Ripple Faucet™

The playful and elegant Ripple Faucet is a new way to interact with water. Drawing inspiration from the ripples on the water's surface, the faucet creates a strong visual relationship between the user's interaction with it, and with the water flow and temperature. The faucet's visual system is comprised of the ripple interface surface, two channels from which water flows, and a metal ball that sits on top of the rippled surface and which is used to control the faucet.

The movement of the ball controls the flow and the temperature -- moving away from the center increases flow and moving around the circles controls the temperature. LEDs under the ripple surface are lit with intensity and color according to the flow and water temperature to provide the user with additional visual feedback. Under the ripple surface there is an array of sensors and electromagnets that provide tactile feedback to the user as she moves the ball to discrete points on the surface.

The faucet has two channels from which water flows - hot and cold. As the set temperature is changed via the metal ball, the ratio of water flowing from each channel adjusts to visually represent the combined temperature. This is only a representation, because instead of relying on a hot water heater, the faucet uses a flash heater in combination with a servo unit that controls the distribution of water between the two channels. The resulting effect is that of two channels of water mixing together to create the desired temperature, when in reality, the water coming from each channel is the same temperature. This prevents scalding from the hot water channel.