Social enterprise andUniversity of Cambridgespin-outBlue Tap已经收到一个Innovate UKSmart Grant to support the technical development of its water purification technology.
The Blue Tap team used 3D printing to rapidly develop its chlorine doser, which is designed to be fitted into piped water systems in developing countries in order to make water safe to drink.
“Not only does this kind of support from Innovate UK allow us to buy all the materials and sensors that we need for technical development, it also encourages us to keep moving forward,” said Blue Tap founder and CEO Francesca O’Hanlon.
“我们的目标是为数百万用户创建负担得起的水净化产品。”
3D printing and water purification
由于与3D打印相关的生产成本和设计灵活性较低，因此过去多次利用该技术，目的是使供水更安全。
In 2017, a multidisciplinary team at theUniversity of Bath3D printed a塑料“平板”旨在为亚洲，非洲和拉丁美洲部分地区的社区提供干净的饮用水。平板的迷宫般的设计利用了来自太阳的热量和紫外线，以杀死生活在受污染液体中的有害微生物。同时，Liquidity Nanotechdeveloped a patented electro-spinning 3D printing technology to create ananostructured water bottle membrane filter带有0.2微米范围的孔。
在其他地方，研究人员使用了3D printed advanced spacer mesh为了使更有效地利用反向渗透性生产安全饮用的水，这被发现降低了该过程的成本，时间和风险，而墨西哥政府机构Conacytpledged tohelp provide clean drinking waterto communities on the Pacific Coast of Mexico at the firstAdditive Manufacturing Consortiumin Latin America.
Most recently, scientists from the赫尔瓦大学used 3D printing to create aspiral structure能够从饮用水中去除18种消毒副产品（DBP），并在水处理设施中使用潜在的应用，以识别和分离危险的化学物质。
Blue Tap founder Francesca O’Hanlon is pictured centre.
Developing the chlorine doser
O’Hanlon landed on the concept of Blue Tap in 2013 during an没有边界的工程师英国project in Mexico, and founded the technology enterprise a short while after starting her PhD at the University of Cambridge in October 2016. O’Hanlon’s goal was to build a simple, low-cost chlorine injector. However, at the time chlorine injectors were both expensive and complicated to assemble, which is why she turned to 3D printing to redesign the device at a more affordable price.
O’Hanlon used the Department of Engineering’s Dyson Centre for Engineering Design 3D printers to begin prototyping the chlorine injector at a cost of just £1 per prototype. Through 3D printing, she was able to improve and simplify the design to increase its robustness and ease-of-use. The chlorine doser is engineered to automatically inject the right amount of chlorine into household water systems to make the water safe to drink.
The Blue Tap team claims the chlorine doser could help more than 130 million households across the globe, in addition to schools, healthcare facilities, and humanitarian settings.
该产品已经在乌干达的Mbarara进行了试验，这是Blue Tap与剑桥慈善机构合作的一部分非洲人, which runs development projects in East Africa. Blue tap sells its chlorine injectors to local plumbers while providing them with a free training course, in a bid to improve socio-economic development in the area through job creations and education. So far, Blue Tap has created a cohort of more than 30 plumbers and plumbing trainee students who have learned how to install and troubleshoot the technology before selling it on to customers in their communities.
Technical lead for the project and CTO of Blue Tap, Thomas Stakes, said: “With the climate crisis escalating and putting an ever-increasing stress on water resources and infrastructure, technology like our chlorine doser has a key role to play in ensuring sustainable safe water access for all.”
Blue Tap’s next steps
Now that Blue Tap has received support from Innovate UK, the team is looking for potential field partners with relevant water systems to demonstrate its technology. Relevant systems include buildings with piped water from a municipal supply or domestic rainwater harvesting systems with electric pumps and header tanks.
In particular, Blue Tap is interested in working with non-government organizations (NGOs) with links to schools, households, and healthcare facilities. The enterprise hopes to begin selling the technology in emerging markets by 2021.
“We’d like to extend our thanks to Chris Woodward and Enterprise Europe Network for their continued support during the application and award administration process,” added Rebecca Donaldson, assistant technical officer of the project. “We look forward to continuing our work with them to explore new potential partnerships for our technology.”
Subscribe to the3D打印行业newsletterfor the latest news in additive manufacturing. You can also stay connected by following us onTwitterand liking us onFacebook.
Be sure to subscribe to the Another Dimension podcast on your chosen podcast player to make sure you never miss an episode.
Looking for a career in additive manufacturing? Visit3D Printing Jobsfor a selection of roles in the industry.
精选图像节目在2018年在乌干达建造了为氯剂剂量的测试钻机。通过蓝色水龙头图像。
