Investigation, development and testing of a low cost Solar Heat Barrow (SHB) and purifier

TITLE: INVESTIGATION, DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF A LOW COST SOLAR HEAT BARROW (SHB) AND PURIFIER. AUTHOR: DANIEL FRANCOIS LE ROUX PROMOTOR: PROF. E.H. MATHEWS SCHOOL: MECHANICAL AND MATERIALS ENGINEERING FACULTY: ENGINEERING DEGREE: MASTERS OF ENGINEERING SEARCH TERMS: SOLAR HEAT BARROW (SHB), WATER PURIFICATION DISPENSER, WATER TRANSPORTER, RURAL COMMUNITIES, ENERGY EFFICIENCY. SOCIOECONOMIC STUDIES, BUSINESS POTENTIAL Many rural communities in South Africa do not have running water or electricity. The fetching and heating of water is therefore a time consuming and expensive daily ritual. The use of energy sources such as wood or coal are not readily available and cause environmental pollution. Although solar water heaters are commonly available in South Africa, they are very seldom used in rural areas. Whilst this can mostly be attributed to a high system cost, current designs also do not cater for specific rural problems such as the transporting or purification of water. A prototype model, designed with such an approach in mind, has already been constructed by TEMM International (Pty.) Ltd. The Solar Heat Barrow (SHB) was developed in the 1992 to 2003 period with the intention of combining a number of functions at low cost. Specific requirements were: low cost, a suitable design and materials for manufacture in large volume, sufficiently durable taking into account the harsh conditions of use. suitability for cases where no in-house piped water supply was available, the use of appropriate technology and the improvement of quality of life.