The Design

Svaadar has been designed to replace the need for humans to enter manholes. The 3 key ideas that were kept in mind while designing it were - affordability, simplicity, and ease of use. This is because Svaadar is made for the manual scavengers to operate themselves. Manholes often have to be cleared of blockages that occur due to clogging of waste. One way to do so is by cutting through the clog and flushing it out with a water jet.

Svaadar comprises 2 rails, a slider, several shafts and an attachment. The 2 rails run across the width of the manhole, and there is a slider which runs on the rails. The slider supports a series of shafts which descend into the manhole. These shafts can interlock with each other. The shafts also have holes at different heights through which rods can be passed to lock the shafts vertically in position with the slider.

At the end of the shafts, is the attachment which comprises a motor, a conical set of blade cutters, the nozzle of the water jet, and a hemispherical mesh. The pipe connected to the nozzle as well as the wire connected to the motor, run through the centre of the shafts. The hemispherical mesh, attached externally to the motor, encloses the conical blade cutter and the nozzle. The mesh ensures that the waste is being contained while the blade cutter cuts through it. It also protects the walls of the sewer lines from being damaged by the blade cutter.

There is also an additional L-shaped shaft which can be used to align the attachment horizontally. The interlocking shafts make this machine versatile, so that it can be used in manholes varying between less than a meter, upto 15 meters deep, just by altering the number of shafts attached.