Amos Winter 

This seminar will focus on recent advancements related to desalination and irrigation technologies created by the MIT Global Engineering and Research (GEAR) Lab: 1) Time-variant photovoltaic-powered electrodialysis (PV-ED) desalination systems that continually vary pumping and salt extraction power to match available solar power. Compared to industry standard grid-powered reverse osmosis, GEAR Lab’s PV-ED systems are at price parity for community scale potable water, cut irrigation water costs by up to 40%, and reduce water wastage by 75%. 2) Ultra-low pressure, low-cost drip irrigation emitters that were realized by characterizing fluid-structure parametric design relationships. GEAR Lab’s emitters cut pumping power by up to 69%, reduce the cost of solar-powered irrigation by up to 40%, and require 58% less plastic than current products. 3) Low-cost, solar-powered precision agriculture irrigation systems that use cloud computing and AI to predict weather, set an irrigation schedule, and continually minimize energy and water consumption while maximizing crop productivity. In our first real-world field trial, GEAR Lab’s irrigation controllers reduced water use by 44% and energy by 39% compared to traditional drip irrigation practice. A recurring theme throughout the presentation will be highlighting how GEAR Lab is creating technologies that are global by design. This entails spotting and quantifying meritorious problems, leveraging engineering science to create high-performance, low-cost solutions, and engaging a wide network of stakeholders that are positioned to catalyze adoption and dissemination. The seminar will conclude with the premier of “No drop to spare: bringing precision agriculture to resource-constrained markets”, the latest film by MechE videographer John Freidah, which chronicles pilots of GEAR Lab’s irrigation technology in Jordan, Morocco, and Kenya.

After this week's colloquium, there will be a special showing of a new, short MechE Film that highlights the recent work of Prof. Winter and GEAR Lab members in Kenya, Morocco, and Jodan.