A dual energy source lamp for off-grid persons with low income
Date
2019
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Abstract
In the off-grid communities in Ghana, most people depend on solar energy for electricity. Some
also depend on torch lights, candle lights or kerosene lamps to meet their lighting needs. These
lamps come with their own pros and cons. The solar lamps for instance, do not last for the entire
night when in full usage though they are the cleanest of all. And since they are solar dependent,
they become useless when there is no sun shine. Hence, on the event of these solar lamps going
off in the night, they leave users being stranded; especially when they need light urgently, things
get worsen. People have worked on improving the battery capacity of such lamps for longer lasting. However, the problem is that they would have to be charged for a longer time for longer
discharging. This project therefore seeks to save solar lamps users from being stranded when their
lamps go off in the night. It therefore focuses on providing an alternate means of recharging the
lamp in that moment for usage. Hence this project modifies the already existing solar lamps by
introducing a mechanical mechanism which enables users to mechanically recharge batteries for
temporal use. The recharged lamp may light up for a little longer or a while depending on how
much the user was able to charge the battery. But then the user can still go back and recharge it
mechanically whenever he or she wants.
Description
Capstone Project submitted to the Department of Engineering, Ashesi University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, April 2019
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Capstone project
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Keywords
solar lamps, rechargeable lamps, renewable energy sources, Pugh Matrix, hardware