Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Sustainable Irrigation in Rural South Africa: Studying the Alcock Ram Pump System for Optimized Manufacture and Reproducibility
EPA Grant Number: SU835337Title: Sustainable Irrigation in Rural South Africa: Studying the Alcock Ram Pump System for Optimized Manufacture and Reproducibility
Investigators: Ball, William P. , Goel, Adhiraj , Mullen, Alex , Chakravarti, Dipankar , Tramposch, Elizabeth , Prosser, Emily , Marble, Erickson , Normile, Hayley , Zheng, Jesse , Berger, Jordan , Howland, Michael , Palmquist, Nathan , Desai, Pujan , Bell, Randy , Spellissy, Rebecca
Institution: The Johns Hopkins University
EPA Project Officer: Page, Angela
Phase: I
Project Period: August 15, 2012 through August 14, 2013
Project Amount: $15,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet (2012) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Challenge Area - Sustainable and Healthy Communities , P3 Challenge Area - Air Quality , P3 Awards , Sustainable and Healthy Communities
Objective:
The lack of a maintenance system for long-term sustainability is one of the greatest failings of technology transfers to developing countries to date. This project directly addresses this concern for ram-pump technology.
Alcock Ram Pumps (ARPs) are highly appropriate, robust, and non-polluting means of providing much needed assistance and improved food security to impoverished and HIV/AIDS stricken groups of women community gardeners in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa. The hydraulically driven ARP systems provide cost free irrigation water while minimizing environmental impact and fostering pollution prevention. A major remaining challenge, however, is that user-control of installation, operation, maintenance, and long-term servicing is still lacking in developing regions. This project aims to meet that challenge by developing improved understanding of ARP systems and, importantly, better means of fabricating and servicing them.
During Phase 1, the team at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) worked with its in-country partners (including the pump’s developer, David Alcock) to develop better understanding of the fabrication, operation, and maintenance of ARP systems. Well on the path to meeting its Phase I goals, the project is now prepared to move foward with additional partners toward Phase II and our long-term goal of developing a new and innovative approach for providing in-country fabrication, support, and field maintenance for ARP-based irrigation technology. In Phase II, we intend to further refine and test the Phase I outputs through in-country application and to further an innovative service provision concept– see Section V.B. (Phase II proposal). If successful, a long-term outcome will be sustained use of this technology in rural areas throughout KZN and indeed the world, where it can improve the lives of many.
The more specific objectives of Phase 1 were as follows: (1) the performance of laboratory-based studies of ram pump configurations in order to better understand the nuances of pump performance and reproducibility of such performance in multiple versions of common design; (2) the discovery of more systematic and efficient approaches to fabricating the “non standard” (custom-made) parts and for servicing ARP installations; and (3) the development, dissemination and “trial” of new documentation relevant to the operation, maintenance, fabrication, and servicing of these pumps so that community members may better maintain them and others (e.g., development professionals or other assistance providers) can more easily undertake ARP fabrication and service in country.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
Technical studies have been (and are being) performed in a JHU engineering laboratory where the team is using a full-scale model test rig of the Alcock Ram Pump system to evaluate the effect of changes in environmental variables (such a weir height) and controllable pump variables (such as stroke length and weight) to better understand the sensitivity of pump performance to these factors and to more precisely confirm our prior observations from the field. In the field, the system utilizes the head of a stream from an intake weir and converts this energy to transport water to a delivery height with a given delivery flow. This was modeled by a supply tank with a variable supply height to replicate 5 heights of potential weirs (2.5, 2.0, 1.5, 1.0, and 0.5m). Pressure gages were implemented along critical points in the system and were used in conjunction with flow measurements at all points to evaluate performance for each tested set of conditions. Tests verified most expectations from field experience but also provided new insights in regard to optimum conditions for pump use. And, although studies are not complete (and large supply heights have not yet been fully tested) the work to dates shows that performance is not as favorably affected by high supply (weir) height as we had expected and that some variables in discharge valve design (e.g. stroke length and size of holes) have only minor effect, at least for 2.0 and 2.5 m weir heights. Four “2012 version” pumps were given to us by David Alcock to test and verify against each other. These showed excellent reproducibility among designs although one pump with a much thicker diaphragm did show slightly improved performance. During Mr. Alcock’s two week visit in January 2013, additional tests were conducted to evaluate the effects of air vessel size and size of exit holes for water discharge. These tests showed generally only minor effects but have motivated some important on-going and future studies.
In regard to the development of better fabrication methods, during a planned close collaboration of our team with David Alcock and JHU machinists, we discovered several more efficient and standardized ways to produce the discharge valves and replacement parts. We are continuing to work on some details in these regards (particularly in regard to the possible “outsourcing” of fabrication for some stainless steel domed washers), but we believe that the team has successfully identified potential cost saving techniques in regard to finding less time consuming methods of fabricating or otherwise obtaining the following parts: stainless steel-encapsulated lead weight, rubber discs (diaphragms), domed stainless steel washers, and the top half of the discharge valve casing.
In regard to improved documentation, the team has worked toward creating detailed and precise AutoCAD-based drawings to help facilitate the creation of future service and fabrication manuals. In addition, the team worked with students on the South Africa program team within the JHU chapter of EWB-USA to document the assembly, operation, and maintenance procedures for the ARP system and for the ARP discharge valve and the system, in an effort to help the community gardeners service these pumps by themselves. We have finalized versions of operating, assembly, and disassembly manuals and the translation of one manual into Zulu. We continue to work toward translations of all manuals so that they may be easily understood by the communities of KZN, South Africa.
Conclusions:
Under the Phase I grant, the team has been able to refine the laboratory test rig of the ARP system and successfully implement a program of testing. We have used the system to gain better understanding of the discharge valve (DV) performance under varying supply height, flow and delivery height conditions and we plan additional tests to further investigate the impact of other variables, such as lead weight mass and rubber thickness. Overall, these results will allow us to more confidently recommend standardized pump configurations for different specific applications and thus provide valuable guidance to future installers and service providers.
Second, we have developed new approaches to fabricating key custom parts of the ARP DV and we have found a viable approach for out-sourcing of a key but inexpensive part (a specially formed “domed” washer) that, if made of stainless steel, can perhaps double or triple the already long (3-5 year) average “life” of an ARP DV between major part replacement. By working closely with David Alcock and JHU machinists, we have also developed more standardized and efficient ways by which Mr. Alcock and other (less experienced) technicians can produce the rubber discs and the top half piece of the discharge valves. In the months ahead, we will focus heavily on continuing the work we have begun with Aqualima Trust and other local partners to design in-country fabrication and servicing approaches that can take advantage of these innovations and help move us forward into Phase II.
Finally, we have successfully created a full suite of illustrated manuals for use by the ARP-aided community gardeners, and one of these has been translated into Zulu. We have already learned from partners how some of the illustrations could be improved (e.g., by adding more photos with African gardeners doing repair activities) and we know that additional translations are needed. In the months ahead we will continue this work, as well as the on-going work of assembling AutoCAD drawings of various ARP system components.
Publications/Presentations :
Throughout the course of this Phase I project we have developed five guides that can be used by in-country partners and communities in relation to servicing the Alcock Ram Pump system:
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ARP Maintenance and Trouble-shooting Manual
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ARP System Assembly Guide with an Extended Parts List
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ARP Discharge Valve Assembly Guide (2012 model) with an Extended Parts List
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ARP Discharge Valve Assembly Guide (2010 model)
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Maintenance Schedule and Record-Keeping (with example and blank pages for “Maintenance Diary”)
Additionally, we shared our work as part of several seminar presentations at Johns Hopkins University, including to an engineering class on “Appropriate and Sustainable Technology” and to an anthropology class on “Understanding Aid.” Seminars containing parts of this work have also been presented to a Rotary Club in Towson, Maryland, and to an engineering seminar at the University of Buffalo. Finally, as noted above, we are extremely hopeful that continuation though Phase II would allow us to expand our findings further while also providing more resources and time for better dissemination and technology transfer.
Supplemental Keywords:
Health effects, sensitive populations, susceptibility, education, water transport, sustainable development, eco-friendly technologyRelevant Websites:
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The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.