Firehose Cleaner ⭐

Tools: Product design, CAD, Fluids, Machining

Worked on a large team to build a firehose cleaning system for MIT’s 2.009 “Product Design” capstone. The cleaning system is fully powered by a firehose, so that it can be used at the scene of a fire. My work was primarily on the washing-box subsystem. Specifically, I was responsible for designing and manufacturing the water-flow and power of the system.

The system uses water-powered circular brushes and power-washing nozzles to clean a firehose requiring only the water output of a firetruck. Firefighters can lay out hoses and run them through our wash-box until they are left clean and spooled on our spooling rack. The whole system is mounted on a cart for ease-of-use and mobility.

This product was designed to increase safety and decrease cancer exposure by removing harmful carcinogens stuck on a hose after a fire. Firefighters typically manually clean hoses which can take multiple hours. Our system takes minutes.

The full final presentation video is available here (skip to 0:57). And, slides can be viewed here.