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Tuesday, 2 December 2014

MIITO: THE INNOVATIVE ENERGY-SAVING ALTERNATIVE TO THE KETTLE


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It’s a kettle but not as you know it thanks to the Miito
By Allison Blackburn,
Interesting Engineering, 30 November 2014.

Anyone who is conscious about saving energy will know that you should only boil enough water in the kettle that you actually need. It can be easy to fill the kettle to the top and then boil and re-boil the water. This problem could be stopped dead in the tracks thanks to the Miito, a system that uses induction heating and boils up just the water that is needed at the time.

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The kettle hasn’t really changed all that much over the years but now that will change as the Miito will allow people the chance to just boil the amount of water that they need very easily.

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The creators of the Miito are Jasmina Grase and Nils Chudy and they liken the design to that of a miniature induction cooktop. The system is made up of a base unit that holds an electromagnet which is plugged into the wall socket. There is a thin metal rod and this has a large foot that is round, along with a tip that is plastic-coated for holding. When you want to boil water you simply put the rod into the cup and the cup is then put onto the base. The metal rod is heated by electromagnetic induction and the water is heated.

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This means that only the water in the cup gets boiled and there is no waste. It also only uses the heat closest to the base of the rod and so there is no excess heat energy lost. It also makes the process of making a cup of tea fast and reduces the build-up of lime scale.

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Thanks to induction being a very efficient way of transferring energy, the team behind the Miito say that a cup of water will boil in under a minute. This is an estimate and there are no final figures at the moment as the project is still under development.

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When the water has reached boiling point the Miito will go into standby and the rod can be taken from the cup, cleaned and then put back onto the base unit. This will automatically switch off the device. It is said that it can be used to heat up any type of liquid, including milk and soup. Availability isn’t known at the moment.

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Via [Miito]

Video: Miito - reimagine the electric kettle


[Source: Interesting Engineering. Edited. Video added]

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