Pilot study for reduced water consumption through non-invasive ultrasound technology
Labtrino's water meter system uses a plug and play installation to measure water use in homes with high accuracy. Thereby, residents can gain access to data and analyses, which gives them new opportunities to reduce their consumption of water and energy.
Background
Labtrino – a KTH Innovation startup – develops intelligent systems for measuring water consumption and leakage. There is today a lack of sensors, which has led to a limited knowledge about how we consume water, and what effects it has on both the environment and the personal economy. With the help of a plug and play installation and high-resolution flow data, Labtrino intends to make it both easier and cheaper to measure, and offer analyses to better understand one’s water consumption.
To be able to develop the best solution possible for users, and thus increase awareness and reduce consumption, a large amount of data is needed – data that cannot be obtained in a laboratory environment. There is also no corresponding data in the public domain from other parties, as similar high-granular data collections of flow data are rare, even at international level. Therefore, being able to use KTH Live-in Lab (LIL) as a test bed, where Labtrino can test the product in real homes, is extremely valuable.
Project description
The project aims to investigate the possibility of reducing water and energy consumption in homes using Labtrino's innovative water meter system. In connection with this, significant knowledge of the measurement technology and housing consumption patterns will be mapped, which may give rise to several new innovations, products, and processes in the industry. In the long term, there are hopes that the project will lead to a significantly reduced consumption of water and energy, and thereby a reduced environmental impact from housing.
Yet another desired outcome is that the project results could contribute to increasing the interest of other industry actors to work with different solutions to reduce water and energy consumption.
Implementation
The project will be carried out as a major pilot study, where the entire value chain from producer to customer will be evaluated. The product will be installed in the homes at LIL in such a way that statistical significance of the evaluation can be achieved, and used by the end users for a longer period of time so that significant amounts of data can be collected. Finally, the product's effects on water consumption will be evaluated.