Mali field test...

Thom has returned from Mali with over 400 images and video of the prototype being tested... I will post images soon!

TEDx Columbus - now online!

10 minutes to tell our story...

End to End test

This was the first end to end test of the stripper/thresher/winnower.

Dare I say...fabulous!

Thom had an moment of inspiration while tearing apart his dryer to fix it...he found a little plastic fan that put out LOTS of air with LITTLE movement. The yellow rig you see in the video is a hand cranked fertilizer applicator...not the final thing, but a HUGE leap forward...

Thom will be backing up the system, and himself, for a trip to Mali in December to test the system in remote villages. The system will most likely stay there, and we will continue to refine based on user feedback.

In the meantime, we await the first harvest of fresh millet from the USDA to validate the yield and time estimates...

TEDx Columbus

Thanks to all who came out to see the first TEDx Columbus to hear our little story!

I had lots to say, and only 10 minutes to say it, so I hope it all came out clearly...

I will post the videos as soon as they are ready...

Big thanks to Thom and Jeff for all the hard work, and to all the other people who have helped make this idea into something bigger...it will surely make a difference in the lives of others...

This is good stuff...

Winnower Prototype Test

It took some time, but our boy Thom created a winnower prototype that works like a charm! Built from simple PVC tube and a blower, Thom played with the tube diameter and air velocity until he dialed in the perfect airflow. Next step is to create a human powered way (hand or pedal) to provide the constant airflow (no easy task...too much air blows the seed out the top, too little does not winnow the material).







This is what threshed material looked like prior:




This is the remaining chaff:

And this is the winnowed seed:

Thom Rules!!!

Feed bin with integrated stripping

This direction looked promising, so I built a mock up to show what the final design might look like. The blue mesh on the rollers represents ex-met. One idea was to have a single roller with ex-met and rubber combined to give extra grip to the stripping end (bottom image).

V3 prototypes

Many thanks to Doug and Chris for stopping by and helping knock out some stripping/threshing prototypes!

Earlier in the week we had a idea session with a larger team, and today we mocked up some of the concepts to see how they worked:

Concept 1: "aperture" - A series of wires wound to create a sharp stripping edge while allowing for various sized panicles to be inserted. Image shows prototype and results.


Concept 2: "tube" - Beveled hole on curved surface to guide stripped material into thersher.

Concept 3: "pie tin" - Single hole in chamber to hold stripped material and then be dumped into thresher.

Breakthrough! - After mocking these up, we were wrestling with how to integrate the stripper into the existing roller assembly without having to force the user to insert or remove new pieces or re-position the system. It occured to us that we could utilize a smaller section of the rollers to integrate the stripping feature into the feed bin. This would allow the panicle to be stripped and the material to fall directly in to the rollers. Feeding the system one panicle at a time also "self metered" the amount of material fed into the rollers. We also added a guide at the bottom to separate the used panicle from the material.


This is a video of the 1st test:

Resulting millet, hand winnowed with cardboard:

Delivered!

The thresher prototypes have been delivered to CTI, and on to General Mills for testing. General Mills will send a system to Africa, and we will be building the 3rd generation system over the summer. We are planning to accompany our little V3 thresher to Mali to see it being used in context, but have alot of work to do in the meantime...

Build'n

Thom, Jeff and I spent Saturday morning at the workshop hammering out the last few details of the duplicate thresher.




After picking up the final parts, I worked for the better part of Sunday to assemble both units to make sure everything was working.



Once completed, I tore everything down and built a shipping crate. 4 hours later (design on the fly!) it was finished. I was able to fit both threshers (with stands) and all the residual parts in a 36"x24"x24" crate. What it lacks in size, it makes up for in weight...


If all goes well, it will be shipped Monday or Tuesday, and we can start planning with CTI about the next generation system. In the meantime, Thom will be playing with some interesting ideas that are a departure from the current direction, but could result in a substantial reduction in size, complexity and cost.

It was a lot of fun to be working on this project in a community workshop, as it gives others a chance to see what is going on and share in the positive energy!

Project number 2...

Over the summer we will be starting a project with Don Schoendorfer of the Free Wheelchair Mission, helping him refine a second generation wheelchair.

Need to be inspired to do good things? Take a moment and read about Don's story here

This will be a summer of growth for OneLab...bigger space, bigger teams, bigger dreams...


I have no idea where this is going or what it will look like in the end, but I know it feels right...

Our new home...

We stumbled onto a great little community workshop in Columbus called "The Idea Foundry" founded by some local engineers.

"The Idea Foundry is a community workshop, learning center, and occasional art gallery located in Columbus, OH. We are a collection of students, professionals, artists, engineers, and general creative enthusiasts who wish to bring imagination to reality. "

Thom and I stopped in to see what it was all about and noticed some key features right away:

#1 - a well stocked workshop with all sorts of tools...




#2 - A computer lab...


#3 - Pet rats...



and last but not least....HEAT!!!!!


Needless to say, Thom and I were all in, and are pleased to announce that this will be the new home for the OneLab Initiative! We look forward to working side by side with others in the community who want to make a difference, and are excited to contribute to the positive energy this place has!

100% yield!?!

During late March, Erv from CTI (in the black hat) visited our little workshop.




During the visit, we broke out in to a brainstorming session (sidewalk chalk and the garage floor) and threw around some ideas for reducing the number of "brokens" (cracked grain). Erv flew back to CTI headquarters and got right to work building some of the ideas. Apparently, one of the ideas produced a 100% yield (no brokens) which is a pretty big deal! If this is the case, and we can successfully implement this on a device, the thresher would allow villages to produce 70% more grain from the same amount of land! Not bad for 4 guys freezing in a garage!

Millet shortage...

Our original goal was to ship the thresher prototype to Mali at the beginning of May for testing. However, it seems that all the millet in Mali has been threshed since last falls harvest, so there was not much material to test. CTI decided to postpone the ship date until the fall, which will give the team the summer to further refine the prototype, as well as save our pennies so we can hopefully tag along!

Back in the saddle...

I am back in the saddle after some much needed time off. This was the first two week vacation I have ever taken...by the middle of the first week, I had forgotten what time/day/week it was...

I am amazed at how long a day is when not measured in Outlook meeting requests...

Day two...

Day two of the EWB conference...more people, more interest, more great questions...

Jeff and I participated as real world examples of how CTI collaborates with it's partners, and had the chance to explain the 2 pass prototype to the audience.

Jeff deserves HUGE credit for this prototype. He spent many nights this last week finishing the system, and it shows...

The thresher breaks down to fit into a standard suitcase for ease of transport...

Has a minimal number of parts...

And then assembles to create a compact, stable system (1st generation is on left)...

We have 3 weeks to incorporate a stripping mechanism that removes the millet from the candle (stalk) as well as a hand powered winnower. Then our little baby is off to Mali for field testing and user feedback. Over the summer we will modify the system based on the feedback and have another device in the field in time for the fall harvest...

The Blue Sweater...

Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO and Founder of the Acumen Fund http://www.acumenfund.org/ gave the keynote address Friday. She has a new book called The Blue Sweater, personal memoirs of her lifelong quest to understand global poverty and to find powerful new ways of tackling it.

You can lean more, and hear interviews here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Blue-Sweater/41692100926?ref=ts

A few of my take aways:

- "Philanthropy is broken" - insight gained from her time at the Rockefeller Foundation

- "Charity alone will not solve poverty"

- "Dignity is more important than wealth"

A re-occurring theme between all the people in this field is patience and time...

...Both are critical to the success of any endeavor

Road Trip!

Jeffy and I are on our way to the Engineers Without Borders conference in Milwaukee. We will be delivering the 2 Pass prototype, as well as helping Roger (from CTI) with a few workshops.
We are looking forward to talking with others who share out interest, and hope to move our vision for OneLab one step closer to reality!

Winnower 2.0

Thom made some good progress on the winnower. We are still on track to deliver the 2 Pass prototype to the engineers Without Borders Conference at the end of March!

A visit from Erv...

Erv Lentz, full time volunteer with CTI visited our humble workshop this past weekend to check on our progress, brainstorm some new ideas, and apparently meet every member of Jeff's extended family, including the dogs...



Jeff demonstrated the current version of the roller module, which is ROCK SOLID and works like a champ (regardless of what my son Elliot explains to Jeff...)

We ran millet through the system 2 times, and winnowed by hand to have Erv evaluate the "brokens".




Then Thom demonstrated the winnower prototype. It still has some bugs, and he is trying to dial in the appropriate air flow, which is proving to be a bit of a pickle...

Modified roller modules

While Thom was working on the winnower, Jeff updated the roller modules to be more durable, as well as integrated a feed hopper.

We were having issues with the rubber staying glued to the rollers, so the design was modified to accept a rubber tube. We now have a seamless rubber roller that does not move or get caught up in the framework.




The belt drive wheel was moved to the opposite side for user safety, and all of the access points were moved to the front, so you don't have to dissemble the entire system to remove a roller.in the field



The feed hopper was integrated into the top of the module, which allows for the same design to be stacked on top of each other to create the 2 pass system. (The metal walls for the hopper are being bent today, so I added them in Photoshop...)

Winnower prototype

Sorry for the delay in posts...Travel, work schedule and the flu have kept me from updating...



Thom built a prototype of the integrated winnower, including a clear front so we could see how everything works. The ramps are adjustable to allow the angles to be tweaked.



Initial test went well, with a few seeds getting stuck on the ramp


A fair amount of chaff made it out of the system


While the seeds dropped down into the bottom



Our only concern is the ability to generate a constant amount of airflow using a hand powered fan attached to the hand crank. We plan to discuss with Erv during his visit this weekend.

Getting Closer...

A few updates from this weekends work...

Attached the natural rubber to the floating roller and passed the millet through 2 times. We are having some trouble getting the sheet rubber to stick to the roller and are going to special order some natural rubber that is formed in tubes, so we can stretch over the rollers and tack down. This should stop the rubber from lifting.

Even with the rubber sheet issues, wrapping the rollers has resulted in a significant reduction in broken grains.



Also mocked up a smaller feed area on the current hopper. This helped even the flow of millet into the rollers.



We are still dialing in the winnower, and need to find the right fan and speed to blow the chaff out of the system. On the left is the raw millet. On the right is the threshed millet after 2 passes and a few fans with a piece of cardboard.





Next steps, in order of importance

1. Wrap rollers with rubber tube
2. Re-build frame from Plywood rather than OSB
3. Integrate winnower
4. Incorporate gears and chain if possible

Final Concept...

Here is a quick sketch of our final layout. We have split this weeks efforts into 3 areas - Hopper, Winnower and Rollers

Thom will be working this week to integrate a winnower system based on CTI's recommendation. The idea is to make a small fan that blows air across the falling grain, forcing the chaff up and out the side.

Jeff will be working on the roller assemblies, adding rubber sheet to one of the rollers. This decreases the amount of grain breakage significantly

I will be building the hopper. I am using a plastic bin to start, and adding the ability to adjust the feed rate by varying the size of the opening.

The 3 of us worked from each of our homes today, so the images will follow shortly...

Test Drive...

Now that we had the roller modules built, we could assemble the 1st prototype and run a test.

In the meantime, Thom cranked out a quick "winnower", made with a variable speed motor from a used range hood. The winnower will eventually be integrated into the device and powered by hand, but this quick set up let us try different fan speeds to see what worked best to separate the lighter chaff from the heavier millet.

Here in Ohio, Thom seems like a pretty smart guy, despite what his sweatshirt says...

With the prototype up and running (quite noisily), and the winnower working, we dropped a few scoops of millet into the hopper and turned the crank. (sorry for the bad camera work...)

The object of the thresher is to extract the millet from its glume, while not crushing the grains. As you can see in the before (top) and after (bottom) pictures below, we did pretty well for the first test!


By this time, sunlight was fading fast, and we were fresh out of doughnuts...both good reasons to call it a day (along with the hallucinations caused by fumes from the kerosene heater). The last image below is a side by side comparison between the original Leary thresher, and the refined prototype. We have reduced the size and weight considerably, and will be able to send this over to Mali in a suitcase rather than a crate. This will save time, money and running the risk of it getting lost in shipment.



Next Steps:
- integrate winnower
- wrap floating roller with rubber to reduce grain breakage
- incorporate sprockets and chain
- build stable base

Modular is king...

After a quick brainstorming session, Thom, Jeff and I decided that the first task was to design and build a modular roller system. The original Leary prototype is based in an antique wash roller that was modified to remove the outer "husk" from the millet.




We wanted to create a simple but robust roller module that could be built from sheet stock and the same design could be used for both top and bottom (hence the "2 pass" name) rollers.

Jeff, in his mechanically "savant" way, built the first set of working prototypes in a single day, and they worked perfectly. Building off this great start, we built a second complete set out of durable material and gave it a spin...

Once we got the first set spinning, we assembled the second set, mounted it to a temporary frame and added some pulleys and belts to spin both. We plan to use sprockets and chain for the final device, but this was a way to get us up and running quickly.