SmartHome Tap
The SmartTap allows for touchless temperature and pressure control, of any fitted water faucet. It also implements water monitoring for more environmentally and financially savvy living. In addition to this, the SmartTap caters to the needs of elderly and disabled persons and supports the initiative allowing and encouraging Australia’s aging population to live in their homes for longer.
Touchless Design:
The SmartTap uses four active, reflectance, infrared (IR) sensors to sense reflected IR energy
(from a central LED) to convert physical motion information to digital information.
The recognised gestures are as follows - Up, Down, Right, Left and Near/Far.
These gestures result in an executed command sent to the respective electromechanical valves
(shown in the table below).
This allows for easy, non-exertive touchless control of both pressure and temperature.
Gesture
Up
Down
Right
Left
Near/Far
Command
Increase Pressure
Decrease Pressure
Increase Temperature
Decrease Temperature
Turn tap on/off
Water Monitoring:
The SmartTap also monitors the user’s water usage.
This information is sent to the SmartHome SmartHome Server and WebApp (optional).
This allows the user to track their water usage and compare their usage to other SmartHome SmartTap users.
Catering to the elderly:
According to Dr Susan Levy (Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology, Yale School of Medicine),
some common ailments of older individuals are:
- Arthritis
- Essential tremor
- Wheel Chair Bound
- A slowed reaction time
- Thinner skin
- A weakened immune system
- Eye problems (cataracts, glaucoma, Macular Degeneration)
- Arthritis and Essential Tremor - No need to grip a lever
- Wheel Chair Bound - Easy to reach, simple to use
- Eye problems - Large and simple graphical temperature display
- A slowed reaction time - Slight pause between temperatures change
- A weakened immune system - Touchless operation promotes sanitary conditions and lowers the spread of contact-contact diseases
- Low Complexity - The use of a gesture sensor allows for infinite temperatures and pressures to be reached, lessens the amount of time the user has to hold up their arm and is easy to understand/use
- Thinner skin and a slowed reaction time - The design is able to be limited at 45⁰C to eliminate the chance of burns. Hands will need to be submerged in 45⁰C water for 6 hours to acquire burns
- Easy to install - Replace old faucet with this new design, attach pipes, plug into power point and the faucet is ready to use
This project is being undertaken by UQ ITEE student Nicole Weston under the supervision of Dr Alex Pudmenzky.