Heard of a trolley that can charge phones? Thirteen-year-old Hamdan Jumah Hassan Rahmah created a 3D printed shopping cart which could turn its kinetic energy (produced when the cart is pushed) into electric energy which can be stored in an attached battery. This energy can be used to charge phones while shopping.
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Hamdan, who is a part of the Emirates Science Club (ESC), was one of several students who displayed their innovation at the Water, Energy, Technology, and Environment Exhibition (WETEX) which kicked off in Dubai on Tuesday.
“This is the first project I have created as a part of ESC,” he said. “I have been awarded a patent for it. My aim is to refine this design and make it commercially available to the public.”
First organised in 1999, WETEX is a platform for displaying the latest technological advancements and discussing trends in water, energy, environmental sustainability and renewable energy.
Hamdan admitted that there was a long way to go. “For example, the wheels don’t roll well enough so I need to work on it,” he said. The light-weight cart also has an anti-theft system.
Seventeen-year-old Sultan AlZarooni was inspired to innovate by his numerous visits to his family’s banana farm in Al Ain. He developed a system that measures the weather conditions to provide just the right amount of water to each plant, saving time and money for farmers. He tested it for more than a year before finally implementing it in his father’s farm.
“I wanted the system to be perfect before I tried it out in the farm,” he said to Khaleej Times. “Over the last two years, I have been tweaking the system based on my experience. I realized that humidity plays an important role. So I added a humidity sensor to the system and coded it accordingly. The system is working very well on the farm now. It is designed to suit the specific kind of plant and its age.”
Sultan is also a member of ESC. Established in 1990, the club conducts training programs and sessions for youngsters in all fields of science and technology. Its activities are divided into nine categories including robotics, 3-D printers and carpentry; ESC is operated by skilful and experienced engineers as well as inventors.
On his computer, he demonstrated how the system irrigated for exactly 5.8 seconds when the temperature was 35°C. Sultan, who has won several international competitions, including in China and Turkey with this project, hopes to make his prototype available to the public soon. “I want to test it in various farms under various weather conditions to perfect it,” he said. “Then I want to start selling it to farmers.”
Another project on display at the stand was that of a smart solar panel by 13-year-olds Manal Maher Albastaki and Fatma Mohammed Alfalasi. The girls explained that the efficiency of solar panels dropped as the temperature increased. “Our method is to reverse engineer a thermoelectric module which is under the solar panel so that it can remove the heat from the panel itself,” said Fatma. “This will improve the efficiency of the panel. During trials, we found that the efficiency was increased by around 10 per cent.”
According to Manal, companies can benefit from this innovation. “They will be able to get the same amount of solar energy using much smaller panels,” she said. “This means they wont have to install huge, cumbersome panels and can opt for smaller panels.”