Nature equals future. A natural kettle. Nature knows how to perfectly insulate or regulate
the temperature. Termites, for example, design a complex architecture to heat or cool their
termite mount. Toucan's beaks allow them to regulate their body's temperature. We also
have discovered that polar bears protect themselves from the cold with their hollow and insulating
hair. Nature also knows how to optimize best. The nautilus, for instance, moves by controlling
the water volume that fill in the different cavities in its shell. Could all these properties
be applied to the objects we use on a daily basis in order to improve them?
The big biomemitism projects are a bit far off from the intimate realm that we wanted
to work on. So we decided to choose the kettle. It's something that we use every day, and
it also focuses on a number of environmental issues, such as water and energy management.
Our approach was to first identify the different environmental analysis that had already been
done by other researchers. And what came out was that the kettle's main environmental
impact was its electricity consumption when in use. So we identified three main reasons.
The first one is that we always tend to heat more water than we need. For instance, a liter
when we only need a cup. The second one is that we heat at 100 degrees because we only
have one switch. So our idea was to find a way to adapt this temperature because many
drinks have better aromas at lower temperatures. And our third point was to work on the kettle's
insulation because following the carcinogenic BPA scandal which was used in plastic kettles,
there has been a massive shift towards metal, which is a thermal aberration because, just
like with heaters, metal spreads heat. So we wanted to start from materials that could
retain it better.
Finding inspiration in the living world is a rather new and interesting way to come up
with products that are both sustainable and functionally efficient.
This is a truly interdisciplinary project. We met researchers in France, in Switzerland,
in Belgium. We met design specialists, biology specialists, and it enhanced our methodological
reflection, as well as our formal reflection, and it shows in the object. So we identified
which animals could bring solutions to these issues.
The four animals that they selected were the toucan, the termites in their particular habitat,
the nautilus, and the polar bear. Each one of them has their special properties.
The toucan is especially interesting in terms of thermal insulation. If you do a cross-section
of its beak, if you cut it in half, you will notice an alveolar structure that is incredibly
efficient and which allows for insulation while being very light and very stiff. It
is therefore a principle we kept for the design of the kettle, creating an external structure
that is very insulating to keep the water hot as possible, isolated from the outside world.
The termite mound inspired us with its thermal regulation system and specifically its heat
distribution system. The termite mound can react extremely rapidly when it comes to heat.
It can change its temperature very quickly. So we decided to draw our inspiration from
this system and install channels in our kettle that spread the heat evenly inside the kettle
instead of a unique hot spot, as is currently the case with kettles.
So the nautilus has a filling system that works room by room. These are ballasts which,
just like submarine, allow it to go down pretty deep towards the seabed. We have copied this
principle which inspired us to design a filling system that works chamber by chamber, so it
is only filled with a required amount of water. The user, by turning the cap, will be able
to fill enough one cup or two or three or four to only heat what they need.
The polar bear inspired us for two different things. Firstly, it inspired us in terms of
material. Under its skin, it has a thick layer of fat that allows thermal conduction losses
to be avoided. This material inspired us to use terracotta or ceramic instead of metal.
The second source of inspiration is structural. On the surface of the skin, it has hollow white
hairs that retain a layer of air, a significant volume which allows convection losses to be
avoided, mainly losses by air streams that touch the skin. So we restructured the kettle
surface with small hollow pinholes to have this added insulation effect.
The benefits of this kettle are therefore double. We have, on one hand, the environmental
impact that is massively reduced, and on the other hand, a kettle that is very efficient
in terms of functionality and usage. In terms of habitat, there are other applications
for the research we carried out. And if we take it to another level, if we think about
hot water tanks for domestic hot water or insulation or even heating, our research on
heating water could lead to many applications. This kettle, called Natile, can even be printed
in 3D. It is the proof that nature can inspire us to create everyday objects that are both
perfectly sustainable and beautiful.
