The market
The global market for sanitary and kitchen fittings is estimated at $ 15 billion in 2010. This range of well -defined products, ranging from kitchen and bathroom taps to shower potatoes, passing taps, mixers of Sink and pipes, has become a rapidly growing market. These mechanical tools are present in all houses in the world that have running water. While consumers in the middle class increase in Asia and Europeans improve their domestic equipment, this market segment appears to be one of the first indicators of economic growth. China’s growth strongly influences this residential and commercial real estate market. The world market leader is Grohe AG, the German manufacturer who controls around 10 % of world sales. The investment capital company employs some 5,000 people and has factories on three continents. This category of consumer products requires nearly a million transformed copper and brass books (a mixture of copper and zinc, sometimes including nickel and manganese) in fittings each year and growing. This volume represents 11% of the world market, exceeding the demand of these non -ferrous metals by industrial machines. The prices of raw materials, mainly copper and brass, have tripled in recent years, forcing the sector to adopt the effectiveness of materials and the substitution of materials in order to remain competitive. This led to increased use of plastic. Although the growth in copper and brass demand has prices increase, these metals play a central role in the control of biofilm. Pathogens such as Sarm (staphylococcus aureus resistant to methicillin) and Clostridium difficult, which can spread by contact, die in a few hours on the copper and brass surfaces. Stainless steel or plastics do not benefit from this control mechanism. It is therefore obvious that the sanitary and kitchen fittings, concerned about quality and performance, will continue to rely on these essential materials. Fortunately, brass is largely recycled and, in most Western countries, manufacturers use almost 100 % scrap.
Innovation
The merger of kitchen and bathroom equipment with electronics has become one of the new trends in the sector. The infrared sensors allowing the functions of evacuation and stopping waterless water, have all enabled additional hygiene progress which reduce the risk of transferring harmful bacteria, while ensuring better control of consumption consumption water. The drawback is that a traditional mechanical product with a lifespan greater than 40 years, is now subject to shorter life cycles and higher maintenance costs. In addition, even wider use in private and commercial real estate further increases electricity consumption, even when its individual use per point of contact seems marginal. Professors Daniel Kwok and Larry Kostiuk from the University of Alberta, based in Edmonton (Canada), observed how certain atoms in solids are released when they are in contact with a moving fluid. This forms negative electrons that are free to move and creates positive ions. Some flow with the fluid leaving the solid with a clear load. If the solid is not driver, the load is located. This attracts the ions loaded in the opposite direction and repels the ions also loaded, which creates a thin layer loaded inside the pipes. The teachers have progressed in their research by pouring water through tiny channels the size of a "electric double layer" of thickness, between nanometers and micrometers. This flow causes loads on both sides of the channel, thus creating a tension between the two ends. Although the power generated by a single channel is extremely low, millions of parallel channels can be used to increase electrical power at useful levels. Just as the whale succeeds in pumping a thousand liters of blood with each heartbeat, relying on 70 millivolts of electricity produced in its cells, this idea could one day feed larger devices. The application of this concept of electricity production in micro-electronic devices offers the possibility of supplying all electronics which feeds sanitary and kitchen fittings, directly from running water by micro-channels.
The first cash flow
The Industrial Technology Research Center (ITRI), based in Taiwan, studies the possibilities of using water flow by pipes to produce energy intended for commercial products. The engineers of the ITRI recently presented prototypes of bathroom and kitchen taps equipped with an LED light indicating visually if the water is cold, lukewarm, hot or too hot to be used. The supply of these temperature sensors and LEDs is generated by the flow of water. These light indicators add an important security element to the existing microelectronics integrated in the taps and the fittings. This creates multiple advantages from an available energy source (water flow) which extends to energy recovery by electricity production, while progressing health and safety. This is one of the characteristics of the blue economy.
The opportunity
ITRI has developed a series of other practical applications that are about to be marketed. The watering hose used by firefighters was equipped with the same electricity -generating turbines as well as a powerful 50 W LED which illuminates the water flow in the air, thus allowing firefighters to follow its exact direction in The flame. Continuing on the safety line in the event of fire, the engineers equipped the water sprayers inside the buildings which are activated by a fire alarm with the same device. This makes it possible to rethink the entire system and overcome one of the largest challenges in security management. The spraying device, when activated, indicates the path to the emergency exit thanks to a bright light supplied by the water flow. Since the supply of the devices is generated by the water flow itself, and the lamps are very effective LEDs, this system reduces the quantity of wiring, eliminates special electrical circuits with a separate power supply, including batteries Waterproof. In addition to these large applications which improve the performance of the building industry without further stressing electrical resources, these devices could one day feed the MEMs (micro-electromecanic systems). These small devices fueled by electricity are used in inkjet printers, airbag deployment systems, pressure sensors, optical switching devices. As the innovative ideas of Kwok and Kostiuk teachers are oriented from the laboratory to the industrial scale and that the ITRI changes its commercial strategies towards miniaturization, this new source of energy which uses the powers of the severity and pressure will supply locally future innovations. It seems that it offers a large platform for the corporate spirit.
