Engineers work to refine solar powered water pump
Mon, 13 Mar 2017 15:37:00 GMT
Engineers at the University of Huddersfield are working with Todmorden-based Longcroft Engineering to refine the company’s solar-powered water pump designed for use in third world countries.
The project was initiated by the late Longcroft chairman, Dennis Carey, who began with the idea of creating solar-powered pumps for use by farmers in dry climates to extract water from wells.
With the computer technology available at the time, Mr Carey didn’t get the opportunity to progress his idea from anything beyond a prototype. His daughter, Sue Becconsall, took on the project again after her father’s death in 2012 and was awarded £47,000 of funding from the Small Business Research Initiative programme in conjunction with the Department for International Development to help develop the device.
With this funding, Ms Becconsall took the concept to Professor John Allport of the Turbocharger Research Institute at the University of Huddersfield, who has since been improving the design using 3D computational models.
Professor Allport said: “From his original notes and his prototypes, we’ve more or less reverse engineered the system to create a computer simulation of it, allowing us to better understand how it works.”
The team has been able to produce an improved prototype which has encouraged them to apply for further funding. Ms Becconsall said: “Phase two funding is to produce a pre-production full-size prototype of the pump, which we will then need to demonstrate to assessors from funding bodies that it works.”
The phase two application which will cement a grant of £250,000, if successful.
Professor Allport said: “We’re really enjoying working on it because it’s something completely different. Knowing the product could go to help people in developing countries is one of the real attractions of it. It’s still an ongoing project that’s by no means finished but we’ve started something that could really make a difference and we’re just hoping we can continue.”
