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SOLAR LIGHTING FOR REMOTE RURAL COMMUNITIES
Impact/Purpose:
A team of students and faculty from The Cooper Union, KNUST, and UDS is developing a rechargeable lantern usable for general lighting, reading and writing, and as a flashlight to be fabricated and used, with minimal environmental impact, in remote communities worldwide. The lantern must be extremely robust, easily repairable, inexpensive, and use indigenous materials. Direct consultation with communities in Northern Ghana for whom the lantern is initially intended is integral to the design process. The solution must make available the fabrication, installation and maintenance of the complete system to these communities. To this end, we will consult with: local agricultural banks for micro financing and local workshops and organizations for fabrication, assembly, installation and maintenance. In the fall 2006 semester class of 24 Cooper Union freshmen designed and built the first prototype lanterns, some continued during the spring 2007 semester in independent study programs. The PI, two students, and the Ghanaian team members installed one prototype system in Ghana during summer 2007. This is being used to gather extensive data, for both the technological and sociological operation of the system, to provide input to refine the design of the lanterns and charging system. With this award the requisite number of components for four to six systems will be assembled for delivery to Ghana during Summer 2008. This project is part of an investigation that is partially supported by a grant from the NSF.
Description:
The 132 students enrolled in the fall 2007 freshman course, “Engineering Design and Problem Solving”, were presented with a choice of five projects; one was a challenge to “Design, build and evaluate – a portable, rechargeable lantern that can be used – as a flashlight, for general lighting, for reading and studying, that will run for at least two days without a recharge; and that costs less than $10.” Demand for participation in this project was high; over one third of the freshmen made it their first choice.
During the semester, the 30 students chosen for the project were exposed to the key concepts set forth above through discussions, lectures, and their own research. Through presentations and peer-to-peer discussions, students in the other sections of the class were also exposed to these concepts. At the beginning of 2008, a multidisciplinary group of students emerged from the freshman class who continued to work on the project with key advisors and more senior students – the whole functioning as an interdisciplinary team. The result is a prototype solar lighting system, parts of which have already been delivered to Nambeg, a remote, rural community of about 500 people, close to Jirapa in the Upper West Region of Ghana. The remaining components and systems will be installed this coming summer in a further three communities of similar size in the same area. We list below our key findings and outcomes:- We have designed and constructed a lantern that is amenable to fabrication in rural regions; it does not require specialized tools or highly skilled labor. It is robust, easy to maintain, repair and, if necessary, upgrade as more efficient components become available.
- We have designed electrical circuitry to drive the light emitting diode (LED) with pulsed current, thereby enabling the lantern to provide full power illumination for approximately 24 hours from a 4.5 Ah lead acid battery, discharged to a depth of approximately 50%.
- With input from Homer, a free application available from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, we have designed a much-improved, multiunit charging station comprising an 80W solar panel and a locally available 75 Ah car battery. The station will support simultaneous charging of up to ten lanterns, accommodating up to six consecutive cloudy days possible in this part of the world.
- The PI visited Ghana in January 2008, returning to the village in which the first prototype lighting system had been installed in 2007. He found that the lanterns were all working, had freshly charged batteries and were being used extensively. The solar panels were relatively clean and the base station car battery was in excellent condition – indicative of regular charging. More surprising was the news that the lanterns had caused a certain amount of conflict between members of the community. It transpired that the Chief’s family had taken advantage of its social standing and retained the lanterns instead of sharing them with the other members of the community; with an external mediator, the situation was resolved. As sad as this is to relate, it provides ample evidence for the demand for a rechargeable lantern.
- The PI delivered eight of the newly designed and fabricated lanterns, and a new base station charging system. Members of the community were instructed in the operation of the new charging system and lanterns. Mr. Peter Kuusori, a retired District Cultural Officer well known to the members of the Nambeg community, is providing a link between the community and The Cooper Union with regard to the day-to-day operation of the lighting system. With each of the eight lanterns, a notebook and pen were issued and the users asked to record their usage and assessment of the lantern. The overall intention is that each family within the community will have the opportunity to use the lanterns on a rolling basis.
- We have made good progress towards the design of a modular luminaire capable of being assembled close to the point of use with unskilled labor. We have discovered that it is difficult to transform the light output of a white LED into a comfortable, diffuse light source without considerable loss of optical power. We have explored a number of avenues and current efforts are focused on a transparent cylinder containing a random array and distribution of reflecting surfaces with very small area. Possibilities include a gel containing air bubbles or a dispersion of mesoparticles in colloidal or gel form.
- By the end of this project period, we intend to have four complete prototype systems installed in four different communities within the environs of Jirapa: each system will comprise a base charging station and at least 10 lanterns. Other lanterns will be delivered to our colleagues in the Engineering Department and selected students in the Art Department at KNUST.
- A design for a different culture and people is of little use without input and feedback from the stakeholders. Working with faculty and students from KNUST and the Nambeg community in North Western Ghana, we have been able to learn something of the ways in which people in very poor, remote rural communities actually use these light sources. They are teaching us about the technology gap that exists between them and us. We are learning about their preferred requirements for a light source and their preferred procedure for recharging the battery, and we have been able to observe first hand their usage of the lantern.