Kohler

Integrated Cleaning System for Jetted Tubs to Improve Outcomes for Hospital Applications

Jetted tubs provide well-known health benefits, with pain management being one of the most commonly cited, and they are a popular noninvasive option in obstetrics because they do not require pharmaceutical intervention or invasive monitoring. However, hospital water systems can carry pathogenic bacteria such as Legionella, and current mitigation methods like periodic hot water flushes temporarily make tubs unavailable for use. This creates a need, in both hospitals and homes, for a low-maintenance way to keep jetted tubs clean with minimal user interaction. This student team focused on identifying cleaning technologies and operating conditions for a jetted tub cleaning system intended to work with minimal user interaction, avoid direct contact between the cleaning solution and the user, limit water use to less than 5 gallons per cleaning cycle, trigger automatically after a bath or after a set time period, and avoid degrading pumps or tub components. They aimed to produce a prototype concept for keeping a jetted tub system clean, along with findings on customer pain points, estimated costs, testing results, and material compatibility recommendations.