Institute For The Future

Kenyans create bicycle powered phone charger from scrap metal

allafrica.com/stories/200907211006.html

Two 4th year Electrical and Information Engineering students at the University of Nairobi have created a bicycle mobile phone charger. The Smart Charger.

Priced at 350ksh (about $4.50), the Smart Charger, which is made from recycled electronic equipment, will connect to the dynamo at the rear wheel on a bike. The dynamo produces heat while the bike is in motion, the heat is turned into electricity in the Smart Charger, which then charges the phone!

 

"We made the smart charger from discarded electronic equipment we found at a dumpsite in Ngara," Mr Katana told Nation at the University of Nairobi where the two demonstrated their invention on Tuesday.

"We get the equipment from discarded radios, television sets and computers, among other electronics," he said.

The two said their invention could significantly reduce dependence on electricity to charge phones in the rural areas as most villagers own bicycles.

Mr Katana was recently in the news for inventing an electronic trap that lures fish by imitating the sounds they make while feeding. This was also built using discarded radio and computer parts.

 

 

He said he began thinking about alternative power sources when he saw friends and relatives at his rural home in Kwale District travelling more than 10 kilometres to charge phones.

"This prompted me to link the bicycle to a phone charging system. I sold the idea to my friend, Karimi, who agreed to work with me on the research," he said. ”<end></end>