Mini Design Project

Luke Martin & Joseph

Dickerson
PLTW EDD

Problem Statement
Unclean water can cause people to become
sick.
Joseph and I, within a five day period, will
design and build a water filter.
We will test it with dirty water
Our goal is to get the cleanest water within
5 minutes of beginning to filter the water
Also we are trying to build our filter as
inexpensively as possible

Gantt Chart

Research Solutions
Most of the existing solutions are either
very elaborate and expensive or use
chemicals.
The Brita filter for example is one that
uses chemicals
Sawyer inc however, have built a
miniature filter that is very portable and
easy to use. It is technically just a straw
that filters the water as its sucked up
through the straw. It is around $20 per
unit

3 Designs

Decision Matrix

Justification
After the decision matrix was created
we discovered that the shirt filter is
the best design for our filter. The
shirt filter proved to be the best
design in almost every category.
Although it is slightly more costly
than the Earth filter it is more
durable, easier to use, easier to
fabricate, and takes the least amount
of time.

Shirt Filter

Shirt Filter

Filtration Performance
Our Shirt filter filtered 250 ml of
water in 3 minutes and 42 seconds.
After the 3 minutes and 42 seconds
we tested our water and the turbidity
was 0.3 ntu.

Bill of Materials

Donated shirt
Two empty two liter bottles
6 oz water bottle
Four coffee filters
6 rubber bands

References
1. The Truth About Our Environment And Water.
(n.d.). Retrieved February 3, 2015, from http://
www.freedrinkingwater.com/water-purification-ne
ed.htm
Sawyer MINI Water Filter - Sawyer. (n.d.).
Retrieved February 18, 2015, from
https://sawyer.com/products/sawyer-mini-filter/
Brita. (n.d.). Retrieved February 18, 2015, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brita