuring interchangeable panels and a robotic manufacturing process that allows for quick assembly and customization of toilet components, such as the flush engine, bowl, and seat, using sensors and automated assembly to streamline production and reduce engineering time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional toilet design processes are used where the entire flush engine is re-engineered for new designs, then design flexibility and customization are improved, but development time and engineering effort increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The flush engine is divided into separate modular components (bowl, sump, trapway) that can be independently designed, manufactured, and validated. This segmentation allows new toilet designs to be created by combining existing validated modules rather than re-engineering the entire system, thus reducing development time while maintaining design flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The modular components are designed with standardized interfaces and connection points that allow them to be universally applied across different toilet designs. The trapway module, for example, can be used with different bowl and sump configurations, enabling multiple aesthetic designs to share common performance-critical components that have already been validated.
2Adaptability or versatility
If conventional toilet design processes are used where the entire flush engine is re-engineered for new designs, then design flexibility is improved, but engineering effort and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The flush engine is divided into separate modular components (bowl, sump, trapway) that can be independently designed, manufactured, and validated. This segmentation allows new toilet designs to be created by combining existing validated modules rather than re-engineering the entire system, thus reducing development time while maintaining design flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
Critical performance components such as the trapway are pre-designed, pre-tested, and pre-validated as standalone modules before being integrated into new toilet designs. This preliminary action ensures that performance characteristics are already established and documented, eliminating the need for redundant engineering and validation efforts for each new design.
3Strength
If conventional firing processes are used for porcelain toilets, then structural integrity is achieved, but energy consumption is high
Solution Approach 1:
The material state is changed from traditional porcelain requiring high-temperature firing to thermoplastic materials that can be formed at lower temperatures. The trapway module is manufactured using injection molding or similar processes that achieve the necessary structural integrity without the energy-intensive firing process, thereby reducing energy consumption while maintaining strength.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of manufacturing a toilet includes lowering a toilet engine guide in a manufacturing support, aligning a plurality of frame members with the manufacturing support, installing at least one toilet engine component in the toilet engine guide, coupling a toilet seat assembly to the toilet, and coupling a plurality of panels to the plurality of frame members.