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News Release from: World Leadership Forum
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 19 July 2005
Nottingham students up for SET Awards
When a team of Nottingham engineering students was asked to help Ghana harvest its palm nuts, their solution was breathtakingly simple.
When a team of Nottingham engineering students was asked to help Ghana harvest its palm nuts, their solution was breathtakingly simple Rejecting 21st Century technology, they turned instead to the humble bicycle, showing villagers how to pedal their way to greater efficiencies
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 28 Sep 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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Complex technologies which rely on electrical power can be of little use in the developing world, and the students knew they had to find a solution which used only the most basic components and power sources.
The fruit and oil of the African oil palm (Elaesis guineensis) is used in many African dishes.
Villagers usually remove the oil from the fibrous outer casing by pounding the nuts with rocks.
Team member Susannah Grundy said: "At first we tried to crack the nuts with a simple press, but that didn't work very well, so we came up with a bicycle powered mangle".
"The palm nuts are placed in a hopper above the rollers and, as the pedals go round, the husks are removed, leaving the kernels ready to have the oil extracted".
The prototype will now be tested and improved before being sent to Ghana by the charity Engineers Without Borders.
It won't be the first time that old technology has tackled a modern problem in Africa.
In 1991, Trevor Baylis designed an ingenious clockwork radio that transformed the lives of people with no access to electricity.
Lecturer Dr Mike Clifford, who oversaw the project, said: "Projects such as this need far more than an excellent knowledge of mechanical engineering".
"These students have demonstrated a willingness to put themselves in the place of someone living in the developing world and build an understanding of what solutions are needed to make their lives better".
The University of Nottingham is so impressed with the project that it has entered it for the national SET (Science, Engineering and Technology Student of the Year) Awards, which will be presented in, London's Guildhall in September.
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