Planning and communicating prototype tests for the Nano Membrane Toilet: A critical review and proposed strategy

Jan Hennigs; Alison Parker; Matt Collins; Ying Jiang; Athanasios Kolios; Ewan McAdam; Leon Williams; Sean Tyrrel

doi:10.12688/gatesopenres.13057.2

Planning and communicating prototype tests for the Nano Membrane Toilet: A critical review and proposed strategy

Gates Open Res. 2019 Aug 30:3:1532. doi: 10.12688/gatesopenres.13057.2. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Jan Hennigs¹, Alison Parker¹, Matt Collins^{1

2}, Ying Jiang¹, Athanasios Kolios^{1

3}, Ewan McAdam¹, Leon Williams¹, Sean Tyrrel¹

Affiliations

¹ Water Science Institute, Cranfield University, Cranfield, MK430AL, UK.
² Freeform Design & Innovation Ltd., Flitwick, UK.
³ University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK.

Abstract

Urban sanitation in growing cities of the Global South presents particular challenges. This led to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Reinvent The Toilet Challenge, which sparked the development of various non-sewered sanitation technologies like the Nano Membrane Toilet. Complex disruptive technologies like this entail an extensive product development process, including various types of prototype tests. While there is an abundance of literature discussing how to build prototypes, and the optimal number of tests, there has been little focus on how to plan and conduct tests, especially in a development endeavour of this complexity. Four approaches to testing are reviewed, and their strengths and weaknesses compared. A visualised testing strategy is proposed that encompasses the entire product development process and can be used to plan and communicate prototype tests for the Nano Membrane Toilet to ultimately achieve compliance with international standards.

Keywords: prototyping; reinvent the toilet; testing; waterless sanitation.

Grants and funding

This publication is based on research funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (grant number OPP1149204). The findings and conclusions contained within are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect positions or policies of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.