Development Projects in Columbus

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Development Projects in Columbus

• How to Contribute to the Developing World Without
  Leaving Franklin County

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Dale Andreatta, Ph.D., P.E.

• 1983,84 BS and MS in mechanical engineering from
  OSU
• Ph. D. from Berkeley, 1995
• I work for a consulting company in Worthington
  that allows me to work on projects like these as
  time allows
• Involved in developing world projects since 1986
• Lots of possibilities for projects

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What Im looking for

• Looking for partners, to work in a
  colleague-to-colleague setting.

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What I can offer

• Chance to work on interesting projects that make
  a difference in the world
• Chance to be creative
• Many contacts among people working on similar
  projects
• Chance to learn good engineering
• Opportunities for individual or group-studies
  credit (pending approval from faculty)

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More background

• As a mechanical engineer, Ive always been
  interested in creative engineering. In 1986 it
  occurred to me that there is a large opportunity
  to do this in developing things for the
  developing world. This is the perfect place to
  apply simple but clever solutions, and really
  help people at the same time. Currently, I spend
  several hundred hours per year working on
  projects like these. Its my favorite hobby.
• Since 1986 Ive worked on a number of projects,
  some successful ones that are being used, some
  projects that were successful technically but are
  not being used yet, and some unsuccessful ones.
• While I havent been to the developing world yet,
  Ive tried to pick up as much as possible about
  cultural and social aspects of what works and
  what doesnt work. Some of the projects revolve
  more around these aspects that around technical
  aspects.
• The projects Im proposing revolve around
  mechanical engineering, but are appropriate for
  anyone, including possibly non-engineering
  students. With occasional exceptions, anyone is
  welcome to participate in any project. (Ill
  talk about this more in my later talk, but I can
  quote many examples of non-engineers working in
  the field whove done very good engineering
  work.)
• Contact information Dale Andreatta,
  dandreatta_at_sealimited.com, 888-4160

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Project 1-Practical stoves

• In the developing world most people still cook
  over wood or agricultural residue (for example
  corn stalks)
• These tend to be dirty and inefficient
• Even a clean efficient stove wont be used if it
  is difficult to work with
• Stoves are needed that are clean, efficient, and
  PRACTICAL.
• Currently I have 6 ideas for stoves to test,
  which Ill get to someday.

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Additional background on stove testing

• As mentioned, clean efficient PRACTICAL stoves
  are needed.
• This project is a very hands-on project, and
  would be good for a student or two who was good
  at working with their hands, and liked to build
  things.
• Currently I have sketches for 6 stove ideas that
  may be useful. It would be best if the student
  would take these sketches and build the stove,
  but as an alternative I could build the stove,
  either with or without the students help. Most
  of these designs can be built in about an hour
  with minimal tools. I could pay for any
  materials, or provide tools if necessary. I
  would also provide guidance for how to do a good
  test. Stove prototypes can be made of sheet
  metal, bricks, and similar common materials.
  These would be good enough for a few tests, then
  later the stoves might be made of better
  materials.
• Each stove would need to be tested several times.
  I find testing stoves to be fun. Its rather
  fun playing with fire and doing simple
  experiments. The stove would probably be tested
  without any instruments at first, just seeing if
  it lights easily and burns well with little
  smoke. Within about half a dozen tests, it
  should be clear whether a stove design is worth
  pursuing. The whole process should take about 12
  person-hours per stove.
• These stoves should be clean enough that they can
  be burned anywhere outdoors without upsetting the
  neighbors. If it produces enough smoke that you
  have to worry about upsetting neighbors, its
  probably not a good design.
• This is a low priority project for me, its
  something Ill get to someday, but not in the
  near future. There are no timelines or
  deadlines. One could start immediately, or wait
  until later. This is really a project that
  revolves around the idea of Lets try it and see
  what happens rather than a project with a tight
  list of tasks to be performed. It might be that
  the best stove combines elements of several
  designs.
• Many good stoves have been developed by people
  who are not engineers, so anyone is welcome to
  try their hand.

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Project 2 Carbon Monoxide and birth weight

• Wood burning cookstoves produce CO, which
  produces both short and long-term health problems

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CO in the air and in the blood
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Carbon Monoxide (cont)

• We know that long-term CO causes low birth
  weight. (Up to 5 blood CO in smokers.)
• In developing world, blood CO sometimes 5.
• Lots of undersize babies in the developing world,
  even when mothers are well-nourished. Many dont
  survive.
• Is it CO?
• If so, this is a huge health problem that hasnt
  been studied.

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Carbon Monoxide (cont)

• This project would involve 1 or 2 students
  reviewing medical/physiology literature and
  looking for a link between CO and low birth
  weight, then looking at the effects of CO levels
  in typical developing world kitchens.
• This is something Ill get to some time this
  year, but students could do it better and faster.
  

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Carbon Monoxide Additional Background

• The cookstove community is a small but
  well-organized bunch of mostly-volunteer
  researchers.
• Weve gotten good at measuring the air CO levels
  in kitchens, and recently weve learned how to
  relate this to blood CO levels. The blood CO
  levels correlate to health effects. We can
  more-or-less predict whether a given stove in a
  given kitchen will produce temporary CO
  poisoning.
• This work would be expanded to study the effect
  of long-term CO exposure on pregnant women. This
  issue has been studied in terms of the effects of
  smoking on mothers in the developed world, but to
  my knowledge has not been studied in terms of the
  number of low birth weight babies in the
  developing world.
• There are many deaths due to low birth weight in
  the developing world, and frequently the mother
  is well-nourished. This is potentially a huge
  health issue.
• This project would be good for a student
  interested in biology, medicine, or biomedical
  engineering, or, a student who is a fast learner,
  since this is way outside the field of normal
  engineering.
• Would take about 20 hours of students time, and
  would be done on campus, with no particular
  deadlines.

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Project 3 Materials for solar cooker

• Solar Cookers Intl, of Sacramento, CA makes the
  Cookit, a low cost solar cooker.
• It is currently made of aluminized cardboard,
  which is cheap and easy to fold and ship.

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Cookit (cont)

• The cardboard works well, until it gets damp.
• The cardboard is viewed as cheap.
• A better material is needed, and can be a little
  more expensive if necessary.
• Better bag is also required, that can withstand
  more cycles at high temperature.
• A very hands-on project.
• SCI is waiting for the results.

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More background on solar cookers

• There is a large and well-organized network of
  people around the world dedicated to promoting
  solar cooking. A number of simple box-like
  devices can be used to cook with the sun, and
  these work well in good sunny weather. The
  Cookit is a panel cooker, and there are also a
  number of panel cookers.
• Solar cookers use no wood and produce no
  pollution, therefore eliminate problems
  associated with indoor air pollution and
  deforestation, both of which are big problems in
  parts of the developing world. The idea is not
  that a family would do all of its cooking with
  the sun, but perhaps half of its cooking,
  depending on time of day and weather conditions.
  
• Solar Cookers Intl has specifically requested
  that I work on this project, therefore, if the
  student achieves success, it is highly likely to
  be adopted by large numbers of people around the
  world.
• I expect that it would take at least 20 hours of
  the students time to make good progress on
  coming up with a substitute material for the
  cardboard panel. Attacking the problem of the
  bag material is probably easier, and a student
  familiar with plastics, or who could become
  familiar with plastics, could possibly find a
  substitute much quicker. If a person wanted to
  spend a lot of time doing experiments and using
  the solar cooker, one could make this a full-time
  occupation. This is not required, however.
• If one wanted to get into the world of solar
  cookers, both in terms of getting familiar with
  the technology and with the people, this would be
  a good way.
• It would not be necessary to actually buy a
  Cookit, though it would help. They are about
  20, and I could probably have one sent for free
  if you wanted one.

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Project Tasks

• This is a very hands-on project, good for a
  student or students who like to build and play
  with physical objects rather than doing a lot of
  analysis.
• The student(s) would be looking for new materials
  for the bag and/or the panels of the cooker.
  Both are needed. These are separate questions,
  so the student could work on one or the other.
  The bag material is probably the easier of the
  two.
• There is no particular deadline with this
  project, it could be started at any time, and
  stopped at any time.
• Solar Cookers Intl has specifically requested
  this, so if the student(s) come up with something
  good it WILL be used.
• Regarding the question of the bag material,
  probably within 8 hours of work a person could
  either find a good bag material or find that they
  dont exist. I could help with this.
• The panel material would be tougher. This might
  take up to 20 hours. I would provide guidelines
  about how much the material could cost.

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Project 4 Solar Water Pasteurization

• Lack of clean drinking water is one of the
  leading causes of death in the developing world.
• There are many ways to provide clean drinking
  water, and one of these is pasteurization.
• Pasteurization (solar or otherwise) is the
  heating of water to a temperature sufficient to
  kill all germs, viruses, and parasites.
• This temperature is NOT the boiling point, as
  many people believe, it is only about 65 C.
• This can be done in simple solar devices, such as

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Pasteurizers (cont)

• All pasteurizers work well on sunny days, not at
  all on cloudy days.
• Its not clear how they work under partly cloudy
  conditions.
• This summer Ill test under partly cloudy
  conditions.
• Hopefully, the results will be published in 2007.
  
• This would be good project for students who are
  interested in a practical application of solar
  energy.
• Are still-better pasteurizers possible?

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More background on pasteurizers

• Ive been working on pasteurizers in some form
  since 1992. A summary of what Ive done on
  pasteurizers is at www.accessone.com/sbcn/solarwa
  t.htm.
• Ive published several papers with the American
  Solar Energy Society about pasteurizers. Its
  likely that the results of this study will also
  be published with them, at their 2007 conference,
  which is in Cleveland. Depending on how heavily
  involved students were, they might be listed as
  co-authors of the paper. At the minimum,
  students would be listed in the
  Acknowledgements section of the paper.
• As mentioned before, is it not necessary to boil
  water to kill all the germs, viruses, and
  parasites. Many times youll see in books that
  it is necessary to boil the water, but this has
  never been true. These people dont know their
  microbiology. The father of solar water
  pasteurization is Bob Metcalf, a microbiologist
  at Cal State Sacramento. He works in the field
  for a couple months per year, drinking
  pasteurized water and promoting solar cooking and
  pasteurization.
• Pasteurization does not remove chemical
  contaminants such as salt from the water. In
  most cases in the developing world this is not a
  problem. Distillation is needed to remove
  chemical contaminants, but this requires about 20
  times more energy per unit of water.
• Pasteurization is only one way of providing clean
  water, and is not the best method in all cases.
  Pasteurization is somewhat unique, in that the
  system can be made very inexpensive. If you have
  a little money, a few dollars, you can provide
  water for an individual.
• Better methods of pasteurization are still
  required, so there is opportunity to be creative
  in this project.

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Test details

• This would be a very weather-dependant project.
  It would start around mid-May and end not later
  than early October, unless of course we were done
  earlier.
• The student would need to watch weather
  forecasts, looking for days that were partly
  cloudy.
• Some tests could be done anywhere, but some tests
  would need to be done at my company where we have
  the proper instruments.
• A student might spend 50-100 hours on this
  project, however, much of this would be waiting
  for things to heat up, hence the student could do
  other things in the meantime. Another option is
  that the student could set up the experiments in
  the morning at my company, after which the
  student could leave for the day. Then I would
  run the test during the day, which involves
  spending a few minutes taking temperature data
  every hour or so.
• If the student didnt want to spend 50-100 hours,
  but still wanted to get involved, talk to me and
  well find a way to make it work.

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Project 5 Wind energy

• Not strictly a developing world project.
• Wind power is proportional to the wind speed
  cubed.
• Small increase in wind speed leads to a large
  increase in power.

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Wind (cont)

• Is is possible to put a structure around a wind
  turbine so as to channel the wind and increase
  the power?

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Such a structure must be-

• Effective-able to increase the power
  significantly
• Inexpensive
• Can withstand high wind, possibly by folding out
  of the way

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Previously studied idea (expensive, increases
drag on tower)
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Wind (cont)

• We would build a small wind tunnel and test about
  small models of 8-10 ideas.
• We are (boldly?) going where no engineer has gone
  before.

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More details

• We would use the large fan at my company to build
  a small wind tunnel. Then wed test ideas, using
  small models of each idea, and using a screen to
  simulate the wind turbine.
• All work would have to be done at my company in
  Worthington. Since it would take a while to put
  together and dismantle the wind tunnel, wed want
  to work in blocks of at least 4 hours. The
  student(s) could be there the whole time or not
  the whole time. One possibility is to select a
  weekend, and just try to bang out the whole
  project in a weekend. That way we wouldnt have
  to assemble and dismantle the system several
  times. This is only one option however.
• The total time involved might be 16 to 24 hours
  for all the experimental work. A student would
  not need to be present at all times.
• There would also be some significant
  calculations, which the student could do, or I
  could do. For example, if we find that the
  system increases the power output by a factor of
  2, we would calculate what this means in terms of
  kW-hr per year, and dollars per year, at a given
  location. Also, a cost estimate needs to be
  done.
• I want to have this done by Dec. 1, which is the
  deadline for abstracts for the 2007 American
  Solar Energy Society conference, where I hope to
  publish our results.