African Handcart: Innovative Designs
African Handcart: Innovative Designs
(OP)
Hello,
I am currently working with waste pickers in East Africa to pilot various designs for the standard hand/push cart, commonly used for the transport of goods and waste. At the moment I'm looking for specific input for the recommended PSI for tyres for different surface areas and loads. I'd like to calculate how to measure and fine tune this process. Specific details of the handcarts are below. A photo example of the handcarts is attached.
Handcart Carrying Area
W: 0.64
L: 1.82
H: 0.39
Wheel
0.57 wheel diameter, standard rubber car tyre
Average Holding Capacity/Weight
300kg
I am currently working with waste pickers in East Africa to pilot various designs for the standard hand/push cart, commonly used for the transport of goods and waste. At the moment I'm looking for specific input for the recommended PSI for tyres for different surface areas and loads. I'd like to calculate how to measure and fine tune this process. Specific details of the handcarts are below. A photo example of the handcarts is attached.
Handcart Carrying Area
W: 0.64
L: 1.82
H: 0.39
Wheel
0.57 wheel diameter, standard rubber car tyre
Average Holding Capacity/Weight
300kg





RE: African Handcart: Innovative Designs
RE: African Handcart: Innovative Designs
Reducing the inflation pressure makes the tire ride more smoothly, but makes it harder to push on any normal (Western) road surface.
... probably also including deep sand. Off-roaders here commonly reduce tire pressure in sand, but it's done to reduce the ground pressure, not to make it easier to push.
... and off-roaders also carry compressors with which to restore proper pressure, something that's probably not in your budget.
For a test program, you'll need a compressor, a tire pressure gauge, a representative pushcart, a selection of typical surfaces, and a force gauge with which to measure the needed force. ... or just a calibrated arm.
... or maybe a rope, a snatch block, a tree, and some weights.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: African Handcart: Innovative Designs
RE: African Handcart: Innovative Designs
Josh, you are trying to improve a design that has been evolved over decades by severe economic pressure; there may not be any fat remaining in such a simple design.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: African Handcart: Innovative Designs
It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. (Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia.)