Visiting Auroville 2020
This article will be used to collect information about my (Michael Altfield) visit to Auroville in 2020.
Auroville Earth Institute
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
TODO: video of CSEB press operation & CEB production.
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
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? 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.
TODO
- Date of first prototype
- cost per machine
- cost per brick
- theoretical bricks per hour
- practical bricks per hour
- size of hydraulic cylinder?
- fluid pressure at compaction stroke?