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Recent Projects: Humanitarian

Rwanda Pico-Hydro Project

Team: Hannah Dreissigacker, Lucas Schulz, Zoe Acher, Andrew Geffken
Sponsor: Dartmouth Humanitarian Engineering Leadership Program, Hanover, N.H.
Advisor: Professor Benoit Cushman-Roisin

During the summer of 2008, the Dartmouth Humanitarian Engineering Leadership Program (HELP) sent several students to Banda, Rwanda to oversee the implementation of small scale micro-hydro systems. Two systems were built, but the power generation was lower than anticipated and our project investigated improving the efficiency of the systems. Water splashing back off the turbine wall and hitting the turbine a second time is believed to be one of the main hindrances of the system. Therefore, the housing was redesigned and also modified to allow for easier access. Additionally, an emergency shut-off device was added for safety reasons.

Rwanda Pico-Hydro Project

Third-World Gravity-Powered Electric Generator

Team: Nolan Reis, Erik Johnson, Michael Gwaze, Marissa Giustina
Sponsor: David Sowerwine, VillageTech Solutions, Menlo Park, Calif.
Advisor: Professor Charles Sullivan

Third-World Gravity-Powered Electric Generator Worldwide, 1.5 billion people lack access to electricity. The goal of this project was to create an inexpensive, battery-free system for on-demand home lighting. After researching alternatives, the team chose a human powered generation device that stores gravitational potential energy in the form of a hanging weight. Stepper motors were used as generators because of their low-speed power generation capabilities, which reduce the requisite number of gear stages. The final prototype cost $320 to build, operating at 65% efficiency. Using a 60 kg weight, it lit 8 LEDs with 12 V and 20 mA for over 30 minutes.