Team:SMS Shenzhen/Hardware
The basic idea of our hardware is to integrate gum cleaning function to pre-existing tools for it would be easier for cleaners or workers to learn how to utilize our enzyme product in the field. Sticking to that purpose, we mainly designed two hardware and each with different target customers and usage scenarios. One hardware, the spray mop, is designed for indoor cleaners, and the other, the refined water cannon is designed for outdoor cleaners.
Spray Mop
How did we get the idea
This spray mop is specially designed to accomplish tasks involving cleaning the floor with specialised liquid that must be used in discrete amounts. This goal perfectly matches one of our hardware ideas: combining a sprayer capable of spraying the enzyme solution and an apparatus capable of physically removing gum.
Why did we choose it
The combination of enzyme solution and the spray mop is designed for people who need to remove gum indoor. The main reasons are that while the mop is a commonly used household cleaning apparatus, water in the spray of enzyme solution would not evaporate as quickly as it does in an outdoor environment. Thus, the possibility that it would take people less time to adapt to this innovative way of cleaning the house. Additionally, besides cleaning gum, the spray mop could also be of a wide range of use. For instance, people could replace the enzyme solution in the liquid storage tank with other cleaning liquids targeting various kinds of the plot on the floor.
What are its components
This mop could be roughly divided into two parts, the sprayer and the ordinary mop. The sprayer contains a nozzle, a liquid storage tank, a long thin tube and a spraying trigger. It could be considered that this sprayer is a lengthened one. It is necessary to fill the liquid tank with some liquid before pulling the trigger that is located underneath the handle. Once the trigger is pulled, the liquid would spray out from the nozzle located a few inches from the bottom of the mop pole.
How is it used
However simple the procedure seems, certain crucial rules need to be followed when using this product.
Refined Water Cannon
How did we get the idea
Considering that most gum pollution exists on the sidewalks, the ground of public parks and the alleies, which are all presented in outdoor environment, our team believes that it is necessary to design another type of hardware that could be used to clean the gum on the ground, which why the refined water cannon is created.
Why did we choose it
As we have mentioned before, this hardware apparatus is designed for outdoor gum cleaning, which suggests large amounts of variations in the environment. Therefore, large amount of enzyme solution would be needed and possibly high pressure water as well to remove the dust that surrounds the gum. Coincidentally, high pressure water cannon is the perfect candidate for our plan expect for one flaw —— the frequent change of the connected tube is rather boring and annoying for cleaners. In order to minimize cleaners' negative feelings towards this new method of removing gum from the ground, we created this double-pipe connection joint that would make the switch of different pipes convenient and commdious.
What are its components
The refined water cannon can also be roughly divided into two parts, the ordinary water cannon and the double-pipe connection joint. This joint would allow street cleaners to connect the water cannon with two seperate pipes at the same time, and the cleaners can easily control which type of liquid in which pipe they want to jet out of the water cannon and scour the sticky rubbish on the street. In the case of using our hardware products to clean gum on the streets, the two different kinds of liquid are referred to as water and our enzyme solution, and the sticky rubbish is referred to as gum.
The Double Pipe Connection Joint
The double pipe connection joint is particularly designed to improve the effeciency of switching the liquid poured. Without this connection joint, cleaners would have to remove one pipe for water from the water cannon and reconnect the other one for our enzyme solution, which could be ineffective and annoying when the shifting occurs frequently. However, the connection joint would make the shifting happen with one turn of the valve.
The double pipe connection consists of three separate parts —— the main body, the valve, and the plug.
The main body is a cylinder with one big hollow tube in the middle, two hollow tubes near the sides and a arc-like aperture. The lower ends of the two small hollow tubes are connected to two separate pipes with different liquid.The big hollow tube in the middle is connected with the inner ends of the two hollow tubes. Its upper end would be connected to the water cannon and its lower end would be sealed by the plug, which ensures liquid from the two small hollow tube would succesfully enter the water cannon. The arc-like aperture is designed to match the edge of the valve so that the valve could move along the track. The size of the main body is shown in the graph, and the unit is mm. The radius of the two cycles is 2 mm.
The upper part of valve is designed to fit in the arc-like aperture of the main body. The upright part of valve would cover one of the inner ends of the small tubes when the valve is turned manually. The angle of the valve makes sure that the valve cannot cover the two inner ends of the tube simultaneously. When the inner end of the tube is covered, the liquid in that tube would no longer be able to get into the water cannon. The inner radius is 4.4mm. The outer radius is 11.6 mm. The upper radius is 9.5 cm. The thickness of the part is 0.5 mm.
The plug is used to seal the lower end of the big hollow tube so that the liquid from the inner ends of the small hollow tubes would not fall down to the ground because of gravity. The plug is made of materials with great flexibility so that there would be no gap for liquid leakage. The radius of the plug is 5 mm and its height is 15 mm.
How is it used
Before putting it into actual usage, a diluted enzyme solution needs to be prepared from the enzyme sample we provide. Then, one pipe needs to be connected to a water pump and the other needs to be connected to a tank which contains the diluted enzyme solution. When the cleaners remove gum from the streets, it is essential to switch to the water pipe first and head the cannon straight to the gum for several seconds in order to wipe most of the dust or other attachments on the gum, which would allow the enzyme solution to have larger contact areas with the gum and promote the decomposition rate. It was only after scouring most of the removable dust and attachments on the gum off that the right time for washing the gum with diluted enzyme solution come. All the cleaners have to do last is turn the switch to the enzyme solution pipe and use the enzyme solution to wash the gum for several seconds.