Bennett Engineering has partnered with Aquabox to design a cutting tool that resolves a key engineering challenge for the charity providing safe drinking water and humanitarian aid to people affected by natural disasters, extreme weather and conflicts.
Aquabox provide two solutions, a family filter, capable of filtering water at the rate of one litre per minute, and designed to meet the needs of a typical family group, and a community filter – exactly the same technology, but scaled up to process up to six litres per minute, and designed for schools, clinics and community centres.
The magic of the Aquabox filter system is the central core of sub-micron filter membranes which are impenetrable to bacteria and most viruses, and which instantly produce safe, clean water for drinking. The problem is that sometimes the plastic pipe containing the straws has not met the strict tolerances that Aquabox requires.
Dominic Wish, trustee of Aquabox, approached Bennett Engineering at the East Midlands Chamber’s Manufacturing Event at Loughborough University to see if they could help.
Bennett Engineering designed and manufactured, with partner S.T. Engineering in Ilkeston, a “pencil sharpener.” The cutting tool is designed to shave off some of the external plastic from the pipe without affecting the internal filter. The design means that the pipe cannot be shaved too much as the limit has been set against the exact tolerance Aquabox require.
Craig Harbron, director and senior design engineer, Bennett Engineering, said: “Even though this might look simple to design and manufacture a lot of thought has gone into this tool. From the people using it, we knew the volunteer age range to the way the plastic would cut when against the blades were all considered as I put the design together. I am really pleased with the outcome.”
Dominic Wish, trustee of Aquabox, said: “The very slightly out-of-tolerance filter components have caused us significant assembly problems resulting in additional scrap. This simple, but effective, tool allows us to shave a small amount from the outside of the filter membrane component prior to gluing into the assembly. Scrap rates are down, and assembly is much easier – thank you to Bennet Engineering.”
Seleena Creedon, director, Bennett Engineering, said: “It’s been our pleasure to help Aquabox with something that might seem small but is clearly crucial to make sure the final filter product is perfect. Aquabox are doing amazing work, we’re proud to have supported them in this small way to carry on getting their life-saving filters out to people who need them.”
