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| CSIRO | SOLVE | Issue 9 | NOV 06 | |
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ARTICLE
WATER USE:
Sparkling Idea for Showers By Whitney MacDonald
A new device for showerheads can reduce the amount of water used by 30 per cent – saving the average household about 15,000 litres a yearThe average Australian household uses about 240,000 litres of water every year – and showers have one of the biggest thirsts, accounting for nearly a third of the average person's water consumption. Well, water shortages are starting to bite and with necessity being the mother of invention, Australian scientists have developed a new showerhead that uses tiny bubbles to increase the volume of the shower stream while reducing the amount of water within the stream. The 'aerated showerhead', invented by researchers at CSIRO Manufacturing and Materials Technology (CMMT), creates the sensation of having a full and steady stream of water in the shower, while actually using about 30 per cent less water.
This is enough to add up to a savings of about 15,000 litres of water per household each year; across the population, that is more than the amount of water in 45,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Developed by a team led by Dr Jie Wu, the aerated showerhead is a small nozzle that fits inside a standard showerhead. The nozzle uses a small Venturi tube – a tube for which the diameter varies, creating a difference in pressure and fluid speed. Air is sucked into the Venturi tube as a result of the partial vacuum created, causing air and water to mix and, in this case, tiny bubbles are produced within the water stream. "The nozzle creates a vacuum that sucks in air and forces it into the water stream," explains Dr Wu. "We make the water droplets in the stream hollow and the bubbles expand the volume of the shower stream." Small-scale experiments using the aeration device found that people detected no difference in water pressure, sensation or overall perception of showering. Dr Wu now hopes to strengthen the data by testing the aerated showerhead on a larger number of people. "We would like to use about 100 volunteers to test the effect of water saving and the shower cleaning quality of the aerated showerhead technology, benchmarking it against commercially available water-saving and non-water-saving showerheads." While the general concept of using an aerated showerhead to save water is not new, the technology involved with CSIRO's device is. Other attempts at creating aeration in the shower stream have suffered from drawbacks such as insufficient water suction; an 'unpleasant feeling' caused by problems with flow uniformity; and discrepancies between designs and Australian pipe and flow specifications. The end result has often been only minimal water savings – if any at all.
After almost two years of research and development, the CMMT team is ready to take the aerated showerhead technology to commercialisation. CSIRO is seeking commercial partners interested in taking the technology through to product development. "We have very promising results on the aerated showerhead's water-saving potential. Now we are looking for commercialisation partners who will be involved in the development needed to turn the technology into a marketable device, a process that we expect to take less than two years," Dr Wu says. He anticipates the nozzle would cost less than $20 and be able to be installed by householders. For further information contact: |
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