A four-person ME 1000 team took a rope-pump concept through CAD modeling, testing, and redesign to move 7.5 gallons of water in one minute.
Our team refined the drive system, wheel, and rope-mounted cups together because each part affected how much water the pump could lift.
At our first team meeting, each person pitched a design. I proposed a rope pump because its larger PVC tube appeared to offer greater water-moving potential than the alternatives we considered. The team chose that concept and began modeling the system in CAD.
We designed a gearbox to turn the wheel while keeping the motor load manageable. Testing led to one gearbox redesign: we changed the gear sizes and their arrangement so the motor could drive the pump more efficiently.
The rope-mounted cups had to pass cleanly through the PVC tube while capturing as much water as possible. We rounded their tops to help them travel around the wheel and designed pockets in the wheel to grip them. We calculated the spacing so each cup would meet a wheel pocket as the rope moved.
The small clearance between each cup and the tube required several cup revisions. A highly curved profile carried too little water; a nearly flat profile increased the load on the motor. We tested and adjusted the shape until the pump balanced water output with reliable operation.
After those iterations, our pump transferred 7.5 gallons in one minute, compared with a class average of about 2 gallons. It set a new class record at the time.
