Wednesday 13 May 2015

About the Community, and Inventor


             According to the world heath organization, 1.6 billion deaths per year can be attributed to a lack of clean water and poor sanitation. Around the world there are disputes over water and water scarcity. The main problem is that there is a failure of basic water services for people, which can cause a large amount of health problems.


         While at the university he was attending, Jonathan H. Liow had the opportunity to visit Cambodia. When Jonathan arrived, he saw people “living in mud” and a heap or rice on a plastic sheet. The locals told him it was the way they preserved the rice. The people didn't have basic things to store food, or access to clean water. This is when he realised that he could have a future in the career of designing things like appropriate technologies to help people living in developing countries.

         The Form of the device is very unique, it purifies water very efficiently while being simple and inexpensive. The sphere shape was designed to capture light and heat from all 360 degrees, while also able to be carried easily. The compact form also ensures that heat is collected and stored within the capsule as quickly as possible.


Image result for solarball

          Liow got the opportunity to put his new found inspiration into practice for his 2010 honours project. He started looking for a design that would help people in developing nations. While the other students in his class were designing typical things like cars and musical instruments, he decided to find something that would help purify the developing nations often contaminated water supply. A friend of his who was a photographer had spent some time in Africa and had made him aware of the need for a cheap and reliable source of decontaminating the water supply in Combodia.

    

        
           The solarball can produce 3 L (.79 gallons) of water every day. This is enough drinking water for one person, although it isn't enough for an entire, or enough for all the times you might need fresh water. There are many purposes for water, such as gardening, laundry, washing up, etc. People living in a poor community such as Cambodia have many needs for clean water but dont have an appropratie technology to sustain themselves. The solarball is a great start in purifying the water in some cases. Although you would need a large amount for a whole village.

No comments:

Post a Comment