Engineering firm comes up with perfect solution for water charity

Bennett Engineering has resolved an engineering challenge for a charity which provides safe drinking water and humanitarian aid to people affected by natural disasters, extreme weather and conflicts.

Aquabox provide two solutions to help people in need The first is a family filter, capable of filtering water at the rate of one litre per minute, which is designed to meet the needs of a typical family group.

The second is and a community filter, which uses the same technology, but scaled up to process up to six litres per minute. This is designed for schools, clinics and community centres.

The magic of the Aquabox filter system is the central core of sub-micron filter membranes, which are impenetrable to bacteria and most viruses, and which instantly produce safe, clean water for drinking.

The problem is that sometimes the plastic pipe containing the straws has not met the strict tolerances that Aquabox requires.

Dominic Wish, trustee of Aquabox, approached Bennett Engineering at East Midlands Chamber’s Manufacturing Event to see if they could help.

Working with its partner ST Engineering, in Ilkeston, the Derby firm designed and manufactured a cutting tool, described as like a pencil sharpener, to resolve the issue.

The tool is designed to shave off some of the external plastic from the pipe without affecting the internal filter.

The clever part of the design is that the pipe cannot be shaved too much as the limit has been set against the exact tolerance Aquabox require.

Craig Harbron, director and senior design engineer at Bennett Engineeing, said: “Even though this might look simple to design and manufacture a lot of thought has gone into this tool.

“From the people using it to the way the plastic would cut when against the blades, these were all considered as I put the design together. I am really pleased with the outcome.”

Over the weeks since the team have had the pipe cutting tool it has been used multiple times with great results.

Dominic said: “The very slightly out-of-tolerance filter components have caused us significant assembly problems resulting in additional scrap.

“This simple, but effective, tool allows us to shave a small amount from the outside of the filter membrane component prior to gluing into the assembly.

“Scrap rates are down, and assembly is much easier – thanks to Bennett Engineering.”

Seleena Creedon, director at Bennett Engineering, said “It’s been our pleasure to help Aquabox with something that might seem small but is clearly crucial to make sure the final filter product is perfect.

“Aquabox is doing amazing work, and we’re proud to have supported them in this small way to carry on getting its life-saving filters out to people who need them.”