Student shows how playful plastics can save water

The Materials KTN was again proud to be a sponsor of the Design Innovation in Plastics Awards that has now been running 25 years.

These STUDENT AWARDS are greatly valued by students, leading polymer companies and designers alike.

Helena From at the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining - London.

Designed by Helena From, industrial designer, her new shower is fun. She goes on to say “for most people their daily shower is a must and a refreshing start to the day. Standard showerheads use more water than needed and people tend to spend longer time when they don’t get reminded of the time.  An average shower last 10-15 minutes and by that time you can use up to 300 litres of water. To change people’s behavior in the shower there is need for a fun and an enjoyable way to shower using less water”.

In tough economic conditions, good investments are hard to come by. With flow · R · spiral Helena claims you can save around £47 a year.  With the innovative and playful design flow · R · spiral you can reduce your water consumption by half. Simply by letting the flow of water push a small ball inside the showerhead up through a spiral until it reaches the top and stops the flow.  After approximately 60 second the water stops, just around the time where you would start putting shampoo to your hair.  With the flow · R · spiral there is no waste of water, and you can actually see the ball running up the spiral inside of the transparent PC tube. When flow · R · spiral is returned to the ‘bracket’ the pressure release valve at the end of the showerhead releases the water. By gravity the ball then returns to the start point and the user can then start the shower again.

Another feature is the flexible silicon rubber rose which gives the user a humorous and different feeling like a water-balloon exploding over your head as you shower.

Helena desires to save people, money and the environment; the flow · R · spiral addresses these issues as it automatically turns off the water when shampooing, conditioning and shaving. It is designed for as most of the different plastic materials used can easily be disassembled and as the flow · R · spiral addresses can be disassembled so easily it gives the user a possibility to reuse the product in different ways.