The Camping Forum

[PeachesFowden]

Hello everyone,

I have just joined this forum to capitalise on the breadth of knowledge and experience out there in order to help me with my coursework in my Product Design course. For the course I am designing a portable solar water heater for use by people who are camping and would appreciate the luxury of warm water but from a realistically sustainable scource in a rustic enviroment.

Any answers to this questionaire below would be greatly appreciated and would help me massively:

Solar water heater - Design criteria survey

I feel there is a gap in the market for a portable solar water heater for camping and rustic living purposes. This would be a device that consists of a collector to absorb energy from the sun and use it to heat water that is contained in a reservoir tank, which can subsequently drained off and the luxury of warm water can be enjoyed where there is limited or no access to heating. However, to form a design specification that satisfies the need of my target market, I have created a questionnaire to see which criteria would make the product most user friendly. My target market is people who are temporarily living in tents or other shelter without easy access to heated water, most likely travelling in a vehicle such as a car, motorcycle or boat that allows them the ability to carry a roughly briefcase size unit. Also, there could be further opportunities in the leisure market to those such as caravan users, who would like an auxiliary shower to wash things outdoors without the risk off getting their interior wet or dirty.

1.) What capacity of water would be most ideal for the unit, bearing in mind the weight of the water will be the biggest determining factor in the size and weight of the unit while also allowing a large enough capacity of water to be a useful resource?

5-9 litres

10-14 litres

15-19 litres

20-24 litres

25+ litres

2.) An electrical pump would improve both the efficiency of the water heating system, and could provide an autonomous means of dispensing the water once heated. However if this pump was mains powered, it would greatly reduce the versatility of where the system could be used. Would the benefits of a faster warm up time and greater flow when dispensing from the unit when compared to a stand-alone, independent thermo siphon system outweigh the negatives of being limited to wherever a mains supply is available to use the system?

Mains powered system

Thermo siphon system

3.) For the dispensation of heated water, would a tap nozzle or a shower head type nozzle be most useful for when the faucet is opened?

Tap

Shower Head

4.) Are there any further areas in the design of a portable solar water heater that you feel I should look into?


Thankyou very much for your time,

Peter.

[Rob-merlin1973]

Hasn't this already been done ???

[PeachesFowden]

Ahh yes, good point.

I forgot to mention that I am aware of these batch camping water heaters. However my design is probably going to end up more of a suitcase sized unit with a solid body. This will incorparate a copper piped harp type solar collector and a resevoir tank. This wins in effeciency terms over the the solar shower bags, but loses the ability to be compressed into a rucksack or bike pannier, but my product is more intended for people travelling in vehicles who can afford to take a larger piece of equipment.

[CrazyCamper]

If it's going to be that big that it would be vehicle-based then I can't see the point as vehicle mounted water heaters already exist too? Overland expedition users have a few choices of systems that utilise the vehicle's own cooling system to heat water without the need for solar power - and they are way more efficient at doing so to be honest.

Have a look here: http://www.hotcampshowers.com/vehicle_mounted_shower and you'll see that this sort of system is pretty straighforward and simplistic as it is....

Solar powered heaters are never going to match using the plentiful heated water potential of a vehicle - the solar source just isn't capable of producing the heat quickly enough or indeed hot enough

[PeachesFowden]

Well, honestly I'm aware of the alternatives and current products on the market and you make valid points. But really im just trying to get some marks for my project and this idea allows me to investigate things and tick boxes on a mark scheme. I know it makes me an absoloute tool, but if anyone could just shoot off some answers to the questionaire then it would really help

[Rob-merlin1973]

Done