GRAYL is renowned for producing the world's premier filter/purifier bottles. My role was to spearhead the development and manufacturing production of the GEOPRESS, focusing on enhancing its performance, capacity, and ease-of-use.
Why is a GRAYL filter better?
Hand-pump purifiers are slow, they fail to remove many waterborne viruses, bacteria and protozoa which turns people to use single use plastic bottles when travelling.
No other purifier rivals the speed, simplicity and effectiveness of GRAYL filters. It makes clean drinking water in seconds, allowing users to tap into the world’s water sources and safely drink from spigots, hotel sinks, murky rivers, wells or lakes.
Requirements
More capacity - Increase filter life and volume while keeping weight low.
Improve filter replacement - It was difficult to remove and took a lot of force to filter.
Prevent damage - The filter cage had the potential to break when dropped.
Remove contamination risk - Design a lid with a drinking surface that removes the opportunity for contamination when pressing.
Benchmarking
I started by testing the product for myself, identifying pain points during the process of filtering and evaluating the durability of the product. I benchmarked all of the existing claims to understand the scope for improvement.
I developed an equation that optimizes filtration media for any sized bottle. I created a variety of proportional models to evaluate ergonomics and functionality trading off size with filtration speed. This, combined with Solidworks equation driven modeling identified geometric changes that made significant performance improvements.
Development
Functional SLS 3D prints allowed me to confirm calculations and evaluate new paths for attaching the filter.
Durability testing and filtration quality assurance were done in early-stage development to ensure things like pleat optimization didn't cause the filter to fail. Critical-to-quality O-ring seals were tested to failure and optimized before tooling was made to save time and money as early in the process as possible.
Manufacturing
Pre-production transparent prototypes were built to assess the new filtration media pleat density assembly procedure ensuring GRAYLS high quality assurance standards. QAQC detail drawings ensured each prototype met these standards.
I worked closely with multiple factories going through many DFM rounds to hit mass production on time and under budget.
Solution
3x faster filtration
2x filtration life
1.5x Capacity
Simplified filter swap experience
“The GeoPress Purifier is the pinnacle achievement in our global mission to provide safe drinking water and surpass the limitations of filters and UV solutions, offering a true alternative to purchasing single-use plastic water bottles, which ultimately end up in landfills or polluting our oceans."
- President Andrew Weber -
Awards and Recognition
Patents