Archive for August, 2010

UV Water Sterilisation Product Design Wins UK Heat Of Dyson Award

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

An inspiring piece of product design has come out of Loughborough University – a new drinking water sterilisation device that uses UV light to eliminate bacteria. The design was dreamt up by Timothy Whitehead, and has won the UK heat of the Dyson Award.

The new product sterilises water in just 90 seconds, much quicker than the 30 minutes that traditional chlorine and iodine tablets take – and without leaving a nasty taste.

As Timothy says: ‘I began to experiment with using ultraviolet light to sterilise water quickly, without any distortion to taste.’

Attaining clean drinking water is a very big issue in the developing world and in disaster situations where clean drinking water is very hard to come by. The design will be going up against international heat finalists for the main award – who wins will be decided by Dyson engineers, international judges and James Dyson himself.

Surviva Jak – Heat Reflective Product Design Featured on Dragon’s Den

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Surviva Jak - thrills festival goers at RocknessSome people might be skeptical about the benefits brought about by space exploration, but the Surviva Jak may go some way towards dispelling those feelings. The heat-reflective jacket has been developed to keep the body warm in all kinds of weathers – particularly aimed at those who might find themselves lost or stranded outdoors, such as hikers. The jacket recently appeared on BBC Dragon’s Den – the Roadtests.

The shiny, flashy nature of the Surviva Jak – due to the fact it is made of aluminium covered PET – raised a few eyebrows among festival goers at this year’s Rockness Festival, where the BBC took the Jak. The fashion conscious were a little wary of the jacket’s cyber-feel, but ultimately warmed to the product’s heat keeping qualities.

Anyone who’s ever found themselves lost or caught short without enough warm layers, is likely to see how beneficial this item might be. If you missed the Roadtests, you can watch it at bbc.co.uk/dragonsden.

Wind Simplicity’s Windancer Product Design Features In Taschen Survey

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

Canadian company Wind Simplicity has been independently selected for Tachsen’s new global survey of sustainable products.

The fetching and rather unique design of the Windancer has evidently caught the eye of the book’s editor, with its combination of looks and functionality. This piece of product design is noiseless, highly efficient and compact – addressing some of the key issues that have turned off potential wind power users in the past.

At Applied Product Design we love to see innovations such as this, especially when such products contribute to the solving of some of the world’s major problems. Products that aim to answer some of the key problems of the future have an even greater chance of success. If you have a concept for a piece of sustainable energy equipment – or indeed any other type of product that meets a demand – get in touch today.