Design for Emerging Markets Trip

We are a collection of senior mechanical engineers focused on developing specific solutions to difficult living conditions in developing communities. For our capstone class, Design for Emerging Markets, we are working with Indian companies to construct durable roofing tiles from recycled materials and bring potable water to rural communities. The group of ten students has been split in half. One group of five is paired with an alternative roofing company, ReMaterials, whose mission is to bring a safer more effective roofing tiles to people living in slums and villages across India as an alternative to the uncomfortable and hazardous roofing materials currently in use. The other group of five is paired with Tata Projects and will help improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of a solar-powered water desalination system for small villages.

We are looking to travel to India in January of 2018 and meet with our stakeholders to test our prototypes in the environment in which they will be used. The goal is to gain valuable, in-person feedback on our devices. Testing our prototypes on site is crucial to refining our designs for them to be fully implemented. During this trip, we will apply our technical knowledge to novel challenges and environments in a way that cannot be simulated in the classroom alone.

This trip will allow for the culmination of our engineering educations at Tufts to be put to use to impact those in need of water and suitable shelter on a global scale. By donating to our campaign, you will help create an equal opportunity for all students to travel for the project and learn from this unique opportunity, regardless of economic background.

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More Details on ReMaterials Teams:

ReMaterials, a company based in Ahmedabad, India, is developing a modular roofing system (the ModRoof) manufactured from packaging and agriculture waste. The ModRoof is designed to replace corrugated metal and cement roofing, which are commonly used in the slums of India. The Tufts engineering team is developing an automated machine that can perform static and cyclic loading tests on Modroof tiles to simulate real world conditions and test the reliability and longevity of the tiles. The team will travel to Ahmedabad to install the machine and instruct the ReMaterials employees on how to operate and maintain the machine.

More Details on Tata Projects Team:

Tata Projects is a subsidiary of Tata Corporation that focuses mainly on infrastructure projects. A particular project that the company works on is the design and manufacture of a solar-powered Electrodialysis Reversal (EDR) water desalination system. The EDR will hopefully provide potable water to rural villages with brackish groundwater. The Tufts Team partnering with Tata Projects is working on a solution to decrease the pressure drop across the valves used in the EDR desalination system in order to reduce overall energy consumption and associated costs.