MITATS Collaboration

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MIT-ATS Collaboration

• MIT Team Members Charlie Hogg, Perry Hung,
  Mubarik Imam, Monica Lewis, and Kate Steel

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Agenda

• Technical Exploration
• Bread Oven
• Solar Dryer
• Business Exploration

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Technical Exploration

• Summarize the discussions from MIT and ATS
  engineers and students
• Bread oven
• Solar dryer
• Design principles

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Agenda

• Technical Exploration
• Bread Oven
• Solar Dryer
• Business Exploration

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Oven Overview

• Oven Weight
• Capacity
• Heat Distribution
• Insulation

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Design challenges - Weight

• Problems
• Transport to rural areas
• Moving around the site, especially by women.

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Oven Weight

• Possibility of redundant steel
• 80 of weight is steel
• Specification for outer shell
• Tough to prevent damage
• Weather resistant
• Hold insulation in place
• Pleasing appearance
• LOW WEIGHT

Outer casing
Insulation
Air gap
Bread compartment
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Potential Solutions - 1

• Plastic sheeting
• PET, PETg, styrene sheeting
• Pros
• Light weight
• Potential change in cost and appearance
• Next Step to implement
• Contact manufacturers, e.g. Sheet Plastic,
  Bloemf.
• Produce prototype

Cons May degrade due to heat or sunlight.
Painting may prevent this.
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Potential Solutions - 2

• Galvanised steel exterior sheet
• Next step to implement
• Build prototype and find customer opinions

Cons Welding isnt possible. Rivetting, as in
solar dryer may be solution.
Pros Lighter
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Oven Capacity

• Customers have varying demands
• Have a range of designs each providing different
  trade-offs, rather than a single perfect oven.
  E.g. small light oven, large stationary oven etc.
• Characteristics can then be selected on
  individual basis depending on particular site and
  customers preferences.

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Potential solution - 3

• Separable design
• Make the legs and firebox separable from the oven
  body.

Cons -Risk of gas leakage at joint -Makes design
more complex -Less stable structure
Pros -Lighter parts to transport (minimal) -Less
awkward shape
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Potential Solutions - 4

• Wheels
• More moveable on site.
• ATS has considered this but not implemented.
• Removable panels
• Transported to site at smaller weight.
• Requires on site assembly.

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Heat Distribution

• Fins
• Solid sheets of metal in contact with the wall
  between the trays of bread
• Conducts heat to the cooler central parts of the
  oven
• Reduce size of the oven
• Already applied in ATSs next generation ovens by
  baking fewer loaves
• Could reduce size entirely, bringing benefits of
  reduced weight and cost

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Agenda

• Technical Exploration
• Bread Oven
• Solar Dryer
• Business Exploration

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Solar Dryer Overview

• Dryer dries fruit and meat products for increased
  shelf life.
• Users can sell the products to boost their income.

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Solar Dryer Problems

• Principal problem cost
• Fiberglass prices have risen, making the dryer
  prohibitively expensive.
• Production costs are higher than what people can
  pay, limiting the spread of the technology

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Solar Dryer Solutions

• Suitable replacement for fiberglass panel must
  be
• Cheap
• Durable
• Thermal insulator
• Pass light in the infrared spectrum

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Solar Dryer Solutions

• Glass
• Fragile
• Plastics may work
• Various plastics
• PET (used in plastic bottles)
• PETg
• Poly-styrene.

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Solar Dryer Plastics (PET)

• Pros
• Highly impact resistant.
• Likely cheaper than fiberglass.
• More transparent than fiberglass.
• Potential Problems
• Dryer temperatures (70 degrees C) is at the
  limit of plastic properties
• Degradation from UV.
• May be difficult to obtain
• Advice Experiment with new materials

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Design Principles

• Modularity
• Break down a project into modules and put them
  together. (Bread oven can separate into a base, a
  cooking compartment, and a frame)
• Scalability
• Make a project that can scale from small to large
  applications. (Small solar dryer vs. large dryer)
• Maintainability
• Make a project simple to maintain or repair.
• Testing and Documentation
• Create a testing jig so a new product doesnt
  have to be created each time for testing
  purposes.
• Create documentation which will help retain past
  knowledge, design changes, how the device works
  and dissemination.

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Agenda

• Technical Exploration
• Bread Oven
• Solar Dryer
• Business Exploration

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Identification of Needs

• Community Based Development

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Identification of Needs

• Two broad types of markets, with different needs
  and capacity rural and urban
• When designing the technology, be sure to
  consider
• Needs of people
• Competitors
• Technology substitutes
• Local manufacturing capabilities

ATS Application Work directly with village
councils and other potential users when designing
the technology
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1. Identifying Entrepreneurs

• Technologies that ATS develops could become
  open-source
• Free market encourages competition, lowering
  prices and improving product quality
• ATS continues its publicity drive
• Better recognition in the Lesotho community
• ATS holds technology days, each highlighting a
  single particular technologies, so potential
  entrepreneurs can learn more
• Workshops encourage self-selection of
  entrepreneurs

ATS Application Promote technologies openly to
the community through technology days
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2. Training Entrepreneurs

• Interested and driven community members can
  attend training sessions, which are publicized at
  the technology days
• Technical training
• Learn machine workshop skills
• Build prototype of technology
• Business training
• Business plan development
• Financial analysis
• Marketing and promotion
• Registrants pay small fee to attend, but benefit
  from profit-sharing with ATS of the products
  which they build

ATS Application Develop plan for workshop and
business training
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3. Capital

• Encourage entrepreneurs to work with ATS
  affiliates to acquire necessary expertise and
  capital
• Micro-credit institutions and others including
• Lesotho National Development Corporation
• Lesotho Development Corporation
• Basotho Enterprise Development Corporation
• Continue and expand seed capital through
  competitions

ATS Application Explore closer ties
with Micro-credit institutions to support
entrepreneurs
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4. Business Plan

• Why does the opportunity exist?
• Product/Services
• Market
• Competitor Knowledge
• Economics
• Management Team
• Risks and problems
• Decision GO or NO GO

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4. Business Plan Final Thoughts

• Usually the amount needed to develop the market
  is underestimated - you need to include channel
  development and customer education.
• Usually marketing people are brought on too late
  in a companys development.
• Finally, ask yourself Why hasnt someone done
  this before?

ATS Application Business plans can help identify
possible markets and avoid risks
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MIT-ATS Partnership
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Thank youWe welcome any questions

• For more information
• Kate Steel ksteel_at_mit.edu
• Amy Smith abs_at_mit.edu