Project Background

In developing countries such as Haiti it's common for people to have cell phones with no convenient access to electricity to recharge them. They are often forced to leave their phones at charging stations, which is inconvenient, costly, and prone to theft. It would be very beneficial to these people if they could somehow harvest waste energy generated during their everyday lives, such as riding a bicycle, as an alternative to using these charging stations.

Existing Design

A previous team has tackled the initial problem and their design can be found here: P12414

The chosen design was to harness the waste energy generated by riding a bicycle. This was done by converting the rotational mechanical energy of the wheel into electrical energy by way of a DC motor attached to the frame. The phone was held in a plastic container and wired to the generator.

Problem Statement

The previous design was more costly than the customer desired, not aesthetically pleasing, required equipment generally unavailable in Haiti, and could not support Blackberry phones. Our goal is to improve the existing design by making it cheaper, easier to manufacture, more aesthetically pleasing, and add capability of supporting Blackberry phones (as well as other devices that might require a higher amperage for charging).

Project Readiness Package.

Results

Generator housing with frame attachment

Phone holder box with breadboard

Project Name

Bicycle Power Energy Generation

Project Number

P13415

Project Family

Waste Energy Harvesting

Start Term

2012-1

End Term

2012-2

Faculty Guide

John Kaemmerlen, jxkpdm@rit.edu

Primary Customer

Sarah Brownell, bjl7785@rit.edu

Sponsor (financial support)

RIT- Senior Design Budget, Mark Smith

Planning & Execution

Systems Design

Detailed Design

Project Review

Photo Gallery

Build, Test, Document

Project Review

Final Presentation

Technical Paper

Poster