Gravity Assisted Water Filtration Model for Flood Affected Areas of Pakistan: An Experimental Study

Abstract

-Natural calamities are always uncertain and out of human control and their effects are sometimes long lasting. Drinking water scarcity is one of these effects which badly creates a lot of health issues and even may take someone to death. Especially in flood affected areas where there is a lot of water but not drink worthy. A very easy and cost effective solution of drinking water problem for human needs is demonstrated and investigated in this study. The concept of gravity assisted power is introduced here for the purpose of producing drinking water. The oscillation of a pendulum is the main driving force for the operation. The shaft of the pendulum is linked with a custom made reciprocating piston pump through a scotch yoke mechanism. The effect of pendulum mass and its length on the volume of water filtered is investigated in this study. The filtered water discharge increased as the mass of the pendulum is increased with the increase in its length within the experimental range. The maximum flow rate is recorded as 4.2 l/min. The present prototype in this study presents an easy and cost effective solution for the human needs of drinking water especially in flood affected areas where there is plenty of water but not drinkable.