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Aqua Trap

Lead Designers
Prize(s)Gold in Sustainable Living/environmental Preservation / Rural Sustainable Design
Entry Description

Aqua-Trap

It's hard to imagine of a day on which you have no clean water to drink or to water your plants in your garden. But either we acknowledge or not, human beings come across with a vulnerable water problem gradually. Scarcity of water, the source of human life, is also an indicator of drastic climate changes in long run which will be very harmful. The planet Earth has been affected by the climate changes and will experience more changes in the new coming years. As it is all around the world, the Sahel and Africa?s dry areas are strongly expected to become even drier. It seems obvious that any significant change in climate on a global scale impacts local agriculture and therefore directly affects the world's food supply.
There are very complex links between global warming and the world's water supplies. It was agreed that water scarcity, climate changes and sustainable development are issues that are closely linked with each other and cannot be successfully sorted out separately.

Humanity must preserve left possible green zones and also we will immediately need more innovative, adoptive and sustainable systems for survival against the drastic changes. In view of the growing scarcity of water, human beings have to be adapted to the problem and this adaptation is going to require a number of sacrifices and changes in our way of life. However new designed systems and products can be efficient ways for adaptation. There are some critical problems in preserving and irrigating new plants and young trees while the climate changes and the possible water sources decrease.

Aqua-Trap is one of the alternative products designed to act for ?less irrigation possibilities? for new-planting environment. It consists of a low-cost man-made membrane system which serves as a life saving equipment for young trees in dry environment. It is simply explained as a closed water reservoir system which is collecting and draining the excess water in the soil and collects the external water sources like rain. System principally collects the evaporating water from the soil and the water obtained from the raining and irrigation and all input is used in an efficient way. The collected water is directly drained to the root of the trees.



The main advantages of the ?Aqua-trap? are as follows;

1. Decreases the classical irrigation schedule and periods. ( it?s approximately 1/ 6 times less )
2. Collects the evaporating water and directs it to target zones. ( 200 - 450 cc/m2 daily performance in hot season )
3. System is simple to assemble and suitable for re-use. This system is also effective and more suitable in dry-zones.
4. It increases the moisture level around the 3D root zone.
5. Serves as a template system for planting trees. (as a grid system 2-3 meters matrix)
6. Cheap and easy to store.
7. Fits all surface sprinkle systems and also collects rain drops in most effective way.
8. During any short and poor rain performance, the system also easily collects the necessary amount of water which is needed to survive the young tree.
9. Basic membrane structure simply stops the water losses while evaporating day and night and system starts to continuously irrigate.
10. Surface free ?assembly possibilities.
11. System totally re-gains the water loss in more eco-conscious ways.
12. All material selection and philosophy of the aqua-trap system well fits to the new sustainable-environmental preservation.

Materials and System parts,

The hull body is laminated as a carbon-foam core, creating a carbon symmetric sandwich panel. This method creates a lightweight, stiff and highly durable composite body structure and is well suited to the required organic forms. The body is finished with an epoxy primer coat, and additionally, above the water line, with ultra-violet resistant coating. All reflective and transparent parts on the body are fabricated from high impact resistance polycarbonate panels. The batteries specified in this design Which are the ?service-free? sealed type with ?open cell deep-cycle design?, which provides a large number of charge / discharge cycles and a longer life. This type of battery is environmental-friendly as it prevents acid leakage.
Each coded unit is operated with in GPRS network structure which is 24 hours serving for control and management of all systems. Any problem is reported to the main control centre and rapid maintenance system is in charge.

Bio

Awarded Designer Assoc.Prof.Dr.Hakan Gürsu has succeeded as an extraordinary illustrator, designer and intellectual internationally. He’s been honored in the world’s prestigious design competitions by winning over 210 design awards within 14 years. He contributed to several national and international organizations as a speaker on innovation, creative thinking, design, and R&D. Ranging from boats, toys, and furniture to electrical devices, his environmentally friendly and visionary projects are introducing unusual solutions to common problems. He continues to train design students at METU.