Design of a Portable Water Purifier for Get-Away Campers

Water is a necessity for survival for all and sundry. It is rightfully known as the elixir of life. It can be obtained from various natural sources of surface water, viz. ponds, lakes, rivers, ditches, puddles formed after rains, snow, streams, waterfalls etc.
For obvious reasons, these sources of water are also available for use to all the creatures residing in the vicinity, e.g. animals, insects, fishes, reptiles etc. While animals quench their thirst by this water, the insects often breed in such places. Also, the source may be open to various environmental agents or a mineral or chemical source. In any of such situation, the water body is prone to contamination.
This contaminated water, may prove harmful for the health of humans, if consumed without treatment. 
During get-away camping activities, where the campers stay away from the controlled lifestyle for significant amounts of time, in locations often far beyond the easy access of others, it becomes important that whatever they consume, is fit for their health. Otherwise, not only the camping experience may get ruined, but also, the infection may prove harmful enough to cause a long term disease and may even be fatal if the help is not made available soon.
Thus it is essential that pure drinking water is available to the campers in any situation, from any source.
This project attempts to create a portable, light-weight device, which could help to provide the campers with assured safe drinking water from absolutely any source, with least effort.
The project also attempts to provide possibilities of expanding the range to suit the requirements of Army soldiers stationed at remote battlefields, or of villagers who rely mainly on the ground/ surface water sources & pure water is not otherwise available to them.


On a camping trip to Kalsubai Hill and the Ratangarh Hill in Maharashtra, I was able to closely witness the problems which the campers have to face with respect to their supplies of water, and the measures they take to deal with them.







I studied the Polysulphone Ultra Filtration membrane Technology, as developed by the Desalination Division of Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Mumbai. This technology was found to be a convenient and affordable solution towards getting a completely pure water. 
Hence, the final product was built around the same technology, trying to make it more accessible to the users and giving it a right product manifestation to suit an outdoor situation.



STEP 1 : Hold the Bottle


STEP 2 : Open the Lid



STEP 3 : Fill the bottle from any surface water source


STEP 4 : Rotate the Lever Arm to Turn the Screw

STEP 5 : Hold the Unit in reverse position

STEP 6 : Open the cap to access the Pure water for drinking










Accessory Design for a Theme based Restaurant



The project was about designing the Accessories for a Theme based restaurant. The theme which I chose to work on was 'Interactive'.

The need of the project was validated by the user interviews I conducted for the same. The inferences suggested that in India, most of the theme restaurants try to restrict their focus on developing the surrounding ambiance as per the theme, and least emphasis is given on customising the accessories as per the theme.

Design of an LED based Solar Street Light


As part of my Academic Requirement, I undertook a project as an intern at Auroville Renewable Energy (AuroRE) in Auroville for a period of 1 month. I was given the task to design an LED based Solar Street Light. I worked under the able guidance of Alok Mullick, Hemant Lamba, Minhaj Ameen and Raghu Kolli, who acted as my mentors throughout the project.

The design was carried out under the sponsorship and guidance of mentors at AuroRE. The rights to this design, thus rest with AuroRE, and hence must not be violated.


I hereby acknowledge my learnings from the project to the staff of AuroRE and the people of Auroville.




Powered By Blogger

What's this blog about?

This blog features the Design Projects undertaken by me towards fulfilment of the Academic requirements during my studies at Industrial Design Center at IIT Bombay.

In due course of time, I expect this blog to become a suitable representation of my skills in the professional domain of Industrial Design and otherwise.

Copyright License...!

Creative Commons License Industrial Designs by Vaibhav Bakhshi are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.