EWB Project Report

A Report which discusses the designing of, challenges and outcomes for UVH2GO: The Final Outcome to the Engineering Without Borders 2020/21 Design Challenge.

Jacob Truelove-Cooke Calvin Atem Clinton Anaso Daniel Hobbins

Contents

Executive Summary

3

Design Process

4,5

Potential Solutions

6,7

Location and Design Choices

8

Material Costing

9

Final Concept

10,11,12

Content not Attributable to the Design Team

13,14,15

Reflection

15

Conclusion

16

References

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Executive Summary Every year, over 7,000 students across the UK, Ireland, Australia and in recent years, USA and South Africa embark on a design challenge from Engineering Without Borders. This year, The EWB challenge was to design and create an outcome to better or improve the lives of the residents of Piedritas & Lobitos in Peru. Piedritas & Lobitos are small towns located in the North-Western border of Peru. The communities have a combined population of 1,700 residents which include; Fisherman, Tourists, Oil extractors, Surfers and many more. Both towns are parted by a city, Talara, the source for many essentials such as Water, electricity and other supplies but in turn the main entry point for tourists who are a valuable contribution to the ecosystem in Peru. Tourists make up 30% of the population in Lobitos in which 14% of residents live in Poverty. However, in Piedritas, 75% of the entire population live in poverty due to a rise in unemployment and services including, clean, piped drinking water.

The task presented 8 areas in which we can investigate with a look to improve the lifestyle in Lobitos or Piedritas.

After examination of all 8 areas, a topic which stood out and drew our attention was the water section. The residents water supply is very unreliable. The supply can be down for 2/3 hours per day, for 3 days of the week. In Addition to this, the piped water cannot be drunk and must be boiled first to ensure personal safety. This requires more energy that some do not have the financial capacity for. Other residents’ resort to filling clear bottles of water and leaving them on rooves to bake. However, this may take hours or even days to ensure the water is safe to consume. The only other option is to buy bottled water but the high prices, paired with the rise in poverty has made this a luxury most residents cannot afford. With a demand for access to free, sanitised water, we created our solution -UVH2GO. UVH2GO is a water filtration and sterilization unit optimized for the locations within Lobitos & Piedritas using a majority of resources they have an abundance of. The product utilizes the Ultraviolet-Light and scorching temperatures from the sun’s rays to sterilize the water. Why spend hours or days waiting for your water to bake in the heat on the sun when the process could be carried out in 45 minutes to an hour? The reflective parabolic dish directs the suns rays to heat a heating sphere at the focal point where it can reach temperatures of over 60 degrees Celsius which reduces the 8 hour baking time to under an hour. But before the water flows through the system, it passes through a Natural mechanical filter, which aids in removing sediment and particulates, resulting in sources such as sea-water can be sterilized and filtered to a point where it is safe for consumption.

That is free water, filtered and sterilized for all to drink, cook with, shower with, etc.

This is a community centred product, designed to ensure all residents of Piedritas & Lobitos have access to safe water, a commodity many people around the world take for granted. All that is required is users bring the amount of water they intend to withdraw from the system. This creates a cycle where the users replenish the water they withdraw. The system requires a moderator which will ensure the valve is turned on/off at the correct times, the system is functioning along with the need for maintenance which will bring employment for a few residents and with potential for expansion, the unemployment rate will reduce.

In Peru… (EWB 2021)

And In towns such as such as Lobitos and Piedritas, the situations are even worse. (Ecoswell 2021)

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Design Process Having been assigned the brief, it became important to study the area of Lobitos & Piedritas to fully understand which of the challenge areas where most in need for development. The basis of the initial research spanned through the demographics of both towns, local geography, the weather along with the seasons. From the start it, it became very clear that water and the issues surrounding was affecting the towns populations severely. More specifically the lack of clean water and sanitation accompanied by the unreliable current supply.

Water is a necessity for a human to maintain a healthy lifestyle. In many countries including our society, it allows us to carry out a range of tasks overlooked by many as a given. Such as, taking daily showers, cooking, instant access to tapped drinking water among many others. Said day-to-day tasks allow us to function normally. In Lobitos & Piedritas this is not the case, here clean water is very scarce due to being located within a hyper-arid zone. This is where the relation between precipitation and evotranspiration is less than 0.05. As on onset from this, both towns suffer severe problems due to the supply and sanitation of water. What water they do receive is supplied from the river Chira among other towns and rural communities such as Mancora. In total, 1.1 million people are reliant on this source across 24 towns alongside the use in agriculture, oil and gas refineries, a fish farm and other industrial activity.

Figure 1 – A map of North Peru with an expansion identifying the L&P location Potable water is piped 70km into Lobitos & Piedritas for domestic, local industrial and economic needs. This water passes through and is treated at the potable water treatment plant in Paita, close to the river before being piped to Talara city and onto Lobitos and Piedritas. This unfortunately does not stop locals from illegally tapping into the network. Along with this the supply itself is very unreliable and residents can be made to go without water for 2/3 hours a day for 3 days of the week.

In turn people often use other water sources such as Artisanal wells, a process of tapping into underground stores of water accompanied by the use of natural pressure to bring the water to the surface, only one in the area is currently functioning to some capacity.

Figure 2 – An Artisanal Well, image demonstrates function

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Another main issue both the local area and country suffer with is that places are built and not maintained. A key example of this is the abandoned desalination plant from the 1960’s which still lies in ruins. Left remaining is the pumps and spherical tank used to store the water supplied from Talara. Only when the water levels reach high enough, operators from the EPS Grau manually open the valve providing water to certain areas of Lobitos one at a time. This is carried out through an operator travelling manually to each location on a motorbike and Figure 3 – a photo of an operator showing the condition opening an individual valve for a period of time, of the pipeline usually taking a couple of days ensuring the tank maintains a certain required level of pressure.

Problems specific to this method are that areas all receive similar amounts of water with no accommodation to population comparison. Areas such as Barrio Centro receive the same water roughly as Nuevo Lobitos despite the much smaller population.

Figure 4 – A spherical water tank in Lobitos For more financially able residents, there is an opportunity to purchase large tanks that can be placed on rooves of homes, with some also installing pumps to transfer the water into them. Those who cannot afford the luxury are limited to what little water they can fill into buckets when available. If the supply is damaged e.g., Natural disasters, residents have been left to go 2/3 months surviving of small amounts of bought bottled water at a very high price.

Through the research and design process, the team aimed to combat some of the major problem’s residents suffer from on a daily basis. Water cannot be consumed from the tap; it must be boiled first. This has been proven to be more necessary than ever after the introduction of water testing kits which found the presence of harmful bacteria such as coliform which if ingested by humans will cause many of the common illnesses such as sickness and diarrhoea. Further testing has also proven that shallow groundwater available is contaminated with high concentrates of chlorides, sulphates and some metals that are all above the level fit for human consumption. These presences have caused particular issues within the medical industry where any water used must be clean and sterile to prevent infection and protect those already vulnerable to disease with the only current viable source being very expensive bottled water.

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Potential Solutions Residents of Lobitos and Piedritas often don’t have access to clean sanitized water due to problems with the pipe system itself paired with the unclean infected water supply which has to be boiled first. The design team investigated many different methods to do this such as; boiling, distillation, solar purification, clay vessel filtration, reverse osmosis iodine addition and water chlorination.

Through the research the design team came to the conclusion that a possible solution could be that of solar purification. The solar energy/radiation is in an abundance in this region and is almost constant excluding night time. This method can be used as an efficient way for the residents to sanitize water and purify it from the biological contaminants within. This method is currently practiced on a small scale basis, by filling up clear plastic water bottles and placing them on a heat absorbing surface such as a roof. To do this on a larger scale, the design team set about designing a product in which all materials are either pre-existing and reached the end of its life for the initial intended use or can be sourced within the local area. This was sone with the aim to decrease the environmental and economic impact that sourcing new, raw materials from this region of the world would cause, especially given the lack of supplies.

Figure 5 – am image of Small-Scale Solar Sterilisation by plastic water bottles One of the main considered design options the team considered was inspired from the Parabolic dish experiment explained in the Accredited work segment of the report. The experiment reached temperatures of over 100 degrees Celsius which is leaps over the required 60.

Figure 6 – A sketch design of the parabolic Sterilisation unit

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Figure 7 – A sketch design experimenting different iterations of Figure 6 such as parabola shape Another solution the design team investigated was the use of a straight boiling element to disinfect the water.

This was considered due to the already common practice of boiling water to sterilise in both towns. This design functioned by heating water to evaporation, condensation and deposition of the water into a sterile container through the use of a closed system of tubing. This process efficiently kills biological pathogens but also separates fresh water from the high levels of salt present, in turn a device which makes groundwater safe to drink.

Figure 8 – A sketch design of the evaporation sterilisation unit.

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Location and Design Choices UVH2GO was designed with the intension of having little to no expense to build and use the product. This was why Solar Energy was selected as the only source used to heat the water. This proved to be effective when incorporating the results found in the Modulation of a parabolic reflector experiment. Along with the heat transferred from the sun’s rays, it also provides a strong constant source of Ultraviolet-Light. This furthers the sterilisation process due to the properties it harnesses. When focussed, UV-Light has the ability to kill bacteria’s such as coliform which when ingested have been found to cause sickness, diarrhoea, vomiting, cramps, nausea, fever, fatigue and even death in some cases.

(Department of health, 2021) The Product is best suited to locations within both Lobitos & Piedritas. The information stated and shown on the figure is for Lobitos but Piedritas experiences almost exactly the same weather conditions due to lying within the same Hyper arid-zone. The annual high temperatures exceed 31 degrees Celsius and the lows average at 28 degrees Celsius maintaining a hot and mainly sunny climate all year round with varying humidity.

Figure 9 – An infographic detailing the average temperatures in Lobitos 100% of the materials used to make UVH2GO can be locally sourced from areas in and around Lobitos and Piedritas. At least 80% of the materials can be obtained at no cost. The storage tanks for water collection are the same barrels residents use to store water. Peru is well known for its oil exportation, with both towns lying within an oil concession area. The steel barrels previously used for the transportation of oil were used to create what are now pillars to hold up and form the large metal structures and supports within the design. The heating and sterilisation sphere located at the focal point of the parabola is the same product previously used in the fishing industry as floats with slight modifications.

Figure 10- Glass Fishing Floats

Figure 11 – Steel Barrels used for the transportation of Crude Oil

Figure 12 – HDPE Barrel used for water storage

These three main materials in our product are found in abundance in Peru. Some dumped after use, some passed onto other users and some sold at a very cheap price. It was important for the design team to use resources that are available and cheap or free in the area even if it meant sacrificing maximum efficiency of the product. This is due to the fact the product is built by the residents themselves who generally have low paying jobs.

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Material Costing

Total Product cost: £60 (pprox..)

Total labour cost: £11 per hr Figure 13 – A table of costing for the product

Figure 14 (left) – A Render showing the HDPE Bottom Storage Barrels Figure 15 (Middle) – A Render showing the Heating and Sterilising Sphere at Focal Point Figure 16 (Right) – A Render showing the Metal arms and Supporting Structures

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Final Concept

Figure 17 – a render of the final concept with it’s labelled components

Our Project Goal It is expected that the materials and components used in this project are: -

Sourced locally Environmentally Sustainable Economically Viable

The components chosen for this project were used to push this product to be viable in the real world. Through rigorous research the design team found the most easily accessible local materials to ensure that there was no issue or need to substitute essential components. If this were not the case, the product could have been manufactured from scratch and be far more efficient but the target area does not currently have the infrastructure or facilities to be able to fully implement this service unless designed through the local community’s current means.

Our aim is to build just one of these systems to kickstart a sterilised and clean water solution for the areas of Lobitos and Pedritas. The team will guide a group of the local community through the manufacture process as a blueprint for future iterations so that the process is as repeatable as possible.

It is our goal to have hundreds of these systems implemented across the target areas to ensure that everyone has clean and sterile drinking water.

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1 2

3

Figure 18 – a render of the final concept with points to assist in understanding of the ‘How it Works’

How it works A user will place the volume of grey water they require to be filtered into the IBC at (1a). Here it flows through a, basic and very easy to make, sedimentary filter (1b) to remove any larger particles which are contained within the water. The sedimentary filter consists of 3 levels. Gravel, sand, and then charcoal, which gradually filters out smaller and smaller sediments from the water. The use of the sedimentary filter not only removes any small organisms and debris, but it reduces the amount of sediment build up in the rest of the system – this in turn allows for the system to operate for longer time periods between servicing and cleaning before becoming congested and inefficient.

A drip valve and syphoning system (1c) are implemented at the bottom of the IBC filter where the water is led to a large glass fishing float (2a) which is modified to store the water while it is sterilised. This is suspended above a large reflective parabolic dish (2b) using four steel arms (2c) at the focal point. (All of these components have been reused for this project using repurposed oil drums and old fishing floats). At the focal point, the suns rays head the water in the glass globe to temperatures exceeding 60C in an average use case scenario. This is hot enough to kill any waterborne bacteria such as cholera. In good weather conditions the temperature of the water can exceed 120C according to a case study carried out by Yaseen. H. Mahmood, Rafea Munef and Ayoub Abdulwahid Bazzaz. The drip valve exiting the globe can be operated after the water has been heated for a minimum of 60 minutes and is carried down a hose to the storage containers (3) which can be situated so that they are accessible to the user for collecting water. In these reused containers sterilised cold and hot water can be stored if the users choose to insulate the barrels. This can be done easily using reflective insulation which has been commonly used in the houses of Lobitos and Pedritas.

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Figure 19 – An image of the layers of a natural filter system – 1b in ‘how it works’

Effects on the local community This product aims to help out out the community in a multitude of ways. Additionally to supplying an alternative source of clean water, this project aims to employ and improve the livelihood of the local people.

Since the system requires assembly it will be required to employ some of the local workforce to initially build and then maintain. To assemble with all of the components to hand would not take more that 6-8 hours with two experienced adults. But since this system is so simple it can be used as a learning experience for younger generations as well.

Long term the system requires regular maintenance at 6 month intervals and more regular inspections for faults every month. This ensures that the systems can operate at maximum efficiency and requires cleaning of hoses and water storage units which means out of the year, the product will be in operation for approximately 360 days.

Further iterations of the product allows for larger parabolic dishes, higher temperatures, more water storage, and larger scale implementation not just nationally globally. Since the system is made almost entirely from locally sourced materials it has very little environmental implications and also helps to re-use materials which would otherwise have gone to landfill of be lost to the sea.

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Content not Attributable to the Design Team Throughout the development of the product, further research was carried out to ensure the most suitable technology and materials were used. During this process a research study which investigates “the modulation of a parabolic dish to produce boiled water” was identified. This investigation allowed the design team to further their understanding of how a parabola works and aided in the design process to ensure the product worked to its highest efficiency.

Figure 20 – A schematic Diagram of a parabolic dish concentrator reflecting Parallel light beams.

The Investigation run by the authors “Yaseen. H. Mahmood, Rafea Munef and Ayoub Abdulwahid Bazzaz” firstly addresses the science behind how a parabola works. This entails the scientific formulae on how to calculate the focal distance based on the dimensions of sed shape. The investigation also looks into how to calculate the concentrating ratios, heat and useful heat produced along with the efficiencies.

Following this, the report then details a breakdown of the equipment used to carry out the process and what each of the counterparts are made from justifying why these were selected according to their properties; The solar condenser was created using a galvanized steel sheet, when pressed into shape, reflective plain mirror pieces (3cm x3cm) were applied and stuck to the surface of the dish creating a surface which reflects almost 90% of the suns rays.

Figure 21 – A Table showing the details of the Solar Condenser 13

The Receiver was constructed from stainless steel, covered with a thin coat of black paint to decrease the reflection of solar rays located in the focal zone of the parabolic dish.

There were Two storage tanks made from steel filled with Freon gas and modifications of two additional holes for water inlet and outlet were placed for installation thermocouple.

The tracking system consisted of a DC motor similar to the motor of a satellite control was used with two sensors (CdS) photo resistor.

Figure 22 – An image showing the schematic diagram of the solar dish Figure 23 – An image of a designed experimental solar condenser prototype The results of the experiment proved successful. The parabolic solar concentration had exceeded operating temperatures of any other form of the solar radiation and in desalination of water for potable water and domestic usage. The experiment was analysed across multiple efficiencies but the main criteria the design team focussed within was the operating temperatures achieved. These readings were taken across several months and are as followed;

Figure 24 – A graph showing the relation between temperature and time within 2 months 14

The experiment was started at roughly 8:00 each day. In both dates in April the water temperature exceeded 100 degrees Celsius by 12:00 before plateauing. This temperature was reached in just 4 hours. The reading taken on the 12th of March reached just under 80 degrees Celsius in the same time period and kept increasing slowly. All temperatures reached are suitable for Solar sterilisation as water only has to be heated to 60 degrees Celsius when paired with the UV from the sun’s rays reducing an 8-hour minimum sterilization time to under an hour.

Reflection Through the in-depth research, light was shone on areas which may and could have easily been overlooked.

Lobitos has a growing tourism industry which could be massively improved with the introductions of incentives and schemes to clear and collect waste in exchange for extra usage of a product like UVH2GO.. The extensive research from the beginning aided in naturally providing direction for the design team towards the Water Segment of the brief and then onto specifically Sterilisation and Sanitation.

The back-and-forth input of weekly tutorials with university tutors ensured the project continued with effective direction. These entailed a short presentation and catchup informing them of where the work was currently at. These were followed by a series of questions and suggestions pushing the team to cover all aspects of the design process, double-back and reiterate specific areas while also generally having an external pair of eyes and opinions/feedback on the work. Then finally an allotted time where the team asked any questions or sought advice in areas.

Throughout the entirety of the project, the team were not able to physically meet to work. This pushed them to utilize other methods to ensure communication could be most effectively done. This included using regular Mini–Microsoft Teams meetings to discuss progress, delegate and allocate jobs. The introduction of shared access files through the project helped to organise and assist in what could usually be done over a table in a room. To further this, digital communal workspaces such as Miro were used to Brainstorm and map out work.

Multiple key skills were established or improved throughout the design process and producing a final outcome.

For this project specifically, a key area the team focussed on was the financial situation or lack off in the locations. This pushed the team to constantly develop, and critique designs while using research to reinforce the project direction. In this project through the financial situation, it led the team to push for a design which put as little stress on materials that require external sourcing and in-turn pushed the team to evaluate the development of the final outcome at every stage from initial ideation. In some causes reverting back and choosing an alternative form or adaptation. To complete said evaluation effectively, empathetic considerations were a necessary skill to utilize and further during the project.

Throughout the various stages of ideation, development and finalising the product problems were encountered. The team used the extensive research sources available and previously gathered to find alternative routes or adaptations to get round these issues. The weekly tutorials also provided the team with opportunities to discuss the encountered issues and take on board suggestions for a different approach.

Overall, the project enabled the team to further their knowledge across many aspects of design while also enlightening them into areas which they may have once overlooked. The Solution created by the team demonstrates how good communication paired with hard-work and with this particular brief, a big focus on empathetic consideration can aid them as designers to efficiently, methodically tackle issues presented to them having no previous understanding of the context.

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Conclusion The project has proven that, with a methodical approach to design paired with key organisation and effective communication as a group, an effective solution can be produced. The inclusion and referral to research alongside critical evaluation ensured the final outcome ‘UVH2GO’ stayed relevant to the initial brief.

The final outcome created by the team is initially a demonstration of how to build the device. Once constructed the device will require running and maintenance which in turn is an employment opportunity. The initial product is small scale to a specific location but after the demonstration, the intention for local production creates further employment opportunities while addressing the original problem of creating a cost-effective method to sterilise water for the entire local community to readily have access to.

Figure 25 – A marketing image for the final outcome of the project

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References •

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EcoSwell, 2021, Water & Sanitation, ECOSWELL, company website,

https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/studyingeffectively/writing/referencing/websites/in dex.asx EWB, 2021, CHALLENGE AREA: WATER, Engineers Without Borders UK, https://www.ewb-uk.org/group/ecoswell-water/ Department of Health, 2021, Bacteria, Viruses, and Parasites in Drinking Water, Department of Health, online, https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/water/contaminants/ba cteria.html#:~:text=The%20presence%20of%20coliform%20bacteria%2C%20specific ally%20E.,fatigue%2C%20and%20even%20death%20sometimes.

Aqua Cure. 2021. How Water Filters Work. [online] Available at: <https://www.aquacure.co.uk/knowledge-base/how-water-filters-work> [Accessed 17 March 2021].

En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Portable water purification - Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_water_purification> [Accessed 17 March 2021].

En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Solar water disinfection - Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_water_disinfection> [Accessed 19 March 2021].

Hamid Mahmood, Y., Abdullah Munef, R. and Abdulwahid Bazzaz, A., 2015. Modulating a Solar Parabolic Dish to Produce Boiled Water. [online] David Publishing. Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282840486_Modulating_a_Solar_Parab olic_Dish_to_Produce_Boiled_Water> [Accessed 18 March 2021].

Seasonsyear.com. 2021. Seasons in Peru: Weather and Climate. [online] Available at: <https://seasonsyear.com/Peru> [Accessed 19 March 2021].

Wikihow.com. 2021. 4 Ways to Filter Water. [online] Available at: <https://www.wikihow.com/Filter-Water> [Accessed 20 March 2021].

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