D-lab India Team Leader

Sam Davies, sdavies@mit.edu

Past Projects (D-lab 2003-2004)

"Pot-in-a-pot" Refrigeration
Mohammed Bah Abba, a Nigerian teacher, invented a simple way to keep vegetables cool by using the power of evaporation. The basic idea is that a smaller earthenware pot in nestled within another pot, and the space in between is filled with sand and water. When that water evaporates, it pulls heat from the interior of the smaller pot. It is in this cool area that vegetables and fruits are kept. Even though the system only provides a few degrees of cooling, that's enough to extend the life of produce dramatically (according to Abba's experiments, eggplants stayed fresh for 27 days instead of three, and tomatoes and peppers lasted for more than three weeks). Students in this past year's D-lab class tested the performance of Abba's invention in addition to testing their own improvements to it. In January and June 2004, the India D-lab group tested the pot-in-a-pot refrigeration system in India, but because India has a relatively high humidity, the technology did not function as well as expected. The students are currently working on improvements that could overcome this problem.

Paddy Straw and Dung Charcoal
The D-lab India group broadened the reach of the technology developed by Amy Smith and members of the previous D-lab class by which sugarcane is transformed into cooking charcoal (see Haiti section). Instead of sugarcane as the basic ingredient, they used rice paddy straw, which is similar to hay. In addition, instead of using cassava flour to bind the charcoal together, as the previous D-lab group chose to do, the D-lab 2003-2004 India group used cow dung. While these new materials seemed to be better suited to India than the materials chosen for Haiti, they also presented an entire new set of obstacles to overcome. During a recent trip during Summer 2004, the group overcame most of those obstacles,

Inexpensive Water Testing
By building upon an invention by Instructor Amy Smith, students taking last year's D-lab class brought a technology for cheaply test drinking water in developing countries significantly closer to a finished, workable product. Instead of costing around US$1000, as most water testing apparata do, the water testing system designed in D-lab costs less than US$20. The D-lab India team took prototypes of the water testing system to sites around India, and preliminary data have shown that the system works. Last year's Honduras D-lab team also worked on testing and developing this water testing technology.

Solar Electrification

Regional Partners

SHSL-CIET (SLIET)

Related Links

CIA World Factbook, India:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/in.html

The CDC website with recommendations for travellers to India:
http://www.cdc.gov/travel/indianrg.htm

The US Dept. of State travel site with advice and information for travellers to India:
http://travel.state.gov/travel/india.html