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(AWDS) Josh Charney, Devin Esch, Jacob Younger W
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Past Work Current Need Current Design - A number of different water transportation carts were designed previously to
help persons with disabilities (PWD’s)
transport water in jerry cans.
- In West Africa, a person must carry water an average of 3.7
miles from a community well to their homes. The jerry
cans weigh about 50 lbs. when filled, and persons with disabilities (PWD’s) have trouble transporting the water and
are therefore viewed as useless in their communities.
- The current water carts are too expensive to manufacture
and purchase, with much of the cost coming from the tires.
- Need to improve stability,
- A strong rebar frame for the water cart
significantly decreases costs and makes
manufacturing easier.
- A cart that can hold two jerry cans (above) has been prototyped.
- Rebar wheels were tested, but were difficult to bend into a circle.
- 1 inch flat bar is much easier to bend for the rim and provides
greater stability, and 3 rebar spokes provide the necessary
strength.
durability, and reduce
costs.
- Must be able to traverse
rough terrain and be useful
for people with various
different disabilities.
- Past designs of the water transportation
cart utilized bicycle wheels and steel
tube frames.
- Multiple site trips to West Africa were
taken by the AWDS team and the water
carts were found to be very useful for
PWD’s, but were too expensive to buy
and difficult for the artisans to manufacture.
- A fixture (left) was made for the
flat bar wheel to insure that each
one was made accurately.
- Welded tread was added to the flat
bar wheels to increase traction in
the sandy soil of West Africa.
- A bent rebar handle (right) was
added to allow for easier transport tation for PWD’s. This handle also
Wheel Design Progression keeps the jerry can level and
prevents it from hitting the ground.
Bike Tire Wheel Rebar Wheel Flat Bar Wheel Acknowledgements Future The work of AWDS is made possible by a partnership with World Vision and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. We would like to thank the following individuals for their leadership in the project:
We have decided to go forward with creating water carts for two jerry cans with a rebar
frame and flat bar wheels. These are the easiest and cheapest carts to make, and will be
attractive to people without disabilities as well. Two site team trips to Ghana will take
place this summer to assess additional need and to introduce our new designs.
- Nathaniel Kamban, Tony Beers, Dr. W. Ray Norman, Evie Telfer, Dr. Lamarr Widmer, and
Dr. Angela Hare
Project Advisors: Dr. Soerens