Sustainable Design Update

Shape Memory Fan Schematic

This idea for a fan that changes shape with temperature could be adapted to room fans, air conditioners, airplanes (cool dense air needs less of a push for the same reaction).  More information is available from Yet2.com

From Yet2.com:

The morphing of the shape of a fan’s blade with environmental temperature can optimize the pushing effect of the fan on the medium (e.g. air, water, fluid etc.) with the environmental temperature. In cases where the physical properties of the medium change or when, due to lower temperatures of a device environment, there’s no need to further cool down the system thus, the pushing force can be lowered. In cases where the speed of the fan cannot be modified (e.g. cooling fans attached to the engine in tractors), it is possible to obtain a variable output of air flow depending on temperature morphing the shape of the blades by Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) materials embedded in the blade itself or discretely placed in the in the shaft of the blade. In this way the device changes shape when the shape memory material changes its properties with the temperature of a given environmental. Such a device is not externally power supplied and is thus economic, reliable and simple.

Benefits Summary

Self adaptive to the environmental temperature with no need of external control and no need to supply power o repetitive work, reliable, long lasting more

Development Summary

Shape Memory Alloys are a well known and commercial technology. They are made in different shapes and with different transition temperatures. The technology to realize composite material with SMA wire embedded is known, and the integration of discrete devices as in the case of the shaft is technologically easy. more

IP Summary

This technology is supported by 1 US patent and 1 European patent. The most recent year of issue is 2003. more

San Marcos La Laguna

Today I will be posting from San Marcos, Guatetmala. There will be a tour of alternative construction projects in the area and I will be posting some photos and possibly an interview from this beautiful site.

The tour is from 2:00 to 4:00 local time so you may want to check back in on Sunday or Monday.

Cheers from a very sunny San Marcos

jsbarrie

Originally uploaded by aboutguatemala.

Alex Steffan

The 2009 O’Reilly Emerging Technology Conference had a strong sustainability theme this year. One of my favorite prognosticators, Worldchanging Executive Editor Alex Steffen keynoted last Tuesday with some simple and clear rules for the future of sustainable design.

Background: About half the population of the planet is under 35, with most of them live in the developing world. They are looking at how we the affluent live as a model to emulate. (!) We know that if everyone lived like the average American, we would need 5-6 planets to sustain us all. It isn’t really fair to ask them not to do the things we do so….. we gotta look at how we make and consume things very closely if we don’t want to par-boil the planet.

Steffen suggests we lead by example following a few sensible rules for the design, production and lifecycle of the things we consume.

From Inhabitat, products should be designed to be:

Open:

We need to have more transparency in all aspects of our society. This means holding not just our elected officials and corporations accountable, but also holding one another accountable. Alex called for greater product transparency (where are things made, by whom, using what materials?) and touched upon the surging field of water and power monitors as encouraging people to consume less resources. If people know more about the products and services they consume, then they will make more sustainable choices.

Smart:

We need to develop smarter systems that cut down on “stupid waste” and change the way things work. Smart solutions include establishing a price on CO2, installing smart grids and electric vehicle infrastructure, and pay-as-you go car insurance.

Compact:

Dense and well designed communities are the singe best investment that we can make in the US. If our communities are more compact we’ll save money and materials that would have been spent on roads, buildings and power lines, drive less, and have more time to spend with our families and friends.

Green:

Rather than treating natural flows as problems we should use them to improve our lives. Instead of investing in mechanical air conditioning and ventilation, we should design passive houses that work with the sun’s cycles. Other solutions include rainwater harvesting, lunar resonant streetlights, and biomass energy generation.

Remade:

Products should be designed to last and be easily repaired, tools and other goods should be shared, and we should follow cradle-to-cradle design principles such as design for disassembly and product lifecycles that continue past their initial form.

Reconnected:

We need to re-consider and re-make what real happiness is, be more contemplative of obligations that go beyond ourselves, and get better at sharing innovations across borders.

More at:  Inhabitat

Treadle Pump Prototype

A team of students from the University of Michigan BLUELab produced their first prototype of a treadle pump in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala last week. There are currently many treadle pumps patented and manufactured by NGOs, but the BLUELab pump is unique in that all the drawings and specifications are available online for free. The goal is to get many NGOs the capacity to manufacture these life enhancing pumps and to have them produced in the countries where they will be used.

The Appropriate Technology Collaborative worked with the BLUELab students providing the design challenge and the opportunity to build their design in a developing country. ATC chose to build the project in Guatemala to simulate building in the countries where the pump will be most appropriate (sub Saharan Africa, South Asia). Guatemala offers the challenge of building with limited resources without the expense and carbon emissions associated with traveling to and building in Tanzania for example.

A shout out to the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group – Guatemala office, for hosting ATC and BLUELab for the project build. The experience was incredible, the design team worked long hours adapting their design to locally available materials and conditions and produced a working prototype. BLUELab has already started the process of taking what they have learned in Guatemala to improve the design of the pump. The revised drawings will be made available online as soon as they are completed.

The value of Open Source design is that intellectual property and information can be spread quickly. Already there have been inquiries into the pump design from an NGO in Liberia and the pump isn’t yet published on the ATC website. This inquiry is a good indicator of interest in open source appropriate technology design.

Photos from the Treadle Pump Workshop 2009 are available at Picassa BLUELab Photos