Plas lastic ic Bag g Rec ecycling ling Rope Weaver Hot Rods - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Plas lastic ic Bag g Rec ecycling ling Rope Weaver Hot Rods 2.009 RedA Team October 4, 2007 1

Hot Rods Hot Hot Rods ods Rollers with Enclosed Heating Elements Human Powered Crank Rollers fuse bags Versatile Plastic Sheeting 2

Hot Rods Crit itical ical Modules odules Heating Element • Video 3

Hot Rods Crit itical ical Modules odules Roller Mechanism 4

Hot Rods Tec echnical hnical Requir equirement ements • Wattmeter: ~400W • Presently, this is too Much Power! ility. • Energy Needed: 6kJ/ft 2 • Speed: 2 ft/min Power Needed: ~200W 5

Hot Rods Opt Optimiz imization ion • Temperature Control: • Exactly how much power? • How long will rollers stay hot? • Alternate Sources of Energy • Charcoal • Electricity • Human Power 6

Plastic Bag Recycling Tar arget get Cus ustomer omer Lome, Togo • Population: 850,000 • Specifically: urban slum Forever “ … major source of pollution in virtually every country in Africa … ” Figure: Nations Online 7

Plastic Bag Recycling Cus ustomer omer Needs Needs § Significant Reduction in Pollution “ … the main issue is getting the plastic bags off the street … ” --Meghan, IIJD Bag Recycling Client 8

Plastic Bag Recycling Cus ustomer omer Needs Needs § Produce a product people could find a use for immediately “ … people use them almost as suitcases … ” “ … if you make cheap rope, people will find a use for it … ” 9

Plastic Bag Recycling Cus ustomer omer Needs Needs § Promotes employment and improved economic conditions “ … finding people to [make] the products shouldn ’ t be an issue at all … ” • Additional Needs: Local Energy 10

Current Technology: Plas lastic ic Sheet heeting ing Engineers Without Borders: Ghana, adjacent to Togo Figures: Ramanathan, 2007 11

Plastic Bag Recycling Conc onclus lusion ion • Clean up the streets of Lome • Provide useful consumer goods • Promote Economic Activity Rope Weaver Hot Rods 12

Plastic Bag Recycling Ref efer erences ences 1.) Nation ’ s Online. Republic of Togo , 2007. http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/togo.htm. 2.) Ramanathan, Aparna. Community Fieldwork: Water Sachet Recycling . August 30, 2007. 3.) Schacht Spindle. The Incredible Rope Machine , 2006. http://www.schachtspindle.com/products/weaving/ropemachine.htm 13

Hot Rods Human Human Power er Feas easibilit ibility • Fit humans can sustain 200W for up to 1 hour • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgRFPpZGx8Y 14