Post on 11-Jan-2016
A new resource for arid zones
The draught animal power for producing electricity to feed water lifting pumps and other appliances
The transformation of the mechanical pumps, moved by draught animal power, in electro
mechanical pumps will increase the availability of water resources in developing
countires
The draught animal power is largely available in rural areas of developing countries. According to University of Edinburg evaluations, more than two hundred millions animals are engaged in agriculture in developing countries
A significant part of them is engaged in the lifting of water with
traditional mechanical systems
The technical improvement of these equipments is obtainable through the
transformation in electricity of the pulling power of the animal walking on a round path
This becames possible with a gear system that increase the number of round per minutes of the system up to a speed
sufficient to move an electric generator that feed the pump with electric energy
With these systems the water is lifted by a pump that is connected to the equipment with an electric cable and this makes very simple
the use of animal power for lifting water
The system to produce electricity utilize an equipment developed in Italy that is more
efficient of the approximately thirty types of equipment patented in several countries in the
last few decades
The Italian system is several time more economic than a photovoltaic generator and most of its costs are local costs and then there is not need of expenditures of
foreign currency
If we consider that most of the animals are engaged in agriculture only for one hundred and twenty days a year, we can appreciate the fact that the real cost is only that of a
bigger ratio of feed in the working day: really a negligible cost!
The production of electric energy with draught animal power is more appropriate than the more expensive connection to the
electric grid or photovoltaic, the less available wind energy and hydroelectric
power, the more fragile fuel engines
The advantages in the use electric pumps, better then mechanical pumps, are several
Furthermore, excess electric power could be used for medical devices (such as
surgical equipments and small refrigerators for vaccines), for lighting in schools, for
PCs to be used for education, telecommunication and also for TV and
radio sets
It is estimated that approximately one billion people has not access to water of good
quality. This people who would benefit of the proposed technology are those living in communities where is available the animal
working force. As above said animals engaged in agriculture are estimated
approximately at 250 million
The potential health benefits supplied by the system could be evaluated following the
table here shown.The table is published in the volume of
WHO Safer Water, Better Healthhttp://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/
2008/9789241596435_eng.pdf
Passing from the only drinking consumption to personal hygiene and clean food
preparation allows to reduce the risks of diarrhoea, malnutrition, intestinal nematode
infection, lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis, trachoma, malaria, dengue, Japanese echephalitis and
onchocerciasis
Generally speaking water is collected by women, water resources are public and
animals are private.All this elements should be coordinated for
an efficient management of the water resources
The initial steps to implement this technology is to open local workshops to produce locally the equipments, to start
with vocational training of people engaged in the projects and to crate technical
assistance team for the coordiination of the management of water resources and
animals
An e-learning process could be very useful for the transfer of the best practices to the training people engaged in the vocational
training of the farmers
One or more logistic centres should be implemented for the supply of those
equipment not easily available in the village