Project Overview

In times of natural disasters, it is difficult to leave your house and you can be isolated from the outside world. During this time, the available electricity is scarce and if the disaster lasts long enough communication to others is a necessity to receive help.

The goal is to design a phone charger that that can be used without the availability of an electrical outlet. The project will be designed to be environmentally friendly. The device needs to be portable so it can be taken anywhere it is needed. The phone charger will be consumer friendly (ie. easy to use for anyone) and affordable. The charger will be able to be reused without breaking down.

There are other designs that have been created to generate energy, usually to power lights, some of which are not environmentally friendly. These include hand cranking flashlights, shake lights, and gas generators. A crank flashlight produces the energy through a turbine which you crank (Figure 2). The shake light produces energy by passing a magnet though a coil of wire which produces a current in the wire (Figure 1). The gas generator converts the energy in the fuel to electrical energy. The first two are mostly environmentally friendly and relatively portable, but only can produce light. The last is a not as environmentally friendly, seeing as it burns fossil fuels for energy, and is not very portable, but can power many devices at once.

Figure 1:Schematic of a Shake Light

Figure 2: Hand Crank Flashlight

The goal is similar to that of a shake light. The generator will use the properties that a shake light does to produce the energy needed to charge a cell phone.. The generator will be able to attach to a cell phone via USB port in order to charge the dead battery.

Handheld generator

o   Uses a magnet and coil of wire

o   Can charge a phone

o   Cost effective

o   Portable – ie. light weight, about flashlight sized

During most weeks there will be out of lab research. This research will encompass the properties of a magnet through a coil of wire, how to complete the circuit created by the magnet, the design of the generator. Week 2 and 3 will focus on the magnet properties and how much energy can be put out. Week 4 and 5 will focus on the design of the prototype and the circuitry involved. In lab during weeks 3 through 6 the model design will be brought to life through ProEngineer. The prototype will be constructed in lab during weeks 7 through 9. During the last weeks outside of labs the group will meet to work on the final presentation. The group will meet periodically during each week to follow up on the accomplishments of last week’s lab. There, the members will establish what needs to be done for next week’s lab and make sure that the group is acting in a timely manner.