RESEARCH:
A lot of people have started to think various economical ways to generate power. This case study shows how human energy can be captured and reused to generate electricity in an economic way.
Most of the schools in Ghana, Africa are located far off the power grid and can’t afford to pay thousands of dollars to bring electric services to the village, or to pay monthly power bills. On average, villagers make less than a dollar per day. A team of science and technology students from Brigham Young University worked alongside Ghanaian colleagues to build and install the power-generating merry-go-round, as part of a senior capstone project sponsored by Empower Playgrounds, Inc. The objective behind this project was to enhance the education by providing power for lighting and also giving children opportunities for fun as in rural villages the kids have no toys. The challenge for these students was to come up with a device that could generate power but at the same time it was fun and not work for the children. BYU engineering and technology students worked more than a year on the prototype merry-go-round which is designed to be built with materials available in Ghana including recycled car parts. To make it fun to ride, the students used a gearbox to multiply the rotation speed and incorporated circuitry to limit the amount of energy extracted from the system.
The spinning is converted through a gearbox. The gearbox takes their rotation and multiplies it by 35. Which then spins the generator and the generator is what converts energy into electric energy. The power generated by the merry-go-round is stored in a car battery that recharges several dozen portable LED lights that can be used in classrooms and homes.
Many families have little or no light in the evenings, relying on kerosene lamps, candles or open flame-bobo lights. Better lighting at home leads to greater literacy and productivity for children and their families.
The amount of power generated from merry-go-round can also be used to recharge cell phones and laptop computers in future.
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