Overview
The SRWC owns only one alcohol wipe station (common at commercial gyms), with the vast majority of their cleaning stations being bulky, relatively haphazard stations with a commercial towel dispenser and bracket for a spray bottle. These stations put the bulk of cleaning on students, who may misuse, improperly clean, or empty bottles too quickly, on top of adding additional steps to cleaning that act as a barrier to proper cleaning.
After speaking to the director of the SRWC, I confirmed that these stations were in place due to the excessive cost of alcohol wipes, which cost double the price of a normal paper towel with refilled cleaning solution. Cost was therefore an important consideration in any design.
The Student Recreation and Wellness Center (SRWC) is California State University, Long Beach’s main athletic center on-campus, open to all enrolled students.
For a brief conclusion to our Junior year, we were tasked with finding a solution to a problem faced by the facility in advance of their upcoming remodel.
The school highlighted hygiene as an issue, and this was a problem I wanted to tackle.
Ideation
Ring of cleaning supplies attached to water bottle
Cleaning solution bottle attached directly to dispenser case
Sprayer bottle attached to bottle sleeve
Dispenser w/ attached bottle and manual handles
Dispenser w/ soap, cartridge, non-contact button
Temporary cleaning station attached to cupholders on machines with high demand
General concept for machine combining sprayer w/ paper towel dispenser
Cleaning station with options for manual dispensing or automatic dispensing
Modular bottle w/ cleaning solution
FINAL
working title is an automatic wipe dispenser designed for exercise facilities which want to avoid expensive alcohol wipes.
When one of the buttons on the front of the device is pressed, the dispenser automatically sprays a section of paper towel and dispenses it, providing a similar experience to alcohol wipes while reducing costs, streamling user experience, and preventing users from overusing or underusing solution.
Once installed, all working title needs to function is a refillable spray bottle and highly inexpensive commercial paper towel rolls, reducing costs for operators.