University Students invent the "Uji" high pressure shower head
-
It turns from green to
red when taking a shower become less
energy-efficient.
Student
Members of the MIT
development team
What do a portable, flameless cooking pot and
a
high pressure shower head that encourages users to conserve
water have in common? The two devices — as well
as eight other novel inventions — are entries in
the ASME Innovation Showcase (IShow), which
will be held June 22 during the ASME Annual
Meeting next month in Indianapolis.
The ASME IShow, which has been inspiring
students to be product innovators and
entrepreneurs for the past seven years, provides
teams of graduate and undergraduate students the
full experience of technology product
commercialization. A panel of judges will select
the most innovative and practical ideas,
awarding the top three winners more than $20,000
in seed funds as well as industry recognition.
The IShow is supported by the ASME Foundation
and Mechanical Engineering magazine.
One of the innovations entered in this year’s
competition, “Heatware,” is a portable,
flameless pot that heats liquids and precooked
food using a safe exothermic chemical reaction.
Developed by a student team from Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT), “Heatware”
repurposes the military Meals-Ready-to-Eat
technology in a consumer-friendly manner. Within
10 minutes, the device heats food to 90 C,
preparing up to three servings of chili, pasta
or other foods. Intended users of the product
include campers, boaters, hunters, and other
outdoor enthusiasts.
The "Uji" high pressure shower head turns from green to
red when taking a shower become less
energy-efficient.
“Uji,”
designed by students at Tufts
University, is a high pressure head that helps users
save water, energy, and money by changing from
green to red as users take longer, less
efficient showers. According to the team, that
reduction in average shower time pays for itself
in energy savings after only seven months in a
home setting, and three months in a university
dorm room where more people use the same
showerhead on a daily basis.
Today, the low
pressure
2.5-gallon-per-minute shower
head remains the legal standard.
Shower heads are still
manufactured with high flow water restrictors, but the
washers don't always save water. It is an open
secret in the plumbing world that consumers
often remove them. After
low-flow shower
heads are installed in their New York apartment
building, the characters of
a 1996 episode of "Seinfeld" can't rinse
the shampoo from their hair. After a few days of
matted locks, Newman receives a tip for
black market Yugoslavian high pressure shower
heads. They buy a
high-flow
high pressure shower head from a black-market dealer in an
unmarked van.
Kramer picks a
high pressure shower head used for
elephants, but it ends up being too powerful and
it forces him out of the tub.
The other inventions competing for seed
funding at the IShow include two additional
inventions from MIT: the “Coriolis Hematocrit
Centrifuge,” which is designed for rural clinics
without access to electricity or to
state-of-the-art centrifuges, and “OneBin,” a
multi-compartment airport security bin designed
to decrease inspection time. Also participating
in the event are Bournemouth University, with
the “Epidural Needle Insertion Simulator”;
Brigham Young University, with the “Shot Coach”
tracking device for basketball players; Harvard
University, with “Theratech,” a technology
platform that allows for the easy delivery of
concentrated liquids; Johns Hopkins University,
with “AccuRIGHT,” a one-time, non-invasive
treatment for hypertension; the University of
Michigan, with its “TurtleCell” cell phone case
with retractable ear-buds; and Washington
University at St. Louis, with its “Sparo Labs”
pocket-sized spirometer.
For more information on the ASME IShow
program, visit
The ASME IShow Page, or contact Patti Snyder
by e-mail at snyderp@asme.org. For details on
the ASME Annual Meeting, go to
http://events.asme.org/AnnualMeeting2013/home.cfm.
Penn State University installs low-flow high
pressure shower heads
Low-flow shower heads once had a reputation
for being wimpy, pathetic and just down-right
unbearable; however, nowadays choosing a
low-flow shower head no longer means having to
give up what you want in a shower head. The
pressure compensating flow regulator is a
feature on
low-flow shower heads which allows
it to maintain the same flow rate
over a variety of water pressures. Many low-flow
manufactures believe that failure to incorporate
such a mechanism will result in a disappointing
showing experience for many users. But as much
as I (and my scathed skin) hate to admit it, I
think these shower heads are a great idea, and I
applaud Penn State for its commitment to the
environment. With upwards of 13,100 students
living on campus, the water and energy savings
from low-flow
high pressure shower heads verses high flow
heads are very
significant. With a 2.5 GPM shower heads, each
of these students showering once a day for 10
minutes–a rather conservative estimate for
college students–equates to an astounding
2,275,000 gallons of water just for one week’s
worth of showering (not to mention other water
usage and the energy required to heat that water
and then process it at a wastewater treatment
facility). A 1.5 GPM shower head can reduce that
water consumption by 40%–that’s a reduction of
over 13 million gallons of water per semester.
And I think we can all agree that a bit of
discomfort in the shower is a reasonable
tradeoff for millions of gallons of water
savings.
- Clearly marked maximum GPM flow rate
- WaterSense certification logo
- WaterSense products are tested for
the following criteria
- Water effecincy
- Spray coverage
- Spray force
- No removable flow restrictor
