Our Ideas for the Bright Spark Invention Challenge

By, Aryan S.

The Bright Spark Invention challenge is a challenge hosted by Bridge Innovate every year, this year (2020) was virtual (because of Coronavirus) 4th grade through 8th grade for Shakerag Elementary and River Trail Middle School.

I am in Shakerag and teamed up with two sixth graders. Together we got many ideas in the time we had between June 1st and June 5th. 

First we thought of some problems. After we got lots of worldwide problems, we thought that first we try to think of a prototype that helps droughts. We figured out that if you combine h2 and o2 (hydrogen and oxygen) we could make water. But then why would nobody have done it yet? That is because there is a 85% chance that it will explode, so that idea was turned down.

My team got the next two ideas, which were combining a solar panel and another machine. I said you can do that for a lot cheaper and we were going to be graded on feasibility. I absolutely disliked this next idea, which is a funnel shaped filter, until I explained to them that they were funnels before they were cylinders. But they were still not completely convinced because we talked to an expert on water purification who gave us feedback, they said it would be easier to improve, but finally they later got convinced that it did not make sense.

My next ideas were: 

— Auto sanitizing gloves – just wear and clean it and it will sanitize everything

—  Sanitizing handheld device – just move over the surfaces and it sanitizes

— Solar device charger – stick it to windows and charge the device using solar energy

— Wearable air conditioning shirt – great use when outdoor in hot summers especially while playing sports or for construction workers

But all of them were turned down because they were already made, all but two, and that was the hand sanitizing glove, which when you hold something, it will push a trigger and disinfectant spray comes out. The second one is a UV ray scanner which takes germs out of stuff, but you can just use the sun, and UV rays don’t work on everything.

So then we all came up with a totally new idea, the…

RAIN-USABLE!!!

The rainusable is a box shaped device that recycles rainwater and turns it into purified, drinking water, it does this by capturing rainwater in a holding tank, and when it is full, a shutoff valve will close the top. Then, the rainwater will go through a baffle, which is like a sieve that takes out particles like leaves and stuff. Then, it will go through activated charcoal carbon, which takes out chlorine and acids, after that, it will go through UV rays, which take out germs, and finally, a membrane, which takes out the remaining bad stuff in the water, after this, it can be used anywhere, houses, schools, offices, any where.