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| En un trabajo conjunto del diseñador Smith Newman y Studio Touch 360 surge Water Ball Ripples, un lavabo muy original que prescinde de los grifos tradicionales, reemplazándolos por un cuerpo central en forma circular (monomando). Su peculiaridad es la idea de interacción con el agua, pues para activarlo se debe jugar con una pequeña esfera de metal pesado que se ubica en un canal al centro de la pieza. La esfera, detectada por sensores electromagnéticos, proveerá de agua fría o caliente conforme se ubique la esfera; lo mismo sucederá con la potencia del chorro de agua, dependiendo en que canal se ubique la esfera metálica. Complementa el concepto un sistema LED que ilumina la pieza central de rojo cuando el agua es caliente y azul en caso de ser fría, blanco para el agua tibia. |
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Ripple Faucet™
The playful and elegant Ripple Faucet is a new way to interact with water. Drawing inspiration from the ripples on the water's surface, the faucet creates a strong visual relationship between the user's interaction with it, and with the water flow and temperature. The faucet's visual system is comprised of the ripple interface surface, two channels from which water flows, and a metal ball that sits on top of the rippled surface and which is used to control the faucet.
The movement of the ball controls the flow and the temperature -- moving away from the center increases flow and moving around the circles controls the temperature. LEDs under the ripple surface are lit with intensity and color according to the flow and water temperature to provide the user with additional visual feedback. Under the ripple surface there is an array of sensors and electromagnets that provide tactile feedback to the user as she moves the ball to discrete points on the surface.
The faucet has two channels from which water flows - hot and cold. As the set temperature is changed via the metal ball, the ratio of water flowing from each channel adjusts to visually represent the combined temperature. This is only a representation, because instead of relying on a hot water heater, the faucet uses a flash heater in combination with a servo unit that controls the distribution of water between the two channels. The resulting effect is that of two channels of water mixing together to create the desired temperature, when in reality, the water coming from each channel is the same temperature. This prevents scalding from the hot water channel.
The Ripple Faucet is a result of a collaboration between Smith Newnam, an industrial designer based in North Carolina, and Shimon Shmueli, a partner with Touch360, a product design and innovation consultancy.
