Post Type: Innovation and Modification of Technology.
Post Date: October 24, 2015
Posted By: Ferdous Hassan Joy [ANALYST ID: MB-15-013]
Cell-Phone charging device invented by a team of North South University
A team of young students and professor from North South University has invented an innovative and economically beneficial device to charge up mobile phones. Chowdhury Erfan Shourov, Dr. Hasan Uz Zaman (team supervisor), Abdullah Al Mahmood, and Noor E Alam Siddique from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering build a system which can generate electricity using the wasted heat from household cooking mechanisms. They used the concept of "Thermoelectric Effect", also known as "Seebeck Effect" to develop this ingenious technology.
Thomas Johann Seebeck (April 9, 1770 – December 10, 1831), the discoverer of “Seebeck Effect”, attempted few experiments to understand the properties of electricity in the year of 1821. According to his experiments, if two different metals held in two different temperatures are used to form up a circuit, an electric potential (Voltage) will be produced which can result in flow of electricity through the circuit. This is the main statement of “Thermoelectric Effect”. However, the team used a “Thermoelectric Generator (TEG)” attached to the system to create temperature difference in the device and thus transforming heat energy to electrical energy. They used aluminum plate as the medium of transformation. But from the past experiments related to the “Seebeck Effect”, it was found that the system can only produce a very small amount of voltage. To overcome this problem, the team used a booster made of DC-DC voltage step-up regulator that amplifies the small voltage output of the TEG to at least 5 Volts which is quite enough to charge up a cell phone. They also developed two additional features, a computer to calculate the amount of energy and a super-capacitor to store the produced electricity. The team stated that, the device costs only around 5000 BDT which is indeed an economical benefit in terms of other existing equipment’s available in the market. Although the system is working properly but still the team is working hard on its modification. As the system uses aluminum as a medium, it takes time to produce the required voltage and yet it makes the overall device a lot heavier to carry. So, the team is trying to develop the technology to make it more efficient, light and user friendly. They are also thinking of making this technology industrially effective.
The overall experiment was a part of the Capstone Design project (also known as Senior Design), which is a requirement for earning an undergraduate degree in engineering from the universities following US style curriculum.
Source: Daily-sun.com [http://www.daily-sun.com/magazine/details/85324/NSU-Students-Invent-Device-To-Charge-Up-Mobile-Phones]
Post Date: October 24, 2015
Posted By: Ferdous Hassan Joy [ANALYST ID: MB-15-013]
Cell-Phone charging device invented by a team of North South University
A team of young students and professor from North South University has invented an innovative and economically beneficial device to charge up mobile phones. Chowdhury Erfan Shourov, Dr. Hasan Uz Zaman (team supervisor), Abdullah Al Mahmood, and Noor E Alam Siddique from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering build a system which can generate electricity using the wasted heat from household cooking mechanisms. They used the concept of "Thermoelectric Effect", also known as "Seebeck Effect" to develop this ingenious technology.
Thomas Johann Seebeck (April 9, 1770 – December 10, 1831), the discoverer of “Seebeck Effect”, attempted few experiments to understand the properties of electricity in the year of 1821. According to his experiments, if two different metals held in two different temperatures are used to form up a circuit, an electric potential (Voltage) will be produced which can result in flow of electricity through the circuit. This is the main statement of “Thermoelectric Effect”. However, the team used a “Thermoelectric Generator (TEG)” attached to the system to create temperature difference in the device and thus transforming heat energy to electrical energy. They used aluminum plate as the medium of transformation. But from the past experiments related to the “Seebeck Effect”, it was found that the system can only produce a very small amount of voltage. To overcome this problem, the team used a booster made of DC-DC voltage step-up regulator that amplifies the small voltage output of the TEG to at least 5 Volts which is quite enough to charge up a cell phone. They also developed two additional features, a computer to calculate the amount of energy and a super-capacitor to store the produced electricity. The team stated that, the device costs only around 5000 BDT which is indeed an economical benefit in terms of other existing equipment’s available in the market. Although the system is working properly but still the team is working hard on its modification. As the system uses aluminum as a medium, it takes time to produce the required voltage and yet it makes the overall device a lot heavier to carry. So, the team is trying to develop the technology to make it more efficient, light and user friendly. They are also thinking of making this technology industrially effective.
The overall experiment was a part of the Capstone Design project (also known as Senior Design), which is a requirement for earning an undergraduate degree in engineering from the universities following US style curriculum.
Source: Daily-sun.com [http://www.daily-sun.com/magazine/details/85324/NSU-Students-Invent-Device-To-Charge-Up-Mobile-Phones]