Water Pump Design Capstone

For my capstone I want to redesign the UNICF water pumps that are used in developing countries such as Malawi, Africa. These water pumps are miles away from some families, they are fragile, and they do not provide enough water for all the work that is being put in to pump it. I want to design sturdier and easier to use pumps that will be closer to the families. The reason why I am passionate about this project is from my personal experience in Africa using the pumps. While I was there the pump broke and it took a few minutes to pump a bucket of water. The most horrifying part was that my family was a 45-minute walk from the water pump and some families were even farther.  Water is a pivotal aspect to life and should be easy to access. By producing and perhaps designing a functional water pump, I think that it will show my research and knowledge of engineering. This capstone will also show my growth in building and critical thinking skills.

The design I had in mind for my capstone was to design water pumps that have multiple purposes and I ened up with a pump that is similar to a soccer goal. When the ball hits the panels it will generate energy and power a piston. That piston will bring up ground water, that will be drinkable due to the ceramic filtering. I have the complete design on google sketch up ( with the link to dropbox is below).