Rowan engineering team piloting program in India
Rowan engineering team piloting program in India
December 19, 2008
When travelers pack a bicycle for a trip to a foreign land, it tends to be with the intent of seeing the country up close and personal.
Not so for Dr. Beena Sukumaran and Kevin McGarvey, who will cart a bicycle with them when they spend the New Year in India, half a world away from their homes in Gloucester County, N.J.
The Rowan University College of Engineering duo is heading to Madurai in the southern part of India to conduct a pilot study of a pedal-powered grain-crushing device that Sukumaran, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, and her students, including graduate student McGarvey, have been working on for the last two years as part of a Rowan Engineering clinic.
Sukumaran, of Washington Township, and McGarvey, of Monroe Township, will be partnering with the India-based Dhan Foundation to determine the viability of two devices. The first device features an aluminum grain crusher that attaches to a 26-inch bicycle, which is mounted on a stand. As a rider pedals, the back wheel moves a contact element that turns a pulley that moves plates in the crusher to process food from large to fine pieces suitable for cooking. The second device has pedals attached directly to the grain crusher. Variations of grain crushers do exist, but they generally feature store-bought, hand-operated grinders that are very labor intensive.
They Rowan team hopes the fairly simple mechanical devices can make a difference for people in developing countries, enabling them to easily process anything from corn to barley and possibly make a living by crushing grains for other people as well.
"We're taking these different models and we're going to get local folks there to use them and give us feedback. Also, we're looking to see if they'll manufacture them locally," said Sukumaran, who explained the Dhan Foundation tries to find local partners to help develop innovative projects for the poor in India.
Sukumaran has had several inquires since the Rowan Engineering pedal-powered grain crusher first received attention last year. Among them was a Fulton, New York-based church that contacted her to see if any grain crushers had been manufactured and whether they could obtain some for villages they work with in Africa, and a firm in Tucson, Az., that approached her about manufacturing the device.
According to the professor, the team has worked with Rowan's Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship on a business plan and is considering patenting the device, which she estimates will cost under $200.
Sukumaran said the project is the first in what she hopes will be Rowan's own "Engineering Innovators Without Borders," a technical-business take on Doctors Without BordersTM and Engineers Without BordersTM, in which Rowan has been active for several years.
"It's pretty satisfying I would say. I think the credit goes to the students," Sukumaran said. She noted her team also is exploring other design ideas for Third World use, including a tree climber that will make it safer for people to climb such things as palm and coconut trees to pick food.
Added McGarvey, who has worked on the project since fall 2007 and will be taking his first trip outside of the United States, "This project helps people by providing entrepreneurial opportunities in developing countries. It also provides a faster and less strenuous method of grinding grain. I am both excited and nervous about participating in the pilot study. I believe it will go well and be an experience to remember."
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Not so for Dr. Beena Sukumaran and Kevin McGarvey, who will cart a bicycle with them when they spend the New Year in India, half a world away from their homes in Gloucester County, N.J.
The Rowan University College of Engineering duo is heading to Madurai in the southern part of India to conduct a pilot study of a pedal-powered grain-crushing device that Sukumaran, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, and her students, including graduate student McGarvey, have been working on for the last two years as part of a Rowan Engineering clinic.
Sukumaran, of Washington Township, and McGarvey, of Monroe Township, will be partnering with the India-based Dhan Foundation to determine the viability of two devices. The first device features an aluminum grain crusher that attaches to a 26-inch bicycle, which is mounted on a stand. As a rider pedals, the back wheel moves a contact element that turns a pulley that moves plates in the crusher to process food from large to fine pieces suitable for cooking. The second device has pedals attached directly to the grain crusher. Variations of grain crushers do exist, but they generally feature store-bought, hand-operated grinders that are very labor intensive.
They Rowan team hopes the fairly simple mechanical devices can make a difference for people in developing countries, enabling them to easily process anything from corn to barley and possibly make a living by crushing grains for other people as well.
"We're taking these different models and we're going to get local folks there to use them and give us feedback. Also, we're looking to see if they'll manufacture them locally," said Sukumaran, who explained the Dhan Foundation tries to find local partners to help develop innovative projects for the poor in India.
Sukumaran has had several inquires since the Rowan Engineering pedal-powered grain crusher first received attention last year. Among them was a Fulton, New York-based church that contacted her to see if any grain crushers had been manufactured and whether they could obtain some for villages they work with in Africa, and a firm in Tucson, Az., that approached her about manufacturing the device.
According to the professor, the team has worked with Rowan's Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship on a business plan and is considering patenting the device, which she estimates will cost under $200.
Sukumaran said the project is the first in what she hopes will be Rowan's own "Engineering Innovators Without Borders," a technical-business take on Doctors Without BordersTM and Engineers Without BordersTM, in which Rowan has been active for several years.
"It's pretty satisfying I would say. I think the credit goes to the students," Sukumaran said. She noted her team also is exploring other design ideas for Third World use, including a tree climber that will make it safer for people to climb such things as palm and coconut trees to pick food.
Added McGarvey, who has worked on the project since fall 2007 and will be taking his first trip outside of the United States, "This project helps people by providing entrepreneurial opportunities in developing countries. It also provides a faster and less strenuous method of grinding grain. I am both excited and nervous about participating in the pilot study. I believe it will go well and be an experience to remember."
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