Final+design

**What's the Problem?**
====In our proposal we suggested to do a redesign of the Q Drum, often used in third world countries to transport water. As highlighted in our proposal, we initially planned to implement a filter into the Q Drum as our main redesign of the product. But through our research and analysis we have found other implications with the use of the Q Drum given the climate and land patterns of these countries. One implication is the issue of drought as highlighted in our scenario analysis. With drought, it not only affects crops and agriculture as a source of food, it also results in the lack of the basic necessity of life, water. Due to the lack of water in certain areas, citizens in South Africa may have to travel long distances to collect water and then have to carry the water back to their homes, miles away. As well as having to travel a long distance to collect water, the land they are walking through may often be bumpy and uneven making it more difficult for them to pull the Q Drum back home. With this situation considered, we have decided to modify the original cylindrical design and add ripples along the side of the cylinder. The ridges along the drum prevent the drum from rolling too quickly down a hill and allow for the drum to easily be stopped for a break without causing too much trouble with the actual pulling of the drum. To further simplify the task of rolling the drum, we have decided to add a rubberized handle on the rope itself to add grip and make it feel better to handle eliminating rope burn.====

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Next, a main aspect of our proposed redesign was water filtration. We proposed to implement a filter into the Q Drum wherever it is in use. We have realized that our target audience is far too broad as the water contaminants vary in different areas. Through our research we have found the water contamination in third world countries is far to big of an issue to fix and implement into our simple design. The problem with water filtration is that the processes require a complex filter. A complex filter such as a reverse osmosis system that is capable of eliminating commonly but extremely hazardous contaminants like arsenic. From our research, we have realized that it is impossible to implement into a simple device like the Q Drum because of cost and the technology involved.=====




 * Nutrition - Vitamin A**

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Since adding filtration to our redesign of the Q Drum would be too complex and costly for this device, we are considering what can be beneficial in our product? After looking through many issues regarding water and nutrition in South Africa, we came across the issue of vitamin deficiency. We know that people in developing areas do lack certain nutrition and essential vitamins that are vital to their daily health. Focusing on South Africa, an essential missing Vitamin in their daily diet is Vitamin A. Vitamin A deficiency can lead to blindness and according to research by Unicef, a child with a vitamin A deficiency has a lowered immune system leading them to face a 25% greater risk of dying from common diseases such as measles, malaria and even diarrhea. Adding vitamin A to their diet will improve their immune system and significantly reduce the risk of dying from the mentioned diseases. Compared to vitamin A sufficient children, children with vitamin A deficiency have a higher morbidity and mortality rate due to the weakened immune system.=====

**What did we end up with in our final design?**
With the issue of vitamin a deficiency in consideration, we have decided to add a vitamin A slot into our Q drum redesign, the **A-Wheel**. The target of our redesign is focused at those living in South Africa as this plus the issue of drought causes many implications to their health and survival. Since vitamin A is an essential vitamin lacking in the daily diet of those in South Africa, we have chosen to implement vitamin A into our redesign. If this does end up being an effective method of adding more nutrition in their daily diets, the A-Wheel can be used in other regions but in place of vitamin A, different nutrition can be added into the slot targeting whatever deficiency they may have. As well as adding the vitamin slot, we have the ridges/ripples along the side of the drum to allow the wheel to roll better considering the land patterns created from drought in South Africa and the rubberized handle for easier handling.



**Our Final Product:**






Sources: [|Unicef - Vitamin A Deficiency] [|NCBI - Vitamin A deficiency and child survival...] [|World Vision - South Africa Drought] [|NRDC - Arsenic in Drinking Water] [|WHO - Arsenic in Drinking Water]