The Morphological Chart applied for the development of a water disinfection equipment through solar energy

Abstract

The availability of good quality water for human consumption is extremely important for the maintenance of life because there is an intrinsic relationship between access to good quality water and human health. Thus, promoting access to alternative water treatments in small communities is indispensable for the socioeconomic development of these communities since, in most cases, these communities have no access to treated water. Therefore, in this study, we used the morphological framework methodological tool to propose a new equipment to disinfect water through solar energy to be used in small communities. To do so, a research was carried out in the Brazilian market on the commercially available equipment for water heating and, with the aid of the Morphological Chart methodological tool, two equipments were defined that could be used for solar disinfection of the water and thus to improve the quality of life in small communities. The proposed equipment is composed of high pressure hose with UVA / UVB protection for easy operation and maintenance. The use of the Morphological Chart for the development of solar disinfection equipment was extremely important because it was possible to obtain a simple, safe and unequivocal equipment since it allowed several solutions and the best solution was obtained through the evaluation of cost and efficiency of the same