Water preparation system
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Solution Overview
Problem
Consumers are dissatisfied with tap water quality and prefer alternatives, leading to a growing market for bottled water, which is expensive and environmentally harmful due to plastic waste, but they lack affordable and sustainable options for customizing their water at home.
Innovation Solution
A water preparation system that allows users to customize water on demand through filtering, heating/cooling, and adding enhancements via cartridges, connected to a municipal water source or a reservoir, enabling recipes to mimic bottled water qualities without the environmental impact of bottled water.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If consumers purchase bottled water to improve water quality and taste, then water quality satisfaction is improved, but cost and environmental impact worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the bottled water experience into separate functional components: filtration (quality improvement), flavor enhancement (taste customization), and on-demand dispensing. This eliminates the need for pre-packaged bottles while maintaining water quality through modular filter cartridges and flavor cartridges that can be replaced independently.
Solution Approach 2:
The appliance enables consumers to prepare their own high-quality water at home with customizable flavors and temperatures, eliminating the need to purchase and store bottled water. The system automatically filters and dispenses water on-demand, with users only needing to replace cartridges when depleted, transforming a consumable product into a reusable appliance.
2Reliability
If consumers purchase bottled water to improve water quality and taste, then water quality satisfaction is improved, but cost worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary filtration and preparation of water in advance, storing purified water in an internal reservoir. This allows the appliance to dispense high-quality water immediately without requiring consumers to purchase expensive bottled water for each use, significantly reducing ongoing costs while maintaining consistent water quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the physical and chemical parameters of water through multiple filtration stages, heating/cooling capabilities, and flavor enhancement. This transforms ordinary tap water into bottled-water-quality water with customizable characteristics, eliminating the need to purchase expensive pre-packaged water while maintaining or improving quality.
3Loss of substance
If consumers use tap water as delivered to avoid plastic waste, then environmental impact is improved, but water quality and taste worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and removes contaminants, sediments, and unwanted substances from tap water through multiple filtration stages including carbon filtration and reverse osmosis. This purification process eliminates the harmful components of tap water while preserving beneficial minerals, delivering clean, high-quality water without requiring bottled alternatives.
Solution Approach 2:
The appliance acts as an intermediary between municipal water supply and consumer consumption, improving tap water quality through filtration and enhancement technologies. This intermediate processing step transforms ordinary tap water into bottled-water-quality water, allowing consumers to avoid both bottled water waste and poor tap water quality simultaneously.
4Loss of substance
If consumers use tap water as delivered to avoid plastic waste, then environmental impact is improved, but water taste worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses composite filtration media and flavor enhancement cartridges that combine multiple functional materials to improve water taste. These cartridges contain layered materials for filtration followed by flavoring agents, creating a composite structure that simultaneously purifies and enhances water taste, making filtered water more palatable than plain tap water.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Provides consumers with customizable, high-quality water at home, reducing plastic waste and environmental impact by allowing on-demand preparation and dispensing of filtered, enhanced water, matching the taste and quality of bottled water without the expense or pollution of bottled products.
Implementation Method 1
The appliance may include one or more filters to remove or neutralize sediment, dissolved solids (e.g., minerals) and organisms
Implementation Method 2
Filtered water is heated or cooled depending on the user's specified desire
Implementation Method 3
Filtered water is heated or cooled depending on the user's specified desire
Implementation Method 4
The appliance also features a collection of water enhancements, which may be in the form of cartridges or other compact containers. Depending on a water recipe being prepared by the appliance, virtually any quantity and mixture of the enhancements may be added to the water
Data Source
AI summary
A system, apparatus and method are provided for preparing water for human consumption. Water from a public or other source is input to the system or apparatus and is filtered internal or external to the system/apparatus. A temperature adjustment may be applied, such as cooling or heating the water to a specific or approximate temperature. One or more water enhancements may be added to the water, in specified amounts or proportions. Enhancements potentially include flavoring agents, sweeteners, vitamins, nutrients, minerals, carbonation, and so on. A given combination of enhancements and corresponding amounts, and possibly other characteristics (e.g., the temperature, a quantity of water to prepare), may be saved as a recipe. The system, apparatus and method operate in association with an application or online service for creating, sharing, and preparing recipes.