Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: An Ultra-Affordable Pedal Generator for Low Load Applications
EPA Grant Number: SU835936Title: An Ultra-Affordable Pedal Generator for Low Load Applications
Investigators: Lacks, Daniel J , Ferre, Ian , Harris, Evan , Baker, Quentin , Crisanti, Samuel , Elliot, Dane , Beisner, Alex , Jin, Louis , Bavaro, Alex , Goldman, Kate , Toth, Joseph , Phillips, Amber , Petsinger, Ivy , Gumidyala, Saukhya
Institution: Case Western Reserve University
EPA Project Officer: Page, Angela
Phase: II
Project Period: October 1, 2015 through September 30, 2017 (Extended to August 31, 2018)
Project Amount: $75,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet - Phase 2 (2015) Recipients Lists
Research Category: Sustainable and Healthy Communities , P3 Awards , Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Challenge Area - Air Quality
Objective:
The purpose of this project is to design, produce and commercialize an ultra-affordable foot pedal generator that can comfortably provide the low-load power (e.g., 2 W) needed to charge a cell phone and illuminate an LED light.
Problem Definition: Our project is to design and produce an ultra-affordable pedal generator for low-load applications, which will meet a strong need in developing countries in two contexts: (a) rural villages in the most underdeveloped countries, where most of the population lives far from the electrical grid; (b) disaster relief in developing countries, where large-scale catastrophes (typhoons, tsunamis, earthquakes) leave large segments of the population without electricity for long periods of time. This project was conceived as follows.
Relevance and significance to developing or developed world: Perhaps the biggest problem facing the world’s most underdeveloped countries is the lack of access to electricity. Electricity access is under 50% in almost every country in sub-Saharan Africa, and in this region alone there are over 775 million people without access to electricity. In many of these countries the rate of electrical access is extremely small – e.g., only 16% in Lesotho (and even lower in other countries). For people without access to electricity, even low-load electrical power (e.g., a few Watts) would transform their lives. They would have light to allow them read or do work at night, without having to use kerosene lamps (which give off harmful byproducts). They would be able to charge their cell phones without having to travel to a distant charging facility (often miles away, traveling by foot) and then having to pay a fee to charge their phone; note most villagers have cell phones, as this is the only way to communicate with family members who live elsewhere, either permanently or temporarily for seasonal work.
Relationship to People, Prosperity and the Planet
People: When electricity is not available, kerosene lamps are used for light. However, kerosene pollutes the air over ten times more than other fuels. Since most of these lamps are burned inside an enclosed space, the pollutants are usually inhaled. The World Health Organization estimates that household air pollution accounts for more than 4 million deaths a year worldwide. Cutting kerosene out of households is paramount to cleaning our environment and human safety.
Prosperity: Our device can lead to economic growth, as it gives people more time to work their jobs – both in the evenings (due to availability of lighting) and during the days (due to not having to travel far to charge cell phones). This extra time can be help enable economic growth. For one, village children will do better in school, due to the extra time they have for studying; a more educated workforce will lead to increased prosperity. Second, businesses could expand their hours; e.g., manufacturing facilities and crafts workers can increase their production by working in the evening, and retail stores can increase their sales by staying open in the evening.
Planet: The world’s most underdeveloped countries are in an interesting position where they can “leapfrog” a fossil-fuel phase and instead go straight to a renewable energy phase (at least for the rural parts of the countries). The reason for this is that there is no electrical grid infrastructure in place in the rural parts of the countries. Renewable energy systems, such as solar or our device, are economically preferable for small-scale implementation distributed among the rural villages dispersed throughout a large area. In a similar way, these underdeveloped countries have already leapfrogged the landline telephone system and gone directly to a cell phone system, again because the cell phone system is economically preferable.
Implementation of the P3 Project as an Educational Tool
The P3 project has been an excellent educational tool for 13 students. Students have worked on the project in a variety of contexts – some did it as their senior capstone project ECHE 399; some worked on project in conjunction with a business school travel course to Tanzania (where they saw the needs for electricity in off-grid villages); and some worked on the project as an extracurricular activity.
The project gave students an incredible cultural perspective. Ten of the students involved in the project traveled to Africa with PI Lacks, on three separate trips. To learn about life in off-grid villages, the students installed solar electrical systems for families who had been living without electricity. The team gained tremendous insights on the rural electrification needs by working so closely with these families.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
Figure 1.
There have been several iterations of the prototype. The most recent prototype is described here. The group came up with the idea of retrofitting an existing crank generator design to function with a heel tapping motion. Most human-powered generators (crank, squeeze, bike) require laborious and strenuous bodily motions that leave the user exhausted after a few minutes of mechanical input. Our approach is to have the user power the generator with strictly a heel-tapping motion -- much like we often do while sitting in chairs -- since it is a much more comfortable and sustainable bodily motion. The final heel pedal design could ideally be strapped to the leg of a chair to provide optimum ergonomics for the user and maximize the time the user could spend cranking the generator. The pedal generator uses a flywheel and gear system hooked up to a drum motor to product electric current. A hand lever from a squeeze generator was retrofitted to act as a foot pedal, and is the mechanical power input to the system. The foot pedal has gear teeth along a curved arm, and is what drives the gear system. The circuitry of the device consists of a capacitor and a 2-prong Type A outlet. The capacitor helps smooth the energy output since the mechanical input is staggered and inconsistent. One of the gears in the system was 3D printed here at Case Western’s Think[box] since the design required a combination of the flywheel mechanism and a gear. The generator casing was laser cut out of 1/4 inch acrylic at Think[box] as well. The casing is reinforced with small support pieces and held together by J-B Weld steel-reinforced epoxy
The non-technical issues have been providing a great learning experience as well. The team has participated in a number of business competitions, and have had substantial success:
- First Place, 2015 CWRU Spartan Challenge ($11,000)
- First Place, 2015 PitchU competition ($2,500)
- First Place, 2015 Hudson Library Pitch Night ($3000)
- Third Place, 2015 Great Lakes Energy Institute Clean Energy Challenge
- Finalist, 2015 Carnegie Mellon University Venture Challenge (one of 12 teams to proceed to finals, of 75 teams that entered)
Considering the project from this entrepreneurial perspective has been giving the team an experience that they did not expect to have while undergraduates.
Conclusions:
This project has been an incredible learning experience for many students. However, we found that the idea of an inexpensive pedal generator is not an optimal approach. It is tedious, uncomfortable, and time consuming to use the device for an extended period of time – which is needed to charge a cell phone or to use a lamp. The alternative approach of solar panels is much more convenient. The cost of solar panels has been dropping rapidly, and now 5 W solar panels that can provide the power needs described here can be purchased at costs below $15, which was the target cost for the pedal-generator.
The project included a no-cost extension. The reason for the extension is that students transitioned in and out of the project, which led to delays from the initially proposed schedule. We believe that the inclusion of more students in this way was a benefit to the project, as the impact of the project on student learning was felt more widely.
I am not aware of any research misconduct issues related to this project.
Supplemental Keywords:
Generator, off-grid, cell phone chargingProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractP3 Phase I:
An Ultra-Affordable Pedal Generator for Low Load Applications | Final ReportThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.