Piezo Shower

The concept for a self-heating shower using piezo technology.

Introduction

Piezo is a conceptual shower that uses water as its only source of energy. The project was made in collaboration with Fernanda Piza, Natalie Weinmann, and Sebastian Janson for the Salone Satellite Awards in 2010.

The Challenge

After coming across recent developments of technology for harvesting energy, the group imagined its practical applications in people's lives with common products and decided to apply it in a shower that would be capable of heating itself while showing that a beautiful form could follow the product's function.

The Challenge

Alice is a set of tools that is used throughout all departments of the company, from sales to accounting. Each tool is seen as separate product that shares components and functionalities with others in the platform ecosystem. Designing solutions for the platform requires a holistic perspective of the functions and a special care with the design system.

With the sudden growth of Loadsmart, several products had to be scaled for larger operations while new and smarter solutions designed from scratch and added to the platform.

My Role

Together with three talented designers of different nationalities, we made an extensive research of the technology and its capabilities, developed the concept, and built a real-size prototype at ENSCI Labs to be presented at the most prestigious design expo in the world.

RESEARCH

The concept is based on a nanotechnology being developed at the Georgia Institute of Technology: a circuit of Piezoelectric nano-wires – which have the property of generating electric potential under stress – is installed in the shower’s tubing, allowing electricity to be generated by the flow of water.

PROTOTYPE

The prototype was built at ENSCI Labs using metal pipes of different widths, bent and soldered together with alloy, then polished and painted to give the final look.

RESULT

To maximize the surface in touch with the water and thus make the system more efficient, the shower’s body is built with prolific ramifications that make reference to the human’s circulatory system, both in its macro and microstructure.

As the water passes through the shower’s tubes, the electricity produced within the fibers is converted into heat, which will rise the water’s temperature.

Takeaways

The Piezo Shower was awarded second prize at the Salone Satellite Awards in 2010, featured in the Green Machines Exhibition at the Science Gallery Trinity College Dublin and published by Braun's Green Design.