Treadle Pump Workshop 2009
University of Michigan BLUELab Guatemala Team
Starting fall 2008 a group of dedicated, energetic and really bright students from the University of Michigan BLUELab accepted a challenge from the Appropriate Technology Collaborative (ATC). To design a treadle pump using only materials that might be found in Tanzania or another mostly rural African or SE Asian country. Moreover they would have to document the design such that other NGOs or individuals could easily read their drawings and copy their work.
BLUELab Treadle Pump Prototype
The BLUELab team responded with a robust design + documents that set a new standard in ease of use. They chose to work with us in Guatemala as an exercise in working with limited resources.
The following is from a letter I sent to our host NGO, AIDG:
The BLUELab team has been working on an open source treadle pump design since the start of school 2008. They got as far as a prototype or proof of concept model in their workshop, drew up incredibly detailed and easy to read documents and arrived in Guatemala after a daylong delay due to weather in the US. They also had to cut their visit short by a day on the other end due to flight scheduling problems.
The BLUELab team made up for lost time by being very well organized. They formed working groups for each component of the assembly. The reality of building in the developing world was made clear early when certain types of plastic weren’t available, pipe sizes were different from standards in the US and steel parts were also different from standards we have in the shop back home. Much was redesigned on the fly.
BLUELab worked all day at the AIDG workshop (thank you very much!) and then reviewed the next day’s assignments over a late dinner every night. They were successful in proving their prototype works on the last day of the build, at the last hour, with their bags already packed and their shuttle waiting.
BLUELab posted their work on their website and within 3 days NGOs from Africa were already asking for copies of their drawings. We plan on posting the revised design on the ATC website at the end of the semester and BLUELab is considering returning to Guatemala to build the new design.
Guatemala is probably not the place where treadle pumps will make a good business sense, but it is a great place to learn what it is like to build with limited resources. The experience for the student team, working with people from Guatemala and living embedded in a new culture will change how they view their work.
Documents are available upon request. We will be publishing the final documents when the BLUELab team is done redesigning based on what we learned in Guatemala.
Prototype drawings are available: Prototype Treadle Pump Drawings
More at our Treadle Pump Blog Page