Visiting Auroville 2020
This article will be used to collect information about my (Michael Altfield) visit to Auroville in 2020.
Contents
Auroville Earth Institute
First Contact
Goal: Meet with Satprem, introduce him to OSE, and ask to schedule an online, recorded Interview w/ Marcin to discuss and invite him to Summer X 2020.
Marcin's Availability
Marcin has limited availability leading up to the Steam Camp, but he's most available on the week of 2020-01-20, ideally:
- Wednesday night 20:00 or 21:00 CST/Missouri = Thursday morning 07:30 or 08:30 IST/India.
- Thursday night after 23:00 CST/Missouri = Friday morning after 10:30 IST/India
- Friday night 20:00 or 21:00 CST/Missouri = Saturday morning 07:30 or 08:30 IST/India
Relevant Wiki Articles
- Main Page
- CEB Press
- CEB Design
- CEB Press Genealogy
- Power Cube
- Soil Mixer 2019
- Soil Preparation for CEB
- CEB Soil Preparation Concept
Relevant Links
Relevant Photos
Relevant Videos
Interview Questions
Auram Press 4000
http://www.aureka.com/earth-construction-equipment/auram-press-4000-e
The Auram Press 4000 is the semi-automatic compressed earth block (CEB) press used by AVEI and built by Aureka.
Auram Press 3000
http://www.aureka.com/earth-construction-equipment/auram-press-3000
The Auram Press 4000 is a manual compressed earth block (CEB) press used by AVEI and built by Aureka.
Block Moulds
http://www.earth-auroville.com/auram_blocks_data_en.php
AVEI's Auram Press 3000 can fit 18 moulds to produce about 70 different CSEBs.
- Which machines support the ability to use moulds that press blocks for rebar-reinforced composite CSEBs? For example, the Round 240 & Round 290?
Auramix 5000
http://www.aureka.com/earth-construction-equipment/auramix-5000
- Does AVEI mostly stabilize with cement or lime? What are the pros/cons of each?
- Did AVEI publish any studies comparing cement vs lime that we can read?
Auram Crusher
http://www.aureka.com/earth-construction-equipment/auram-crusher
The Auram Crusher is the huge machine used by AVEI and built by Aureka that crushes and screens the soil to be a uniform consistency ready to be pressed into bricks.
- What particle size of clay soil is considered finely enough pulverized for CEB stabilization? 6 mm? 1 mm? 0.1 mm? We plan on beginning to produce our soil mixer next year, and to sell stabilized block.
- See Soil Mixer 2019 article and ask them for tech review.
Water Resistance
- No plaster? Really?
- No roof? Really? Are the exposed, roof-less arches at the Auroville Visitor center made of 5% CSEB as well? Did any part of that arch use pure cement? Footer? Header? Core?
- Have there ever been leaks in the roof of the Dhyanalinga (22m-diameter CSEB dome)? How was it waterproofed? Is it just CSEBs + mortar or did you use some plaster?
- You have a CSEB soaking in water for decades? Can I see it?
Collaboration w/ OSE
- Ask them if they are open to collaboration on a workshop where we take the two machine sets (OSE + Auroville) and compare them side by side for workflow, cost, performance. This could be the greatest CEB workshop in the world.
- Would Satprem be willing to come to FeF for our Summer X program in Summer 2020--sometime in August, ideally August 18th? https://www.opensourceecology.org/summer-x-2020/
Business
- Document the practical side of their block production. Do they sell their block? What does their business.model look like for selling block?
- Document the labor requirements for a full stabilized CEB pressing operation. I'm counting from their 2 videos on the Soil Crusher and Mixer/Brick Press - that there are 15 people involved in the overall operation if soil crushing and mixing/pressing is happening, and capital cost of $48k for crushign/mixing, not counting tractor . For OSE, we need 3 people for the overall brick pressing operation, and $3k in materials for the OSE Soil Mixer crushing/mixing machine - so 24x cheaper if you build it yourself. Next step is to determine if our machine works - at the CEB build in Belize.
- What is the cost of their semiautomatic brick press?
Auroville Soil Type
- What is the grain size distribution of Auroville soil?
- What are the plastic and liquid limits of Auroville soil?
- What is the clay percentage of the sieved Auroville soil?
- Do you ammend the soil with sand? If so, how much?
- How much do you process the soil before it goes into the crusher? How?
Other
- Get contact information for any folks at AVEI or Aureka that have an open-source mindset.
Comparison of Machines
This section will attempt to provide a side-by-side comparison of the Auram 3000 vs Auram 4000 vs the OSE CEB Press.
OSE CEB Press | AVEI Auram 3000 (manual) | AVEI Auram 4000 (semi-automatic) | |
---|---|---|---|
Year of first prototype | 2007 [1] | ? | ? |
Material cost (no labor) | $3,000-$6,500 [2] | ? | ? |
Cost to build (no labor) | $4,092.79 [3] | ? | ? |
theoretical blocks per hour | N/a | 125 [4] | 400 [5] |
practical blocks per hour | 360-600 [6] | ? | ? |
size of hydraulic cylinder | 5 inch diameter, 19.6 inch area; 2.5 inch rod [7] | ? | ? |
fluid pressure at compaction stroke | 2200 PSI. 3000 PSI max. | ? | ? |
max compression ratio | ? | 1.83 [8] | 1.83 [9] |
compression force | 21.5 tons [10] | 15 tons [11] | 20 tons [12] |
human operators needed | ? | 7 [13] | 3 [14] |
Sadhana Forest
See Also
References
- ↑ https://www.opensourceecology.org/ceb-phase-1-done/
- ↑ CEB_Press#Overview
- ↑ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13KNgqxBnRS74VeV-n_2zgx6M59SItwffWz9smh8bYoA/edit#gid=3
- ↑ http://www.aureka.com/earth-construction-equipment/auram-press-3000
- ↑ http://www.aureka.com/earth-construction-equipment/auram-press-4000-e
- ↑ depends on power source and cylinders used CEB_Press#Overview
- ↑ CEB_Design#Specifications
- ↑ http://www.aureka.com/earth-construction-equipment/auram-press-3000
- ↑ http://www.aureka.com/earth-construction-equipment/auram-press-4000-e
- ↑ CEB_Design#Specifications
- ↑ http://www.aureka.com/earth-construction-equipment/auram-press-3000
- ↑ http://www.aureka.com/earth-construction-equipment/auram-press-4000-e
- ↑ http://www.aureka.com/earth-construction-equipment/auram-press-3000
- ↑ http://www.aureka.com/earth-construction-equipment/auram-press-4000-e