TY - GEN
T1 - Scenario-based robustness analysis of optimized I.D.E.-Style treadle pump designs
AU - McComb, Christopher
AU - Johnson, Nathan
AU - Gorman, Brandon T.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2016 by ASME.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Poverty affects hundreds of millions of people globally. Marketbased strategies can help alleviate poverty in developing countries by encouraging entrepreneurial activity and have the potential to be more effective than traditional approaches, such as development aid from countries or non-governmental organizations. Development organizations often target the agricultural sector because of the prevalence of subsistence and small-scale farming, particularly in rural regions of developing countries. Improving the reliability of irrigation techniques can help farmers expand out of primarily subsistence farming and begin to sell a portion of their crop, thus achieving the objectives of market-based poverty alleviation. Human-powered pumps are a popular tool used in irrigation because they require low capital cost and negligible operating cost. Previous work provided a model for finding Pareto-optimal IDE-style treadle pump designs. This work utilizes that model to produce a dense set of Pareto-optimal designs, and then investigates the robustness of the designs by simulating their performance in a variety of modified use scenarios. Our results show that pumps optimized for low flow rates (less than 3.0 L/s) are highly robust, particularly with respect to age-related changes in the operator's stature or mobility. In addition, these pumps can operate with nearoptimal efficiency across a variety of target flow rates and well depths. These pumps are ideal for single family use or for shared use amongst multiple families in a village. Pumps optimized for flow rates greater than 3.0 L/s are less robust with respect to changes of operator stature (experiencing decreases in flow rate of up to 60%) but may be suitable for use on farms or by service providers.
AB - Poverty affects hundreds of millions of people globally. Marketbased strategies can help alleviate poverty in developing countries by encouraging entrepreneurial activity and have the potential to be more effective than traditional approaches, such as development aid from countries or non-governmental organizations. Development organizations often target the agricultural sector because of the prevalence of subsistence and small-scale farming, particularly in rural regions of developing countries. Improving the reliability of irrigation techniques can help farmers expand out of primarily subsistence farming and begin to sell a portion of their crop, thus achieving the objectives of market-based poverty alleviation. Human-powered pumps are a popular tool used in irrigation because they require low capital cost and negligible operating cost. Previous work provided a model for finding Pareto-optimal IDE-style treadle pump designs. This work utilizes that model to produce a dense set of Pareto-optimal designs, and then investigates the robustness of the designs by simulating their performance in a variety of modified use scenarios. Our results show that pumps optimized for low flow rates (less than 3.0 L/s) are highly robust, particularly with respect to age-related changes in the operator's stature or mobility. In addition, these pumps can operate with nearoptimal efficiency across a variety of target flow rates and well depths. These pumps are ideal for single family use or for shared use amongst multiple families in a village. Pumps optimized for flow rates greater than 3.0 L/s are less robust with respect to changes of operator stature (experiencing decreases in flow rate of up to 60%) but may be suitable for use on farms or by service providers.
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U2 - 10.1115/DETC2016-60127.pdf
DO - 10.1115/DETC2016-60127.pdf
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85007328561
T3 - Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference
BT - 21st Design for Manufacturing and the Life Cycle Conference; 10th International Conference on Micro- and Nanosystems
PB - American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
T2 - ASME 2016 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, IDETC/CIE 2016
Y2 - 21 August 2016 through 24 August 2016
ER -