Water pasteurization indicator (WAPI) maker redesign

Currently, the Biology Department at California State University, Sacramento is involved with the manufacturing of Water Pasteurization Indicators (WAPIs). These indicators are use to aid developing countries with their water cleaning process. The current manufacturing process has some disadvantages that make the manufacturing inefficient and unsafe. For example, the current devise used to manufacture the WAPIs is very difficult to use because it requires lots of strength to press the ends of the tubes. This devise also gets extremely hot and is very delicate to adjust the temperature to the required range. If temperature is too low, the polycarbonate tube would break. If temperature is too high, the polycarbonate tubes would melt and stick to the clamping plates. In addition, the heating system is design with parts that are not reliable. The current design is unsafe because part of the heating coil is exposed. Having the heating coil expose might also reduce its life expectancy. In addition, the current design is not easy to repair or maintained. To conclude, the device needed to be redesign to make it more user-friendly, safer, more economical, and more reliable. To solve the old device issues, the clamping and heating mechanism was redesign to a more reliable, economical, user-friendly and safer design. The new design was tested, and showed positive results by producing good quality WAPIs.