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  • 1. Endless Challenges Toward Water Conservation in Seated Toilet Bowls - Following the History of Development
  • Prologue The Moment the 6ℓ (1.6G) Flushing Toilet Captured the America’s Heart
  • In October 2002, toilet gained the attention of America’s on national television programs broadcasting Japan-related news, including CNN. The reason lies in how closely this news touched on people’s lifestyle. Thereafter, the unfamiliar name of a Japanese company spread like wildfire to each household and workplace throughout the United States.
  • Prologue The Moment the 6ℓ (1.6G) Flushing Toilet Captured the America’s Heart
  • TOTO Supports American Customers Worried About Toilet Performance
  • TOTO stepped into the American limelight when our toilets ranked in the top three of a reliable flushing performance survey. In the United States where the performance was not trusted, people were surprised at the news.
  • Performance Test Results of Water-saving Toilets
  • Source: NAHB Research Center "WATER CLOSET PERFORMANCE TESTING" September 2002
  • In reliable flush performance survey, TOTO dominates top three
  • Introduction of Water Per Flush Regulations to Protect Resources in the United States
  • Regulations of the water per flush for toilets in Japan are generally lenient. However, when looking worldwide, many countries and regions have enacted strict regulations. The reasons stem from problems faced in securing water resources. In the United States where the West coast and Southern States were facing droughts, the Energy Policy Act (EPACT) was enacted in 1992. Two years later in 1994, regulations were put in place for manufacturers so that the water per flush would be less than 1.6 gallons (approx. 6ℓ) for toilet bowls and one-gallon (approx. 3.8ℓ) for urinals.
  • Water Per Flush Regulations of Each Country
  • 4.8L regulation in some areas of U.S.
  • Responding to Poor Flushing Toilets with Our Established Technology
  • As a result of the new regulations, many companies scrambled to make toilets that used 6ℓ (1.6 gallons) but the technology was lacking and flushing performance was poor. TOTO sent efficient toilets with superior flushing performance even before EPACT was enacted as water conservation technology had been cultivated over many years in Japan. Trust in TOTO products soared in the United States thanks to these achievements. TOTO fully captured the heart of the United States with water conservation.
  • CST864 (left) and CST854 6ℓ one-piece toilets for the United States
  • Trust soars in the United States for the “flushable” 6L flush toilet
  • Endless Challenges of Water-Conservation in Toilets ─Tracking the Transition of Development
  • Water conservation is one of the most important issues for housing equipment manufacturers in the 21st century. TOTO has been engaged in this endeavor since the 1970s. We have been reviewing the trajectory of this challenge from the days we designed a temporary six story building to test flow of the water and waste to the more sophisticated supercomputer simulations run today.
  • Chapter 1 Lack of Water Even in Japan
  • Launch of Water-saving Fixture Development to Address the Serious Lack of Water in 1973
  • Water conservation of toilets was first highlighted in the early 1970s as a challenge TOTO should work to resolve. A lack of roughly 2 billion m3 of water was estimated each year in metropolitan areas even after development of all rivers in Japan, according to the forecast of water supply and demand up to 1985 announced by the Ministry of Construction (at the time) in 1973. Awareness about water conservation of city residences had quickly grown. TOTO began efforts in developing water-saving ceramic sanitary ware with the focus on seated toilets precisely in 1973.
  • Chapter 2 Development of CS Series, water-saving, Noise-Reducing Toilets
  • Dramatic Water Conservation of Roughly 30% Through Total Verification by Constructing a six story Temporary Building
  • TOTO was not simply aiming for water conservation of toilets in its development. Flush toilet does not simply just flush waste from the bowl itself. The flush finishes once the waste has been transported to the main drainage pipes. The challenge to thoroughly eliminate inefficiency throughout the entire system had begun.This is why TOTO invested a vast amount of capital and human resources to build a six story temporary building to conduct verification testing. Transparent plastic piping was installed to allow us to understand the flow of excrement (dirt substitutes) and water traveling from drainage pipes to the sewage line with the human eye. Data was extracted with repetitive tests by flushing water and waste substitutes down the toilets. As a result of this work, we were able to release the new CS series water-saving, noise-reducing toilet line in May 1976. This achieved substantial water savings of roughly 30% by reducing the Siphon Z toilets from 20ℓ to 13ℓ, the Siphon toilets from 16ℓ to 13ℓ, and the wash toilet from 12ℓ to 8ℓ.
  • Six story temporary building constructed to conduct verification testing
  • Chapter 3 Development of First American 6ℓ Toilet
  • Venturing for 6ℓ Toilet Not Even Manufactured Yet in Japan
  • TOTO penetrated the United States market at the end of the 1980s. The West Coast and Southern states such as Texas, where the need for water resources is extremely vital, had been demanding water-saving toilets since the 1980s. These regions recommended measures to transition to water-saving toilets and even enacted regulations in some areas. However, almost no products able to support this had found distribution within the United States. This was TOTO’s opportunity. Development advanced with reference to the structure of the Siphon toilet in the Romancia series, which was launched in 1986. The development came to fruition as model number CW703 in 1988. With this success, our business was fully underway in the United States. Development also advanced to improve the flush capabilities even further.
  • CW703, Flush test in Japan for CW703, Flush test in the United States
  • Realization of 6L flush with technology cultivated in Japan
  • Chapter 4 THE BENKI Project
  • Road to the Highest Standard of NEOREST Next Generation Toilets
  • "Create a toilet like none other." THE BENKI Project began in 1988 to fulfill a promise for the highest standard of customer satisfaction in all functionality and design by throwing out stereotypical ideas and bringing together the technical skill at TOTO. A plethora of new technology was packed into this project, such as the latest WASHLET TM function, to accomplish the NEOREST EX. The most amazing feature was a tankless design. A sequential valve system (right figure), which was a completely new flush system, is what made this possible. The three-stage movement of water was achieved through computer control. This allowed for up to 8ℓ of water conservation with the NEOREST EX. WASHLET is a trademark or registered trademark of TOTO LTD.
  • Sequential valve system, NEOREST EX and it developers, NEOREST EX
  • Tankless design controlling water movement with a computer
  • Chapter 5 Pursuit of Greater Water Conservation Without Sacrificing Hygiene
  • Birth of Innovative Technology to Make Cleaning Easy
  • The Restica Series released in 1999 is the first to have Cefiontect, a breakthrough waste-resistant technology built in. The water per flush was 8ℓ, which also achieved 20% more water conservation than the NEW CS Series. However, the appeal of the Restica Series was the ease of cleaning. “Rimless Tornado Flush” was first built into the NEW NEOREST in 2002. This could be called a revolution in the structure of the toilet bowl. This was an era pursuing ease of cleaning and overall cleanliness of the toilets.
  • Waste Resistance Technology Cefiontect The concave ceramic surface is smooth at a nano level of one to the one millionth millimeter. This original TOTO technology repels dirt and makes cleaning easy. Rimless Tornado Flushing The swirling tornado stream uses a small amount of water effectively to efficiently evacuate the bowl.
  • Chapter 6 Introduction of Highly Precise Fluid Analysis Technology
  • Earliest Adoption of Fluid Analysis/CAE Using Computers
  • In 2006, we launched several 6ℓ toilets from the NEOREST X/A/D to the PUREREST EX and PUREREST QR. In fact, we had furthered our research from 1998 through 2003. The tool that made this possible was three-dimensional fluid analysis technology. Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) is simulation technology for solid bodies and fluids using computers, which is indispensable in intensity design, flow design, and other aspects of our products. TOTO started implementing CAE around 1990. CAE is most often used in the analysis of a single fluid while analysis of products with complex multiphase flows of water, air, and solid bodies was said to be very unusual at the time. This is how great the expectations placed on research to uncover the movement of fluid were.
  • Verification of analysis results using CAE technology
  • Independent development of fluid analysis software applicable to TOTO products
  • Chapter 7 Endless Challenge
  • Continuing the Challenge of Water Conservation as a Responsible Plumbing Equipment Manufacturer
  • In 2010, we introduced a 4.8ℓ as the GREEN MAX 4.8. In 2012, we launched a 3.8ℓ flush in the NEOREST Hybrid Series. We have been developing a new calculation method to optimize the flow of ceramic surface films and the splash of water when flushing since 2012 through the use of the TSUBAME supercomputer run by the Tokyo Institute of Technology. People's awareness about the global environment, including water conservation, is found in the backdrop of TOTO's efforts toward water conservation. Water conservation has been a pursuit of all people. Of course, this does not mean there were no concerns about reducing the amount of water per flush. However, a challenge plumbing equipment manufacturers face includes eliminating concerns about less water per flush. This in and of itself has been the endless challenge TOTO has continued to pursue while transforming its own development systems.
  • Analysis using TSUBAME super computer
  • TOTO water conservation initiatives that lead the world
© TOTO LTD.