Design and construction of a pedal powered water pump.

Abstract

The needs of water in Uganda are increasingly becoming versatile. For example, apart from using water for domestic purposes, water is also needed in farms for irrigation due to climatic change chat does -make rainfall suffice crop growing throughout the year. For most of the systems, supply of water calls for a means of pumping it to greater heights which in turn necessitates the availability of a pump. Various pumps are used worldwide ranging from simple water lifts still being used in some parts of the world like Egypt and India to sophisticated modern water pumps. This study proposes the development of a manual powered impeller water pump operated by pedals and cranks to help solve the water Lifting and pumping problems in Uganda rural communities. Included is the general information relevant to the research topic while clearly showing the problem of interest for the intended research. It as well shows how this study, will help reduce the water problem through the fulfilment of a number of objectives and activities. Furthermore, it gives the current situation of water abundance in Uganda with the main source of information being the existing literatures written by other scholars that ha.ve been involved with design of water pumps or similar nature and magnitude giving an account of the existing models with emphasis on their draw backs, operation modes, testing and economic analysis. with reference to the proposed pump prototype. The study goes through the design and selection of the different components of the prototype and assembling of the prototype. After construction; it was. tested and the preliminary testing results are also included in the text. The overall project Evaluation and the weaknesses of the design are included in here and the possible solutions in form of recommendations for future designers.