Bottle that uses UV light to sterilise drinking water wins UK heat of Dyson award



A water bottle that uses ultraviolet light to sterilise drinking water anywhere in the world has won the UK heat of the James Dyson Award.

Timothy Whitehead, an Industrial Design and Technology graduate from Loughborough University, had the idea while travelling in Zambia.



The innovative bottle eliminates the need to use chlorine and iodine tablets to sterilise drinking water. These take up to 30 minutes to work and leave an unpleasant taste.



Timothy Whitehead operates his Pure water bottle that uses UV light to steriliise drinking water

His invention will now go up against the other national winners in global final



'I thought that there must be a way of using new technology to clean drinking water,” said Mr Whitehad.



'I began to experiment with using ultraviolet light to sterilise water quickly, without any distortion to taste.'

Tests showed that his invention, ‘Pure’, can sterilise water in just two minutes.

An outer chamber of the bottle is filled with dirty water from a lake, stream or puddle.



The inner chamber plunges through the outer chamber, filtering water particles as small as four microns. Once the water is clear of sediment, it is sterilised for 90 seconds using a wind-up ultra violet bulb.

The design for Pure has won the UK heat of the annual James Dyson Award and will now take on designs from around the world

A fully working prototype has been scientifically proven to sterilise 99.9 per cent of bacteria and viruses. The bottle has been designed for larger scale manufacture.

Matthew Harrison, Professor at the Royal Academy of Engineering , and one of the judges, said: ' "Pure’ provides a practical solution to a real problem - how to get clean drinking water in the most hostile of conditions.



'It has the potential to make a real difference to people’s lives which is what good design should be able to do. The design is intuitive - the designer went beyond a simple prototype to prove that it works through a range of tests.'

Tony Hodgson, Director of the Loughborough Design School where Mr Whitehead studied, said:

'We look forward to tracking Tim’s progress in the international stages. It’s a high profile award and has impacted on the careers of previous winners significantly.



'His project addresses a serious issue using appropriate technology, reflecting the distinct ethos of product design at the Loughborough Design School.”

‘Pure’ UV sterilisation water bottle will go up against other inventions from around the world including ‘Amatoya’ (Australia) - a light and fast car that can drive through rugged terrain and penetrate a fire.



It will be judged by Dyson engineers, international judges and finally, James Dyson.

All of this year’s entries can be seen on the website www.jamesdysonaward.org.