Hello Sachin, thanks for your question about a human-pedaled machine to make fly ash bricks. This question is unusual... and interesting.

A short answer to your question about a human-powered fly ash brick-making machine: Yes!

Human Powered Machines for Making Fly Ash Bricks

J.P. Modak, Emeritus Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Dean (R&D) at Priyadarshini College of Engineering in Nagpur, India, documented his research on applications for a human-powered flywheel motor.

His research concentrated on finding the best way to utilize and/or store the energy expended during the pedaling process.

One of the first functions of the human-powered flywheel device that he studied was brick-making. The bricks in his study did have fly ash as the major binding ingredient, because these bricks harden naturally when exposed to weather and water, eliminating the “baking” step needed for conventional brick-making.

The flywheel energy storage concept provides a way to store the relatively low-power energy produced by human motion (approximately 0.1 horsepower) into a device that can release it in a short, but more powerful, burst (as much as 6 horsepower, in theory). The person pedals the device, with only the inertia of the flywheel as resistance, and this device, by means of a clutch, various gears, pinions, and bearings, stores the energy on the flywheel, to be released when the clutch is engaged.

His research found that this machine could be used profitably in many areas of the world where basic building materials are in high demand. It also spurred further research into uses of other human-powered flywheel machinery, which are outlined in the paper linked above.

You can get more information about how human-powered machines can be used to power various machines in your home by reading this book: The Human-Powered Home: Choosing Muscles Over Motors, by Tamara Dean.

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