DePuy Engineers to Unveil New Well Pump for Africa
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Jordan Fouts-
Engineers from DePuy Orthopaedics and others from Ohio and Kansas worked with Integrated Community Development International to design the well pump over several weeks and installed it in the Central African Republic in late August 2011. The pump provides clean drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people.
“We installed that pump and came back from the trip committed to do even more,” said Abe Wright, an ICDI board member and DePuy senior project engineer. “We took the lessons learned from the first pump and have spent this last year designing and manufacturing a new and improved pump.”
He said their goal is to design a pump that will last longer and reach water in deeper wells, something that will last not just years but decades.
The need became apparent after talks with other nonprofits, like World Vision and Living Water International, who said they have issues with failures of current pump designs.
“Failure of water pumps is a big issue and there is a big need for a new hand powered water pump,” Wright said. “We hope to be part of the solution.”
He said his group started a new nonprofit called Design Outreach (www.DOutreach.org), and hope to scale up their capacity to develop better pumps for organizations that provide water.
They are building two prototypes of the second-generation design and plan to take them to Africa for testing in January. After following up with a pilot program of more pumps to ensure the design is working, they’ll scale up production.
They plan to unveil one of the new pump designs at Mudlove in Downtown Warsaw Dec. 1 from 6 to 8 p.m. Mudlove, a ceramic jewelry store that raises money for ICDI and is owned by Abe’s brother Luke Wright, is at 122 S. Buffalo St.
The new model will be on display for visitors to “turn the handle” and see how it works, Abe Wright said. A team in Columbus, Ohio, will also be displaying the other model that day.
“This will be a time to recognize the work of our volunteer team and to celebrate this major accomplishment,” Abe Wright said.[[In-content Ad]]
Engineers from DePuy Orthopaedics and others from Ohio and Kansas worked with Integrated Community Development International to design the well pump over several weeks and installed it in the Central African Republic in late August 2011. The pump provides clean drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people.
“We installed that pump and came back from the trip committed to do even more,” said Abe Wright, an ICDI board member and DePuy senior project engineer. “We took the lessons learned from the first pump and have spent this last year designing and manufacturing a new and improved pump.”
He said their goal is to design a pump that will last longer and reach water in deeper wells, something that will last not just years but decades.
The need became apparent after talks with other nonprofits, like World Vision and Living Water International, who said they have issues with failures of current pump designs.
“Failure of water pumps is a big issue and there is a big need for a new hand powered water pump,” Wright said. “We hope to be part of the solution.”
He said his group started a new nonprofit called Design Outreach (www.DOutreach.org), and hope to scale up their capacity to develop better pumps for organizations that provide water.
They are building two prototypes of the second-generation design and plan to take them to Africa for testing in January. After following up with a pilot program of more pumps to ensure the design is working, they’ll scale up production.
They plan to unveil one of the new pump designs at Mudlove in Downtown Warsaw Dec. 1 from 6 to 8 p.m. Mudlove, a ceramic jewelry store that raises money for ICDI and is owned by Abe’s brother Luke Wright, is at 122 S. Buffalo St.
The new model will be on display for visitors to “turn the handle” and see how it works, Abe Wright said. A team in Columbus, Ohio, will also be displaying the other model that day.
“This will be a time to recognize the work of our volunteer team and to celebrate this major accomplishment,” Abe Wright said.[[In-content Ad]]
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