Open Source Treadle Pump

Treadle Pump Prototype

A team of students from the University of Michigan BLUELab produced their first prototype of a treadle pump in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala last week. There are currently many treadle pumps patented and manufactured by NGOs, but the BLUELab pump is unique in that all the drawings and specifications are available online for free. The goal is to get many NGOs the capacity to manufacture these life enhancing pumps and to have them produced in the countries where they will be used.

The Appropriate Technology Collaborative worked with the BLUELab students providing the design challenge and the opportunity to build their design in a developing country. ATC chose to build the project in Guatemala to simulate building in the countries where the pump will be most appropriate (sub Saharan Africa, South Asia). Guatemala offers the challenge of building with limited resources without the expense and carbon emissions associated with traveling to and building in Tanzania for example.

A shout out to the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group – Guatemala office, for hosting ATC and BLUELab for the project build. The experience was incredible, the design team worked long hours adapting their design to locally available materials and conditions and produced a working prototype. BLUELab has already started the process of taking what they have learned in Guatemala to improve the design of the pump. The revised drawings will be made available online as soon as they are completed.

The value of Open Source design is that intellectual property and information can be spread quickly. Already there have been inquiries into the pump design from an NGO in Liberia and the pump isn’t yet published on the ATC website. This inquiry is a good indicator of interest in open source appropriate technology design.

Photos from the Treadle Pump Workshop 2009 are available at Picassa BLUELab Photos