Sunshower
Tasked to look at improving the lives of college students over the course of just 16 hours for a design competition, our team looked towards the skyrocketing depression rates that can be found in students. Sunlight therapy is often used to help general depression and Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), but requires an amount of time that college students just can’t commit to in their hectic schedules.
With that in mind we looked to find ways to integrate sunlight therapy into student’s daily lives.
It’s Time to Care
As we took a closer look at morning routines, we noticed a perfect spot. Showering provided a perfect opportunity as it met all of the criteria for light therapy. A consistent amount of time each day, exposed skin, and pre-existing connotations of relaxation.
Staring At The Sun
First sketches played with how to best integrate the therapy into the shower, either by an external light or integrating it into existing fixtures while adding flair that would help identify it as uniquely different from other standard LED shower heads
Powering The Sun
The other major issue was power. As we researched options we found several shower heads that integrated LEDs into their designs already used a clever inline turbine to generate their own power.
Due to the ease of installation and safety factors we focused our concepts in this direction.
Existing lighted shower heads with turbine power generators.
Seeing The Sunrise
As the clock ticked away on the project, we decided to go ahead with a design that would be properly representative of the functionality. The Sunshower would utilize an array of 8 UV LED lights to provide plenty of light, even for shorter showerers. A large array of nozzles would provide a lower-pressure shower, but with plenty of water similar to other rain showerheads.
The internal structure of the Sunshower with lighting components highlighted yellow including the turbine, motor, and lights themselves.
Keeping the Pressure On
Keeping the water pressure high was key for both power generation and a pleasant shower. By keeping the water channels tight, we were able to maximize both in an otherwise small package.
While schools were a solid starting point and still a very relevant target market for the Sunshower, another market emerged for hospitals whose patients would greatly benefit