USIT Case Study 3. Saving Water for a Toilet System (Toru Nakagawa)

CrePS/USIT Documents: USIT Case Studies
USIT Case Study 3. Saving Water for a Toilet System
Toru Nakagawa (Osaka Gakuin University, Professor Emeritus)
Source Ref. Hong Suk Lee and Kyeong-Won Lee (Korea), The TRIZ Journal (Nov. 2003)
Japanese edition: May 21, 2015 English edition: Jun. 21, 2015
Posted: Jun. 26, 2015

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Editor's Note (Toru Nakagawa, Jun. 21, 2015)

This is the USIT Case Study No. 3 documented in the "Collection of USIT Case Studies" . UIST is a concise, consistent, and general process for practicing the General Methodology of Creative Problem Solving (CrePS). The process is explained in detail in the USIT Manual , and it uses the 'Six-Box Scheme'.

The present HTML page shows first 3 introductory slides of the case study and the last overview slide summarizing the case in the 'Six-Box Scheme'. The whole set of slides are posted in the PDF file .

This Case Study was originally published in the TRIZ Journal (Nov. 2003) by Hong Suk Lee and Kyeong-Won Lee (Korea). This Cae Study has solved a familiar, widely known problem 'how to save the water consumption for flushing in a toilet system'. The authors applied the concept of Physical Contradiction of TRIZ to this problem and solved it excellently. Once they show how to define the problem and how to handle it, even school children would start suggesting ideas just like the ones in this Case Study. Because of its clarity, I love this Case Study for explaining the concept of Physical Contradiction and its solving steps.

By describing this Case Study in the 'Six-Box Scheme' of USIT, we can easily follow its thinking process. The 'recognition of the Physical Contradiction' corresponds to the understanding of the present system (in Box 3), while the 'compatibility of the contradicting requirements (in different time ranges)' to the understnding of the ideal system (in Box 3). Then the idea that the shape of the pipe behind the basin should change in time so as to saticefy the different requirements in different time will naturally come out as the ideas of a new system (in Box 4). Finally, the solution concepts that the piple should be made of some flexible materials and should change its shape (or position) in accordance with the time of usage corresponds to the solution concepts (in Box 5) at the goal of our USIT process.

On realizing these correspondences, Altshuller's method of Physical Contradiction and its solusion with the Separation Principle can be guided smoothly by the 'Six-Box Schem' of USIT. TRIZ has developed the complex and tedious ARIZ process for this purpose, whereas USIT shows the simple and straightforward way of solving in the 'Six-Box Scheme'.

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Source: HS. Lee & KW. Lee (2003)

Fukuzawa & Nakagawa (2004)

USIT Case Studies (Index)

USIT Manual

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Japanese page

　USIT Case Study 3. Saving Water for a Toilet System

Slides of the Whole Process (19 slides) in PDF

Links:

[1] (Nov. 20, 2003)

[2] (Jan. 8, 2004)

[3] (Sept. 20, 2005)