Low-cost, low-weight loading truck mechanism
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Participatory Design
-Framing the issue -Researching the community -Brainstorming questions -New findings -Stakeholder identification -More questions -Discussions with community partner -PATH Statement -Idea development -Community Feedback -Ideation
Nivel 4
5
| Información | Fuente | Categoría |
|---|---|---|
| Bigger e-waste does not mean it is heavier. | Discussion with community partner. | Contexto |
| Recyclers are seen as less than because recycling and trash are viewed as bad or dirty. | Class discussions/reading | Contexto |
| Puerta de Oro cares about the safety of the solution and how it impacts its workers. | Presentation from Diversa | Contexto |
| The loaders only take e-waste that fits in the balloons or that they can pick up by hand. | Discussion with community partner. | Contexto |
| The loaders have to walk quite a bit to get to the e-waste in basements of apartments. | Discussion with community partner. | Contexto |
| The daily load is between 50 and 70 balloons. | Discussion with community partner. | Contexto |
| The balloons typically range from 60-80 pounds | Discussion with community partner. | Contexto |
| Typically 2-3 people are working together on loading. | Discussion with community partner. | Solución - Previa |
| Puerta de Oro has a good culture of community and empowerment. | Discussion with community partner. | Contexto |
| The associates are proud of the environmental impact that they are having, so the solution should align with those values. | Discussion with community partner. | Contexto |
| The current way of loading uses “balloons” which are then put into massive piles to be sorted and sold later | Discussion with community partner. | Contexto |
| The solution must be light and easy to move. | Discussion with community partner. | Idea |
| There are welding shops that can be utilized during the construction of the final design. | Discussion with community partner. | Idea |
| The workers would prefer a manual solution that does not require an energy source. | Discussion with community partner. | Idea |
| The associates have relationships with other workshops/organizations in the area and will have access to varied materials and tools | Discussion with community partner. | Contexto |
| There have not been explorations into other options beside the current loading operation. | Discussion with community partner. | Solución - Previa |
| Puerta de Oro does not own many of the trucks they use. | Discussion with community partner. | Contexto |
| The height from the ground to the truck bed varies, but is typically around 1.5 meters. | Discussion with community partner. | Contexto |
| The current method of loading relies solely on manual effort. | Discussion with community partner | Contexto |
| The current method uses dollies, but there have been issues with wheels and dollies are too small. | Discussion with community partner | Contexto |
Johr Javid: Manages truck loading operations
Truck loaders at Puerta de Oro, other truck loaders in Colombia
-Made from recycled materials -Easily adapted to different situations or available materials
-Associates would have to learn how to construct our design. -Associates would have to change how they load trucks to accommodate this design option. -We have not been able to build and test this design so feasibility is questionable.
-Could increase productivity and minimize injuries. -Could provide more free time to associates if work was sped up.
-We have only spoken to one person at Puerta de Oro, so we do not know if other associates would be willing to implement our idea. -The design has not been tested, so we do not know if it will work as intended. -We assumed that all of the materials could be sourced from the warehouse eventually, but we do not know if that is the case.
Welding materials and tools, drill, nuts and bolts, dolly to adapt, sheets of metal, barber shop piston, metal cutter
Ideally, materials and tools will be free and locally sourced. We were not able to verify if this was the case.
-Welding capabilities -Drilling capabilities -Metal-cutting skills
-Teach other associates on safe construction methods. -Learn how to properly and safely use tools.
Working on a project like this was amazing. I was able to experience how to work with people from a different country and try to create something beneficial for them.
Being on this team was a great experience! There were many challenges that we came across as we were coming up with a solution to the issues the truck loaders face, but we learned a lot about participatory design and the culture and customs of Colombia. I hope that future teams can pick up where we left off and continue to co-create with the community to reach an even better solution!
Stair Climbing, Expandable Dolly
Participatory Action Research
- Assignment of project - Discussion with Community - Archivaly research - Interaction with Associates - Idea development and feedback - Creation of project decided on by associates
Nivel 3
~10
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| Información | Fuente | Categoría |
|---|---|---|
| Parking Space: It was brought to our attention that the recyclers have limited space to park so ideas that take up more space than the space that is allotted for us. These regulations seem to be pretty strict so our idea must take limited space to operate. | Discussion with the truck loading manager, our facilitator, and the head facilitator. | Reto |
| Necessary dimensions: The balloon sizes are about 1.5 x 1.5 x 2 or 1.5 x 1.5 x 1, and the truck dimensions vary in size. | Discussion with the truck loading manager and our facilitator. | Contexto |
| Lift System Ideas: In order to meet the lift requirements given to us by Jhor we have come up with a lift system that functions by gears and levers from the nearby airport that would offer them old plane parts. | Discussion with the truck loading manager, our facilitator, and the head facilitator. | Idea |
| Truck Load: Each truckload can hold approximately 70-80 balloons per truck on their route. | Discussion with the truck loading manager and our facilitator. | Contexto |
| Vertical Movement: The community partners need the dolly to accommodate vertical movement to lift the balloons into trucks to reduce manual labor that is placed onto the associates. | Discussion with the truck loading manager and our facilitator. | Contexto |
| Trucks: Based on the pictures sent of the trucks we were able to guess the height from the ground to the back of the truck is around 3.5ft. Trucks both range from box trucks that have a fully built trailer and canvas trucks that have a soft top and sides with wood siding for support. | Discussion with the truck loading manager and our facilitator. | Contexto |
| Horizontal Movement: The community partners would like an easier and safer way to move balloons across flat surfaces that reduces the chance of e-waste being jostled around during transportation. | Discussion with the truck loading manager and our facilitator. | Contexto |
| Labor: They typically have 1-3 people to lift the balloons into the truck. They position themselves on the ground lifting the balloons and on the truck pulling up the balloons. | Presentation from the head facilitator. | Contexto |
| E-waste being loaded into trucks: Material being loaded into the truck along with the large balloons are a various type of appliances that are left for them to pick up these can range from small appliances such as toasters or they could be refrigerators. | Discussion with the truck loading manager, our facilitator, and the head facilitator. | Reto |
| Navigate Buildings: The recyclers shared with us the navigational challenges that they encounter in the building such as stairs and uneven ground that the dolly must be able to face. | Discussion with the truck loading manager and our facilitator. | Reto |
Associates of Puerta de Oro
Other Recycling Companies in Colombia and recycling companies that had large amounts of e-waste.
- The device can move along horizontal, vertical, and slanted sacrifices has will has starts. - The device can hold two balloons. - The device is made out of recycled materials.
- The materials being second hand so they could be more prone to breaking and the materials are not going to be designed for this project so weight and uniformity will be sacrificed. - The device in its full expanded form is going to be bulky.
- The design being modifiable dolly can be adjusted to fit different uses, and can be added to lift systems and other modifiers. - The design could also be used in the warehouse as well.
- Finding the exact correct material and multiple of it can be very challenging and sometimes not possible. - The info on the design is going to be given in a manual of instructions, so there could be a communication gap whether it is because we didn't communicate how to build this design well or that the instructions were miss read, it could still cause the design to not be useful.
2 Aluminum Sheets/panels (4’ x 4’ x .5”)(1.2192 m x 1.2192 m x 1.27 cm) or wood panels (4’ x 4’ x .5”) Metallic Poles [6 poles (1 ft (0.3048 m) in length), 6 poles (2 ft (0.6096 m) in length), 2-4 poles (5 ft (1.524 m) in length), 2 poles (4 ft (1.2192 m) in length )] Original Dolly Tarp, Canvas, or Thick Fabric [cumulative of 80 ft^2 (7.43224 m^2)] Rope or Bungee cord: [38’- 50’ (11.5824 - 15.24 m) in length] 10 Identical Wheels [3-6” (7.62 - 15.24 cm) in diameter] 12 Doors hinges 4 small hooks 4 big hooks
Unknown, if all materials are found by recycling then $75 (295,854.75 Colombian Peso), and if some materials are required $200 - $400 (788,946 - 1,577,892 Colombian Peso) prices may vary depending on the location of purchase and shipping.
Know how to operate power tools, if using metal panels, knowing how to weld.
Teach associates how to build and maintain a dolly. With the materials being second-hand, a full dolly inspection every one to two months should be conducted to ensure that nothing needs to be replaced. Requested that a few associates in the sorting teams in the warehouse be on the lookout and put aside items needed to build or repair the dollies.
Through this project we got first hand experience interacting with how the sustainable development goals impact real people. Through talking with and learning from our community partners in addition to the research done we were able to get an understanding of our stakeholders needs and desires on another level that I have ever gotten to for any other design project. This lead to not only our consideration of community development goals but also my desire to genuinely benefit the people at Puerta de Oro in a meaningful way rather than feeling distant from them and purely focused on the technical aspects of our project. I believe engineering design is better when the engineers are invested in the end result and therefore more committed to succeeding at the sustainable development goals. I know our project turned out much better because of our genuine investment.
Throughout this project our team was given the opportunity to work with a community to look at new solutions to problems. In addition to being given the chance to work with the amazing community members, our team was learning about the principles of Engineering and Sustainable Community Development. If these principles were not being taught to us the solution would not have been what the community needed at all, so I hope more engineers will learn about these principles to increase growth and development.
Throughout this semester we have developed our skills to partner with communities and develop a solution that fits their needs. Our team learned how to communicate with community members effectively and beneficially encouraging their involvement and political autonomy in the solution. The five ESCD criteria were extremely helpful to our project and ensured its success and I encourage more engineers to use these criteria in their project development.