Construction of an Emergency Portable Dynamo Mobile Phone Charging Station by Means of a Hand-Crank Gear Mechanism/ Solar Panels
The researchers aim to construct an emergency mobile phone charging station that runs on renewable energy and will serve as a cost-efficient alternative to more traditional power banks. Circuit components include a 20V / 6W solar panel supplemented by a hand-crank gear mechanism integrated with a 6V / 1A lead-acid battery, a usb output and an adjustable switch-mode power supply (SMPS) to convert excess voltage into current. Initial voltage and current outputs were measured under varying resistances. It was determined that the set-up satisfied the minimum voltage and current requirement for charging a mobile phone (5V / 1A). A subsequent phone charging test was executed using a Samsung Galaxy J2 (3.85V Li-ion battery 7.70W, Charge Voltage: 4.4V / 2000mAh) wherein it charged on an average of 0.277% per minute for the solar panel and an average of 0.263% per minute for the hand crank gear mechanism. A Mann-Whitney U statistical test was conducted to determine if the charging rate of the charging station had a significant difference from a commercially available power bank’s. The calculated UA: (4) from the test was below the lower limit and the UB: (217) was above the upper limit which indicated that there was a significant difference between the charging rates. While the efficiency was lower than the commercial power bank’s, it can still be used as an alternative charging method especially during emergencies and disasters.
EmerApp+: An innovative application for personal security
EmerApp+ is software designed for intelligent devices as a personal security database manager. In case of emergencies, it is an application which integrates location, tracking, and communication tools. It is triangulated between a database to a communication server as well as a second which is NASA server that offers climate and seismic information for Mexico. This application has two sources of communication, SMS messages and a newly created social network. In case of natural disasters, an extension for drones has been developed for this application, enabling rescue teams to delimit the land boundary where the disaster struck. In order to speed up the search and rescue operations a triangulation of network-drone- smartphone is completed.
Extracting Water from Humid Air Using Solar Energy in Humid Areas
The study aims to evaluate the technique of extracting water from humid air using solar energy through greenhouses in local areas. This technique is believed to provide limited amount of water in areas where potable water is not accessible or abundant. To solve this problem a pyramid-shaped device was designed, it is made of glass panels ad equipped with glass doors, fans operated by solar energy, and multiple shelves covered with fabric to act as Absorbent Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) with a 30% concentration. The doors are open during the night for absorption and closed during the day for energy-generating. Humidity, temperature, and atmospheric pressure are measured every two hours. The amount of water extracted in this area in one full day was around 3.0 liters a day for every square meter. Perhaps the limited amount of water is due to low level of humidity in the area: an average of 50% and temperature of F10 Celsius at night. However, the device itself is independent, does not need power sources, water sources, or infrastructure, can be installed in various places depending on humidity level as well as having the possibility of increasing number or size of device. This makes the device a promising, alternative and environmental friendly solution to produce water. Cost-effective and lighter material can be used to make the device, which will produce an easy-to-use and affordable devices. It is an area in need for further research to improve and further develop it.
Application of molecular templates on magnetic particles for adsorption and desorption of heavy metals
This study investigated the production of novel molecular templates, and analyze their adsorption effect on four heavy metal ions (Cu+2, Pb+2, Zn+2, Mn+2), which commonly exist in Taiwan's rivers. Different operating conditions (such as competitive adsorption, pH value and other factors) were explored to compare their adsorption effect of heavy metal ions by using the synthesized template molecules. The molecular templates were found to be specific towards their target metal ions with a high adsorption effect. Then combined with the idea of magnetic particles to produce magnetic molecule templates, a maximum amount of adsorption of heavy metal ions up to 95% through the molecular template was achieved while the effect of heavy metals desorption of up to 83% could be also successfully obtained. Experimental results showed that the magnetic molecule templates did not affect the adsorption of heavy metal ions. Not only can they speed up the recovery time of adsorption but the template molecules can also be collected more efficiently. We also proposed three different applications for the developed molecular templates. The development of magnetic molecular template may provide an affordable, highly-efficient way for dealing with heavy metal pollutions.