Testing the pipe bending device

Das Kupferrohr wird mit Sand befüllt, so soll eine zu starke Belastung des Materials beim Biegen verhindert werden.
The copper pipe is filled with sand to avoid putting a too heavy load on the material while bending it.

On November 3rd, the SoWaDi team and the rest of the Darmstadt regional group of Engineers without Borders traveled to the St. Michael Guest House located in Mossautal, a small village situated in the Odenwald.

Regional Group Weekend – Along with the opportunity to play games and having fun getting to know one another better, the team also had the chance to work more intensively on their project. In addition to the long-term planning of SoWaDi’s development goals, the main focus of the weekend  was to improve the effectiveness of the pipe bending device: Lying at the heart of the current project phase, a few minor construction vulnerabilities of the plant that were discovered from the last visit to Tanzania in January are being evaluated. It is of particular interest that all of the new implementations will be easily understood by those constructing the plant in Tanzania who lack the context of the new design process. Improving the pipe bending device will aid in efficiently bending the copper tube situated underneath the absorber in which the disinfected water will travel through. In Tanzania, it was also discovered that a slightly thinner copper pipe contributed to kinking of the tube which reduced flow and output of the plant. To mitigate this problem, several solutions have been developed and were tested during the Regional Group Weekend which was not only fun for all the team members but also proved to be successful in moving them closer to their goals.

The bended pipe is checked for constrictions.

Now, all that is left is to evaluate is to see whether these solutions are practical to apply for the full length of the pipe. Results of this development are planned to be announced later this January when whole sections of the plant that integrate these new features will be reconstructed. This outcome was a result of the long-term planning discussed during the Regional Group Weekend. Until April, the focus will be on repairing all of the system’s vulnerabilities in which, till then, will conclude the current phase of the project. Afterwards, the departure to test these implications abroad for the beginning of 2019 will be planned.