An
engineering design service similar to Engineers Without Borders established
to help development organizations and workers. They provide a service
that bridges the gap between appropriate sustainable development and
the best engineering solutions. Relying on the input of their partners
to ensure that the work is appropriate and integrated with other development
priorities , their work is carried out as projects by undergraduate,
MSc and PhD students supervised by lecturers in the Mechanical Engineering
Department. Based at Imperial College, London, last year they ran undergraduate
projects for the design of a Low Cost Wind Turbine based on generic
parts and to develop a Wooden Bridge Design Manual for use in providing
emergency or cheap access. These projects will run again this academic
year along with two projects looking at alternative low-cost energy
generation schemes and a project to design an absorption fridge. These
projects are initially for publicity purposes and will be posted on
their web site for general use with online technical support from Developing
Technologies. This academic year they will also run their first live
project designing farm implements for use in Eastern Europe. Keen to
identify new partners, they're able to undertake a wide range of design
work from the very small to the very large for use by just one family
or by many communities. For more information, see www.developingtechnologies.org