Abstract:
Manual power generation can be used as one of the power sources at household
levels to fulfill the energy demand of a developing country such as Sri Lanka.
People waste their energy very often during their day to day activities such as
exercising, to have a healthy life. If these waste energy could be harnessed for
’ useful work, it can be used as clean energy while saving money on energy and to
reduce excessive energy stored in many people, especially who are categorized as
obese. This project aims at introducing a new solution to pump water and as well as
to be used in blender machines. This is achieved by pedal power devices such as
exercise machines, bicycles or any other form.
Developed human powered water pump could be connected to the pedal power of
foot bicycles. The primary purpose of this is to demonstrate the possibility of
implementing off-grid pumping systems through affordable and healthy exercising
and daily working. When desired, the dual-purpose bicycle can be converted from
its transportation mode to its pedal powered mode, or vice versa within a matter of
minutes. A counter type blender which is commonly available in the market can be
easily operated by pedal power or hand power.
When designing these systems, materials and performance were optimized, to grant
them as sustainable designs. It should be noted that the design criteria, used
materials, and the adopted procedures in manufacturing may be modified to suit
local situations. Low cost, readily available materials and standard bicycle parts
were used so that they could be replaced whenever needed.
People on rural parts of the country can generate their own power with an effort of
their leg movements and the people on urban areas can recover lost energy while
they are on exercising with fitness equipments. Hence, the human energy which is
readily available can be used as an alternative energy source for many household
requirements.
