What made me think about this topic was a previous idea which was a home-based car wash. My initial thought was to come up with a cheap car wash that you could have right at your house rather than spending time and money at the car wash. But once I started empathizing with many people I realized this wasn’t a huge problem for people, which then made me shift my idea towards the Salt-Wash Destroyer. I realized the main problem wasn’t that the car kept becoming dirty, but it was that the salt on the streets were destroying cars by rotting and rusting the undercarriage. I shifted gears towards this problem and restarted. I empathized with the same people and realized that this was a problem for them and especially for the environment we live in. 

Once I concluded that this was the problem, I began brainstorming. I pitched the problem to my peers (4 people) and then I asked for them to write down their problem-solving ideas on sticky notes. Once we were done brainstorming, I reviewed their ideas and asked for more information. Many of the ideas were good and I considered them. What shaped my final product was grabbing different qualities from each person’s ideas. 

So here I began my conceptual idea of a  Salt-Wash Destroyer. I made a clear box out of fiberglass to represent the underground of the garage floor. I then built a small irrigation structure which was then put into the box and covered by the clear garage floor. Seven nozzles were built into the garage floor, each having a specific nozzle designed to spray the car rather than your garage. Once I put the irrigation inside the box, I then put the cover over the nozzles. Then I took a marker and drew a dot above each nozzle (to know where to cut the whole). After I cut the holes, I put the cover back on top and I put the nozzles over the lid which left me to make the center drain and the two side holes: one for the water/filter, and the other for your soap solution. 

My final project was done, all I had to do was plug it in and turn the valve. Then came the Expo. I brought my product through the hallways with faces of interest, shock, etc. This was only the beginning. I set up my station and the Expo began. I presented my product to so many people, but one man stood out to me (Josh Ellenbogen's dad). As I was presenting my product to a group of people, one man stayed to ask follow up questions. He was so enthused by what I had built and to put the nail to the coffin he shook my hand and said “Thanks, I really liked your project!” I had  a lot of parents sharing the same problem and how they had to go get new brakes due to the salt rotting their brake pads. There was no question that this was a common problem amongst people. By the end of the day I was more than happy with my final product and if I could do anything different it would be to make a real life size Car-Wash Destroyer.

The Salt-Wash Destroyer is a undercarriage cleaner that is built into your garage floor. When salt is mixed with water and metal, the chemical reaction that causes rust accelerates. So, if you want to avoid rust, it’s important to keep your vehicle clear of the road salt that gets kicked up and that sticks to the underside of the vehicle. Nobody wants to spend a half-hour cleaning the undercarriage of their car, nor do people want to spend $8-15 at the car wash multiple times throughout the year. The weather won’t work around our conditions, so it is our job as humans to adapt to the weather. Now with the Salt-Wash Destroyer you don’t have to worry about your automobile undercarriage rotting. After being out all day on the salty roads you come home and once you’ve fully pulled into your garage you hit a button using an app on your phone. After you turn the system on, the valves turn and the irrigation heads rise from your garage floor (similar to a lawn sprinkler system) and begin spraying a mix of water and a special soap solution that breaks down salt. After no more than a minute of spraying, the machine shuts off. From there, the excess water goes through the drain which lies in the middle of the graded garage floor, keeping the water from making a mess. The excess water is not disposed, but filtered again and recycled back through the system. The Salt-Wash Destroyer extends the life of your car by solving the problem of cleaning the undercarriage in quick, easy, and efficient way.