Projects

Engineers Without Boarders: Where There Is No Engineer

As part of my Envoronmental Engineering module in second year of my undergraduate course, we all had to present a mock entry into the Eningeers Without Boarders 2018 “Where There Is No Engineer” competition. We worked in groups to improve to the poor living conditions of refugee camps across the world. Following this we formally entered the competition and developed two prototype solar powered energy storage devices from E waste found in the electrical bins across campus.

The idea for the first prototype was to create something that would charge a pack of rechargable batteries during the day and allow this power to be used via USB port at night. This could be used to power whatever is needed most at the time such as a phone charger, and power source for an electric grill or for lights or heaters. The second prototype added solar reflectors to increase the efficiency of the solar panels. These reflectors were made from the inside of used drink cans. The overall cost of this device was 25 eruo including the cost of the batteries and solar panels.

We presented this design and both prototypes to a panel of experts in 2018 and achieve second place in the national competition. I could not have achieved this without the help of our module’s Teaching Assistant Anita who gave up so much of her own time to meet with us after college and during the summer to build these prototypes.