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Client: Marcos Esterman, Alvaro Jose Rojas
Sponsor: Bill Hard Fund
Team:
Project Overview: Power outages are experienced everywhere from third world nations to developed countries. These power outages can result in losses up to $300 billion annually in low-and middle-income countries. Education in these regions can also be adversely affected, which is an issue since education is seen as the primary means of escaping poverty. Schools that do not have a stable and adequate power supply will lack many educational benefits. In addition to having less light for reading and writing, students who are in technical studies will have less opportunity to learn to use machines that require an uninterrupted supply of power. This is problematic as it can lead to an “absence of skilled manpower” that is needed to install and maintain power systems, a scenario currently seen in Thailand.
Solution: For the renewable subsystem, final design was comprised of four 50 watt solar panels, a 15 watt hand crank generator, and educational power generation kit with magnets and coiled wire. For the frame of the body, the cart had all terrain wheels, an aluminum scissor lift system, a handle, a top table that the solar panels can hook into, and a bottom table that the electrical components can fit onto. For the electrical system, there was a 85AH lead acid battery, Arduino microcontroller, LED and solar panel power display, power switching relay, and plug and play renewable energy system capabilities.