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Common to uncommon |
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| Title |
Water Pumps: Unearthing the Aqua Treasure |
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| Abstract |
Access to water has been in the heart of several major social changes around the world. Several interesting innovations for pumping out water are reviewed here. These inventions are mostly triggered by the needs of the local communities. These are the interpretations beyond technical parameters, guided as these are by social and cultural milieu in which ideas incubate. Local material, methods and purposes mutate local constraints to give rise to these innovations. Idea of presenting such clusters of innovations is to share a variety of diversified heuristics used by innovators to address similar problem in different regions. |
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| Details |
Chinese
Water Pump Running on Wind Power
Fan Tong Kun, a 55-year old Chinese farmer after struggling for 38 years came out with his innovation of wind pump and got a bronze medal for it. This poor peasant made his first “wind pump” in 1978, but its fan could not start. The next prototype came in 1980. In 2003, the wind pump could pump out water from the well.
To raise money he sold his land and home and discontinued the education of his children. The journey of his innovation has meant 38 years of poverty, endless frustrations and bitterness. His wife did not see him working in the fields at least for a decade.
An American couple offered him huge money for patenting his innovation, but he refused because the process would have been too cumbersome, and secondly he wanted this to be useful for the rural Chinese. He said, “The outside buyers will quote higher prices,
not affordable to the rural Chinese. I want to
do this to prove that the peasant is not a
useless person, the farmers also have their own pursuit!”
http://ha.people.com.cn/news/2006/10/25/131790.htm
Indian
‘Lilliput’ Water Pump
V Madhushoodan of Kerala has developed a miniature submersible water pump. This 3 cm x 2.5 cm pump is indeed tiny and weighs mere 45 g. However, its 3 mm diameter pipe can lift water up to 2.5 feet! The innovator has studied up to class six. He made the pump from commonly available components including a motor from a walkman audio system. This pump runs for an hour. It can effectively be used as submersible pump for aquariums and in chemical processes to pump liquids at various levels.(Honey Bee, 17(3):14, 2006) (Entry received by NIF in 2002).
Low Discharge Hydro Powered Pump
Imli Toshi Namo of Nagaland has innovated a low cost, energy efficient water pumping device which taps hydel power and no external energy is required. It is driven by the kinetic energy of the stream or water current. The pump is placed axially in the direction of flow in river or channel to capture high-speed water flow. It is useful in the remote areas where the electricity supply is erratic. It is energy efficient, mobile, low cost and sturdy.
(Entry received by NIF in 2002 and awarded in the 3rd National Competition for Grassroots Innovations and Traditional Knowledge in 2005)
Hand Operated Water Lifting Pump
N Sakthimainthan of Tamilnadu has innovated a hand-operated water-lifting device. It is simple in design and has high discharge at low cost compared to conventional hand pumps. Tamil Nadu Agriculture University has appreciated the efforts of Sakthimainthan in developing this pump from locally available materials. With zero installation and no running or maintenance cost, this is a very useful product for marginal farmers. Being portable and simple to use, it is best suited for routine work in all seasons.
(Entry received by NIF in 2004 and awarded in the 4th National Competition for Grassroots Innovations and Traditional Knowledge in 2007)
Handpump with a Change
Ramashankar Sharma from Bihar has modified the plunger design of a hand pump, which has resulted in substantial increase in the efficiency. The change of material has also helped in reducing the cost and weight as well. BIT Mesra, Ranchi tested the same at NIF’s instance and found that the hand pump with the modified plunger gave 69 percent more discharge than the hand pump with the conventional plunger for the same number of strokes and head.
(Entry received by NIF in 2006)
Modified Handpump
Chandan Agrawal of Delhi, suggested a simple improvement to attach a valve and a tap on the delivery pipe so that one can pump and store the water in the body and the outlet pipe. And after pumping enough water, one can go to the other side, unscrew the tap and drink water with as much flow as one can conveniently drink with the hands. With increasing water scarcity, saving every drop matters apart from increasing the convenience of using the tap.
(Entry received by NIF in 2002 and awarded in the 2nd National Competition for Grassroots Innovations and Traditional Knowledge in 2002)
Handpump Made from Bamboo
Dodhi Pathak of Assam, has developed a working model of a hand pump, which is suitable to lift both underground water and pond water. This pump is totally made out of bamboo, even the piston, valve, barrel, handle and all the other parts.
(Entry received by NIF in 2000 and awarded in the 1st National Competition for Grassroots Innovations and Traditional Knowledge in 2001)
Tax at source for animals
Swayambhoo Sharma of Rajasthan has innovated a water pump that has a low cost tank for drinking water for the animals. It has been installed at Tehsil Girva, Udaipur. The device has a cost-effective modification in the chamber of hand pumps, by which, when any one operates the hand pump to take out water, a portion (25%) of water flows to drinking water trough for stray animals. The arrangement consists of connecting a ½ to ¾ inch horizontal galvanized iron pipe from the top of the hand pump water chamber to an adjacent water trough. Thus, apart from meeting his needs, every time the hand pump is used, a villager simultaneously does his bit to provide clean water for the animals. GIAN North has blended the idea of Chandan with this design through the help of Yusuf and Vishwakarma, two other grassroots innovators and installed a few dozen such pumps with the help of Rajasthan government.
(Entry received by NIF in 2003 and awarded in the 3rd National Competition for Grassroots Innovations and Traditional Knowledge in 2005)
Low-Cost Handpump
Ouseppachan Anchukandathil from Kerala belongs to a village in a hilly terrain where there used to be water scarcity during summer season. These difficulties inspired him to develop this low cost pump in 1999. It is easy to handle and has the capacity to lift water up to a height of 200 ft through a one inch diameter pipe. This would be ideal for water supply within the house or a multi-storied building using an overhead tank.
(Entry received by NIF in 2000 and awarded in the 1st National Competition for Grassroots Innovations and Traditional Knowledge
in 2001)
Cycle Based Centrifugal Pump
Vikram Rathore from Andhra Pradesh has innovated a centrifugal water pump which is run by rotating the pedal of a cycle. The supporting shaft of the smaller pulley carries another rim for second stage speed increment. The power (energy) generated through this process of pedaling is used to lift the water and push the water from a pipe into the farm for cultivation. This innovation is useful for pumping water from rivers, ponds, wells and similar water sources thus enabling poor farmers for pumping water for irrigation and cultivation.
(Entry received by NIF in 2004 and awarded in the 3rd National Competition for Grassroots Innovations and Traditional Knowledge in 2005)
Pedal Operated Pump
West Bengal’s Nasiruddin Gayen’s innovation relates to a pedal water pump which is particularly useful for pumping water from the canal for irrigation purposes and to draw water from wells, tube wells and reservoirs. The user sits on the seat and pedals the unit, thereby operating the flywheel, which runs the gear that drives two sets of pistons located in two vertical cylinders. The unit delivers 100 litres of continuous flow per minute compared to 70-80 litres per minute of intermittent flow for a normal reciprocating hand pump. This novel pump is cost-effective, portable and can be taken and installed at any site.
(Entry received by NIF in 2003 and awarded in the 3rd National Competition for Grassroots Innovations and Traditional Knowledge in 2005) |
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee 20(1) 14-15, 2009 |
