Reinvent the Toilet Phase 1. Design Team progress photos.

Created with flickr slideshow.

As we have now reached the end of Phase one the Design Team wanted to show some snaps of the project as it's developed over the course of the year.

This album shows primary research in Ghana, early idea generation to prevent smell in the form of a waterless flush, the workshop, aesthetic design development, CAD work, building the Aesthetic prototype and the culmination of the first phase of the project; the Reinvent the Toilet fair in Delhi, India.

The Design Team consisting of Jake Larsson, Ross Tierney and Dr. Leon Williams are looking forward to getting back to the drawing board and continuing with the the challenging and fascinating project and also potential future collaborations and opportunities.

Partnerships

We’d like to take an opportunity to acknowledge and thank the partners we’ve worked with so far on the Nano Membrane Toilet.   They’ve all done exceptional work.  

Model Products worked built the technical 'works-like' rig that was on display at the Reinvent the Toilet Fair in Delhi and the Natural History Museum. The rig brought together the individual components to create a whole system that will allow for future testing and development. The rig was built to a very high standard and attention to detail was evident with great consideration given to usability during testing.

NextShoot produced the video that explained the toilet system and the impact to the target market in a succinct and engaging manner. Their enthusiasm, skill and experience combined to convey a complex system very effectively in a short amount of time.
http://nextshoot.com/video/gates-foundation-reinvent-the-toilet

Spectrum Gas Systems fabricated the membrane and condensation test rigs, which were instrumental in benchmarking the performance of individual components. The data generated here informed the design of both the "works-like" rig, and the "looks like" prototype.

BMS were involved in early idea generation and concept development on the odour barrier and the fabrication of the demonstration prototypes. Their diverse background helped during the creative process and with many years practical experience, they were able to produce robust test rigs that clearly explained the ideas.

Artem produced the Aesthetic prototype that allowed people to interact with the toilet and understand the aspirations of the Cranfield team. The ‘looks-like’ prototype gave an impression of a high quality product and fulfilled the aspirational image that the team wanted to convey.

How are universities already addressing local, national and international issues?

This is the question posed by the Association of Commonwealth Universities as part of their "The world beyond 2015 - is higher education ready?" campaign.   When they saw the Nano Membrane Toilet they thought it was an ideal answer to their question!

See our feature on their website here.

The Nano Membrane Toilet is a finalist for a Green Gown Award

We're really pleased that the Nano Membrane Toilet has been shortlisted for a prestigious Green Gown Award.   These Awards recognize the exceptional sustainability initiatives being undertaken by universities and colleges across the UK.   The Nano Membrane Toilet has been nominated in the Research and Development category, with six other finalists.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony on November 3rd.

Fantastic week at the Natural History Museum

We had a fantastic week at the Natural History Museum as part of Universities Week.   Many of our visitors were shocked to learn how many people didn't have access to a toilet and were pleased we were doing something about it.   Visitors included school groups, international tourists and Londoners on a day out, especially the latter on the late night opening on Wednesday when we talked non-stop.   One of the school boys said "that's the coolest toilet I've ever seen!"

The stall looked fantastic:

And was very popular - everyone had heard about "the toilet" and wanted to see what the fuss was about.

 Visitors even tested the prototype for comfort.

Five of the stands at the Natural History Museum were singled out in a feature in the Guardian and we were delighted that an interview with our designer, Ross Tierney, was included.

The only downside was we would have liked an opportunity to meet with David Willetts, Minister of State for Universities and Science, who visited some of the other stands, but didn't want to be seen with a toilet!

Sharing the toilet with the Sharing Knowledge Foundation

We were delighted to be invited to speak about the Toilet at the 9th Sharing Knowledge Foundation Conference in Lisbon from 15th-17th May 2014.    The Sharing Knowledge Foundation was set up by Professors at CERN with a concern for global issues including water, energy and international cooperation in science.   We were delighted that they'd decided to include sanitation and invite us to speak on the issue.

Alison's talk started with a graphic introduction to the challenge (she has a good library of photos!) and then she described the Nano Membrane Toilet with the help of the video.

The participants were very interested in our solution, although they were very aware of the challenges we face in keeping the costs low enough.

A video of Alison's presentation is available here:

The Nano Membrane Toilet goes to the Natural History Museum

The Nano Membrane Toilet will form part of an exhibition for Universities Week 2014 at the Natural History Museum in London from 9 to 13 June.  

Researchers from Cranfield University will join teams from 44 other UK universities represented at the Museum during the week. The exhibition will include research stations, pop-up performances, debates and live research demonstrations, covering a range of research themes.

 The exhibition will be open every day from 10am to 6pm, with late night opening until 10pm on Wednesday 11 June. Cranfield’s Nano Membrane Toilet exhibit will be part of the ‘Environment and Sustainability’ theme and will be based in the Atrium.   We’ll have all our prototypes so plenty of chance to try them out.   You can see how much power you can generate with our hand crank generator.   You can try our waterless flush.   And you can even sit on our toilet!

There’s a full list of all the events happening for Universities week here.