Class: D-Lab: Design (2.722)
Term: Spring 2020
Our team partnered with Faircap: The Open Water Filter Project and worked directly with the company's founder to design a family-size filter for undeserved, rural communities. The pump can produce one liter of clean water per minute of pumping and incorporates a continuous self-cleaning mechanism for the filter membrane.
Model by Heather Nelson.
This model integrates the pump, filter membranes, filter body, and pre-filter into one compactand robust design for the Faircap family filter. Combining all these elements in an enclosed “donut-shaped” filter system increases the durability and lifetime of the device, and also provides more stability for pumping. The pump is located at the center of the filter surrounded by U-shaped polysulfone membrane fibers with 0.01 micron pores to filter out bacteria and viruses.
The main strength of this design is that it utilizes continuous backwashing as a self-cleaning mechanism. Backwashing refers to pumping water backwards through the filter media to unclog the pores. This significantly reduces the likelihood of contamination caused by users touching or directly coming into contact with the filter membranes through other direct cleaning methods.
