Introduction
WATER DIMMER LLC is a small startup company and is currently developing Smart Water Conservation Solutions for Your Home and Beyond.
WATER DIMMER has a newly granted patent (US 9,857,803) in January 2018 for smart water conservation solutions and we are in the process of commercializing our technology.
Homeowner Market Trials Plan
WATER DIMMER is currently developing smart water conservation solutions for residential, commercial, institutional and other places where people use water.
A major focus of our activities in the next several months is design, fabricate and assemble our 4th generation homeowner trial-ready prototypes for market trials. Once these prototypes have been built, we expect to conduct an extensive set of market trials with the prototypes installed in the field.
These homeowner trials will be conducted in different housing construction types, geographic/climatic areas, demographics, home and family sizes, and for strategically selected users. The results of these trials will be used to provide design and marketing input into a retail shelf-ready WATER DIMMER product and to seek further funding for this product.
We are seeking expressions of interest from groups interested in participating in our market trials for our smart water conservation solutions. We are developing a market trial plan and we are interested in sharing the plan with your group if your group is interested in participating in the market trials. The trials are expected to last for about 60 to 90 days and will require a commitment from each participant to actively engage our technology, provide feedback during trial and complete a post trail survey and interview.
Smart Water Conservation Solutions
WATER DIMMER has an integrated vision, for water use Automation / Conservation / Protection with the application of smart water conservation solutions, that is patented and truly unique because it includes a pressure/flow control valve, which can be positioned from 0 to 100 % open in 1% increments depending on user’s configuration and operating conditions. In addition, there is water pressure and flow real-time monitoring, datalogging, characterization and leak detection that will support the optimization of the control valve position to meet the optimization goals. There are no existing products, currently on the market, which have the breadth, depth and richness of functions/features and capabilities that WATER DIMMER will offer.
Trial Plan Outline
The homeowner trial plan includes:
1. Trial Participant Selection Criteria
2. Trial Objectives
3. Potential for interconnection with Water Utility
4. Trial Feedback and Survey/Interview
5. Trial Participant Support Activities
6. Final design/marketing report outline
1. Trial Participant Selection Criteria/Rational
Our ideal participants should have most or all of the following attributes:
• Groups whose members are consumers of large amounts of water
• Relatively large amounts of water consumed at each individual installation
• Reside in locations where local water and sewage rates are relatively high
• Reside in locations where local water utility is being challenged with high demand relative to system delivery capacity and is actively engaged in encouraging water conservation.
• Technical resources available to support installation and operation of technology. This will include the ability to make physical changes to your plumbing system. You will also need to have an internet connection available and have some general wireless IT support to assist with data acquisition and a cloud connection.
• Groups seeking recognition for actively engaging in environmentally positive activities, sustainability mandates and promotion of water conservation.
• Ability to cover nominal costs for supply, installation, operation and support of the WATER DIMMER.
2. Trial Objectives
The trials have four (4) main objectives. The first objective is to confirm the WATER DIMMER equipment will operate continuously and correctly for the length of the trial period. Specifically, the following are being checked:
• All software functions/features operate continuously and correctly
• Pressure sensor operates continuously and correctly
• Flow sensor operates continuously and correctly
• Motorized valve operates continuously and correctly
• Power supply operates continuously and correctly
• Manual valves seal internally when closed
• Manual valves do not drip/leak externally
• Manual valves open and close without significant force needed to turn
• Glued/soldered piping joints do not drip/leak
• Threaded connections do not drip/leak
It is expected that an automated testing routine at regular intervals (some daily, some weekly) will be performed to verify the integrity of the equipment.
The second objective of the trials is to evaluate the value of each function/feature included in WATER DIMMER package to the user. The trials will automatically record each time a function/feature button is used to obtain usage statistics to quantify usage. During the trials, participants will be requested to provide feedback on each function/feature when they use or at some fixed interval as daily or weekly. Users will provide feedback for features/functions saying which ones are good-as-is, of no value or not used, used/useful but needs improvement and what the improvement needs to be, and any ones that are a nuisance or cause problem/failure. Participants will also provide input for any mechanical design improvements.
The third objective of the trials is to evaluate the installation and startup of the WATER DIMMER and streamline any portion of the process that is not user friendly and intuitive.
The fourth objective of the trials is to encourage participants to engage in water conservation activities and provide feedback based on their user experience.
Data acquired by the WATER DIMMER includes flow and pressure data sampled at fixed intervals and logged into a data file. Data acquired also includes ambient air temperature. Any alerts/alarms are also logged. Participants will be encouraged to obtain Pressure/flow profiles for each plumbing device in the system and use the EPA Water Sense calculator to determine if the payback period to replace the plumbing device with Water Sense approved devices is attractive. Participants will be encouraged to run reports for EPA Water Sense calculator evaluating each device and giving the payback evaluation summary.
Participants will be encouraged to try behavior modification techniques to actively engage in conservation, provide a brief description of the behavior modification attempted and provide results including any data to verify conservation achievements.
The participants will be encouraged to provide feedback throughout and at the conclusion of the trials. Feedback throughout will include providing input when problems/failures occur. Feedback at the end of the trials will include providing input into a survey and follow up interview.
3. Potential for Interconnection with Water Utility
Participants will be encouraged to share the output of the WATER DIMMER with the local water utility or other concerned party if a data sharing agreement is reached with the local water utility or concerned party.
The intent of the data sharing is to evaluate the quality and quantity of data which is available and is of value to the local water utility or other concerned party. Available data might include both real time data and data that has been logged for some extended period such as hourly daily, weekly or monthly.
4. Trial Feedback and Survey/Interview
The participants will also be encouraged to engage in a brief series of activities needed to confirm the equipment will perform continuously and correctly. They will also be encouraged to provide feedback throughout and at the conclusion of the trials. Feedback throughout would include providing input when problems/failures occur. Feedback at the end of the trials will include providing input into this survey and a follow up interview.
5. Trial Participant Support Activities
Trial participants will be encouraged to undertake a set of support activities as a condition of participation in the trials. These commitments will include installing the plumbing portion of the system. It will also be necessary for the participant to have an internet wi-fi connection available for the duration of the trials. The WATER DIMMER will connect wirelessly to the internet so that a smart phone (or tablet) or computer can display the output from WATER DIMMER operations and provide data for the market trial surveys. WATER DIMMER will take reasonable and prudent measures to ensure that the trial products are safe and designed and built for the service intended. However, trial participants will be required to sign a waiver letter to participate in the trails and have an insurance agreement in place to protect themselves from loss or damages.
6. Final Design/Marketing Report Outline
There will be an overall final design/marketing report which will summarize the results of the trials. It will provide confirmation of objectives including:
1. Description of mechanical assembly and electronic control hardware with application software
2. List of trial participants with selection criteria matrix
3. Mechanical assembly and electronic control hardware with application software performance including:
• All software functions/features operate continuously and correctly
• Pressure sensor operates continuously and correctly
• Flow sensor operates continuously and correctly
• Motorized valve operates continuously and correctly
• Power supply operates continuously and correctly
• Manual valves seal internally properly when closed
• Manual valves do not drip/leak externally
• Manual valves do open and close with without significant force required to operate
• Glued/soldered piping joints do not drip/leak
• Threaded connections do not drip/leak
4. Functions/features evaluation with recommendations which ones will be:
• used as-is
• removed
• modified
• or added
based on user feedback.
5. Mechanical design improvements
6. Installation and setup improvements
7. Data acquisition results and interface with water utilities
8. EPA Water Sense evaluation
9. Successful and unsuccessful behavior modification attempts
10. Total water conservation capacity achieved
11. Payback results achieved
12. Interview summaries
13. Survey feedback results, recommendations and conclusions
It is expected that the report will be completed within 4 weeks of the end of the trials. The final report will be available to trial participants. Sensitive/proprietary items might be excluded from the participant’s version of the report at the discretion of WATER DIMMER.
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WATER DIMMER Startup 