EcoHouse Research

Tash Perros (MEng, 2013)

 

EcoHouse have been working with TECHO to improve the design and manufacture of the houses. One idea the Initiative has been exploring is that of the Mobile Factory for Ecuador. In Ecuador, an outsourced factory in the North of Quito currently manufactures the floor and wall panels. They are then transported to the construction sites on flatbed trucks. The collective effort thus far has led EcoHouse and TECHO to conclude that significant benefits could be gained by replacing the external panel manufacturers with a ‘mobile factory’, owned and run by TECHO, that travels to each transitional house construction site and engages members of the beneficiary community in the manufacture of the house panels from raw materials. This could improve the efficiency and social efficacy of the supply chain, whilst also making financial savings for TECHO by reducing their level of payment to external vendors.

From August-October 2012 a team of 11 EcoHouse members travelled to Quito to work with TECHO. As a result a new version of the mobile factory project emerged: a mobile factory that works with rural and urban communities to manufacture and distribute cheap renewable technologies. This is intended to be implemented alongside the original TECHO panel manufacturing Mobile Factory, which is due to be trialled in 2014. From here on this novel idea will be referred to as “the mobile factory”.

 

The advantages of the mobile factory are:

1. EDUCATIONAL - people working with the mobile factory would learn technological and manufacturing skills.

2. FINANCIAL - the mobile factory is designed so that one of its strengths is that it is financially self‐sustaining. It also gives people access to technologies that they otherwise would not be able to afford.

3. COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT - the mobile factory encourages people to work together.

4. ENTREPRENEURIAL - the mobile factory could help spawn microenterprises, generating significant income for groups of individuals.

5. GEOGRAPHICALLY PENETRATING - Because the factory is mobile, it can reach rural and urban communities all over Ecuador.

 

A cheap solar water heater was designed which can be built using only simple tools by people with no prior manufacturing experience. The cost of this in Ecuador was estimated to be US$68.

 

On a sunny day in the UK a half-scale prototype of the heater heated water up to around 40°C over the course of 6 hours, which is considerably less than the predicted value of 68°C. However condensation formed on the parts of the plastic cover, which obscured the reflectors from the sun. A factor of 0.6 was applied to the efficiencies of the side and end collectors to compensate for this, which made the heat transfer model predictions and the results match extremely closely. When the same factor of 0.6 was incorporated into the heat transfer method for a full scale model in Ecuador the water was predicted to heat up to 47°C. The condensation problem could be solved by ensuring there was no moisture inside the heater before sealing it; if this was carried out then the maximum temperature in Ecuador should be higher than 47°C.

 

WAPI manufacture was researched. The feasibility of manufacturing in Ecuador was considered. It was found that in high volumes (>1100 units) local manufacture was economically viable.

 

An implementation plan that has the potential financially sustainable was developed. This relies upon the mobile factory selling and distributing core technologies for the products (insulation for the heater and WAPIs for the pasteuriser), making a small profit from each unit to pay for its running costs.

 

Even if the full scheme is not implemented, the work undertaken is still worthwhile, particularly the design of the heater. By making it open source, individuals all over the world can copy the design and manufacture their own solar water heaters. The only thing that would need to change is the angle of inclination, which depends on geographical positioning. The design could also be introduced to NGOs such as Fedeta who already distribute renewable technologies around Ecuador.