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Gizmo design
I'm playing with an idea fir a gizmo for stories, and figured I'd try to get some "user feedback" on the design.
The device is a "water purifier". That's what they are sold as, though they do have other uses.
Their first appearance was donations to isolated medical clinics in third world countries. They later started being sold in such areas and slowly spread.
They are about the size & shape of a mid-size tower case for a computer, but turned sideways. The front has two vertical recesses. It comes with a pair of pitchers with tight fitting lids. They are different shapes. (I'm thinking that the recesses have a sliding cover for when the pitchers aren't going to be in them)
One (for input) fits in the left hand recess. The inside is basically square but with the corners and edges rounded with about a 1 cm radius). This is to make it easier to clean. No corners for things to catch in.
The second (for output) only fits in the right hand recess. Its inside is cylindrical with a hemispherical bottom.
Both hold one liter. Extra pitchers are cheap.
If switched on, a power light goes on. With no pitchers in place in a pair of rectangles in the area between where they would go light up around the edges. The rectangles are next to the slots for the pitchers.
The one on the left flashes red. The one on the right flashes blue. When you place an empty output pitcher in the in the right, the outline of the rectangle quits flashing and stays steady.
When you place an empty pitcher in the input side the outline of the rectangle goes red.
If you put something in the input pitcher and then put it in its slot, The rectangle flashes solid red, and then if their is any water in the contents it turns solid green. Then a button lights up (with an icon?). If you press the button the rectangle flashes again and then the top of the green rectangle starts turning red. And the same time the hollow blue rectangle next to the output pitcher starts turning blue from the bottom.
As the water is removed from the input side, the rectangle has the red process down until the rectangle is solid red when all the water has been extracted.
The blue output rectangle will fill from the bottom as the water is extracted. It won't go solid blue until the pitcher has a liter of water in it.
When the input rectangle is solid red, the start button goes out, and you can remove either pitcher.
If you remove the input pitcher, you can put another one in and repeat the process until the output pitcher is full. At that point the start button goes out, and the blue output rectangle is solid blue and flashing. You can remove the output pitcher and transfer the water inside to another container.
The water inside is chemically pure and sterile.
The leftover stuff in the input pitcher is dry unless there were liquids other than water in it. Solids, silt, mud, etc and dissolved substances are a powders (again unless there were other liquids in there) if animal or vegetable material was in there it looks the same, except the water is gone.
The input will even works with minerals that contain "bound" water. Though in that case, the rocks may change appearance or crumble due to the missing water.
Oh yeah the contents of the input pitcher while still contain any infectious material that there originally, but it'll be dehydrated. That will kill most organisms, but won't affect viruses, prions and some spores.
That's one reason for having multiple pitchers. You can use one pitcher for chemically or biologically hazardous materials, and others for things like foodstuffs you want to dry. And yes, someone early on discovered that if you put beer or wine in the input pitcher, what got left behind was mostly alcohol and flavorings. :-)
Oh yeah, if there's anything in the output pitcher when you place it in its slot, the blue rectangle outline will keep flashing until you replace it with an empty one.
And you can remove a partially filled output pitcher when the input pitcher needs changing.
Likewise if the output pitcher is full and the input pitcher display still shows some green.
you can replace the full pitcher with an empty and and press the start button again.
So, any suggestions for changes or questions about how it operates?
note: they are your classic "black box" system. *What* they do is known. How to operate them is known (and hopefully very obvious). *how* they do it is not known
The device is a "water purifier". That's what they are sold as, though they do have other uses.
Their first appearance was donations to isolated medical clinics in third world countries. They later started being sold in such areas and slowly spread.
They are about the size & shape of a mid-size tower case for a computer, but turned sideways. The front has two vertical recesses. It comes with a pair of pitchers with tight fitting lids. They are different shapes. (I'm thinking that the recesses have a sliding cover for when the pitchers aren't going to be in them)
One (for input) fits in the left hand recess. The inside is basically square but with the corners and edges rounded with about a 1 cm radius). This is to make it easier to clean. No corners for things to catch in.
The second (for output) only fits in the right hand recess. Its inside is cylindrical with a hemispherical bottom.
Both hold one liter. Extra pitchers are cheap.
If switched on, a power light goes on. With no pitchers in place in a pair of rectangles in the area between where they would go light up around the edges. The rectangles are next to the slots for the pitchers.
The one on the left flashes red. The one on the right flashes blue. When you place an empty output pitcher in the in the right, the outline of the rectangle quits flashing and stays steady.
When you place an empty pitcher in the input side the outline of the rectangle goes red.
If you put something in the input pitcher and then put it in its slot, The rectangle flashes solid red, and then if their is any water in the contents it turns solid green. Then a button lights up (with an icon?). If you press the button the rectangle flashes again and then the top of the green rectangle starts turning red. And the same time the hollow blue rectangle next to the output pitcher starts turning blue from the bottom.
As the water is removed from the input side, the rectangle has the red process down until the rectangle is solid red when all the water has been extracted.
The blue output rectangle will fill from the bottom as the water is extracted. It won't go solid blue until the pitcher has a liter of water in it.
When the input rectangle is solid red, the start button goes out, and you can remove either pitcher.
If you remove the input pitcher, you can put another one in and repeat the process until the output pitcher is full. At that point the start button goes out, and the blue output rectangle is solid blue and flashing. You can remove the output pitcher and transfer the water inside to another container.
The water inside is chemically pure and sterile.
The leftover stuff in the input pitcher is dry unless there were liquids other than water in it. Solids, silt, mud, etc and dissolved substances are a powders (again unless there were other liquids in there) if animal or vegetable material was in there it looks the same, except the water is gone.
The input will even works with minerals that contain "bound" water. Though in that case, the rocks may change appearance or crumble due to the missing water.
Oh yeah the contents of the input pitcher while still contain any infectious material that there originally, but it'll be dehydrated. That will kill most organisms, but won't affect viruses, prions and some spores.
That's one reason for having multiple pitchers. You can use one pitcher for chemically or biologically hazardous materials, and others for things like foodstuffs you want to dry. And yes, someone early on discovered that if you put beer or wine in the input pitcher, what got left behind was mostly alcohol and flavorings. :-)
Oh yeah, if there's anything in the output pitcher when you place it in its slot, the blue rectangle outline will keep flashing until you replace it with an empty one.
And you can remove a partially filled output pitcher when the input pitcher needs changing.
Likewise if the output pitcher is full and the input pitcher display still shows some green.
you can replace the full pitcher with an empty and and press the start button again.
So, any suggestions for changes or questions about how it operates?
note: they are your classic "black box" system. *What* they do is known. How to operate them is known (and hopefully very obvious). *how* they do it is not known
no subject
If I understand the description correctly, the input and output pitchers are side by side, on the same level. In which case, how does the fluid get from the input pitcher into the machine? The way you describe it, the contents of the input pitcher have no mechanical way of being removed. Teleport maybe?
Output is simple, a spigot above the pitcher. But perhaps some sort of probe or syphon for the input side... or the pitcher has an trapdoor-like base that seals watertight. (sort of like those beer glasses that fill from the bottom up, but in reverse).
Either that, or I propose an alteration. Input is through a removable disposable plastic hopper at the top (for all the reasons you list about contamination) that can be unscrewed and replaced. Output is water on one side, and dried dehydrated stuff on the other. That way material flows through the machine. This way the containers are irrelevant to the operation of the machine. water comes out of a spigot on an arm that pops out when it's ready, so it can fill any sort of container. Dried stuff comes down a chute... say on the other side of the case, and what it lands in is whatever you have to hand.
no subject
The "slots" fit the pitchers. There are no openings in them.
How the water gets from the input to the output is not know (except by whoever makes these things).
Note that if you drop a chunk of green wood into the input pitcher and run things, you'll get water in the output, and be left with a *very* dry hunk of wood in the input.
if the input has a hunk of steak, after purification, you'll have something that resembles freeze dried meat left in the input. Though microscopic examination will show no evidence of burst cells from freezing. Nor will the temperature on the meat have changed significantly. (ie if you had two hunks of meat and ran one thru and left the other sitting on the table, they'd be pretty much the same temp when you took the first one out of the input)
Obviously "magic".
ps careful examination of the front panel looks like there's another "icon" in the middle. Looks to be shaped like a water drop. the "manual" (poor English/Arabic/whatever) is mostly drawings, and seems to indicate the if this lights up, you need to run something thru to purify or it will quit working until you do. (ie secondary function won't work)
no subject
Hm, magic indeed... implies the operating principle is not something currently known to science, like teleportation.
no subject
In any case, Clarke's Law and all that. :-)
Lets say the model you are examining is a model 5-250A.It takes around 12 seconds to process an input pitcher. The next bigger model (25-xxxx) takes around 12 seconds to process a 5 liter pitcher. And the next up is the 100-xxxx which can process 100 liters a minute.
The secondary function scales much the same way. 5kW, 25kW, 100kW...
no subject