Guidi’s latest patented product has a special story, as well as a catchy name. Here is an interview with Stefano Gaggero, an associate professor at DITEN.
We are, of course, talking about the Goccia (Italian for “drop”), the new bronze water inlet (art. 1262), whose prototype was previewed at METS 2024 in Amsterdam and is now ready to be launched on the market.
From a design point of view, the teardrop shape of the “cap” is striking. It ensures perfect hydrodynamics by effectively conveying water without creating turbulence or depressions.
But what is innovative about this product beyond its appearance?
Its design was developed by Guidi and verified and validated through collaboration with the University of Genoa. Guidi had previously worked with the university in 2019 on producing new valves, including “non-stick” and ball valves.
The University of Genoa department that collaborated with Guidi then and now is the DITEN (Department of Naval, Electrical, Electronics, and Telecommunications Engineering).
Stefano Gaggero, an associate professor at DITEN, explains the partnership between the university’s R&D department and the company, headed by Alessandro Guidi and Marco Stella.
Professor Gaggero, could you tell us how the collaboration with Guidi came about?
It started with an internal contact within the university.
We already had a relationship with Guidi because of past projects, particularly those related to the marine corrosion resistance of materials, primarily bronze.
On what themes did the latest collaboration focus?
For the “goccia,” we worked on hydrodynamics.
Guidi studied the design and shape of the product. We tried to quantify the benefits that this new water inlet could provide in terms of efficiency: reduced water resistance, increased flow rate, and almost zero noise.
In the naval world and beyond, there is now a great deal of attention on this aspect, and companies are trying to limit the noise of their products as much as possible.
So, how did you proceed?
A CFD analysis was performed on the flows.
A considerable amount of effort was put into this, and the simulations were very accurate.
In general, it should be emphasized that noise and energy efficiency are not very compatible elements. Reducing one usually increases the other, and vice versa.
In the case of this water inlet, however, we saw that it wasn’t necessary to compromise. We had excellent results in both areas.
It was a very successful case of a perfect response to two very different needs.
In summary, what future do you foresee for this water intake?
In my opinion, the “goccia” may become a new standard for this type of product.
It is simple and inspired by nature, offering obvious functional advantages.
It’s no coincidence that we refer to a series of technologies and solutions as “bioinspired engineering” because their design recalls natural elements.
