Converting mechanical energy into electrical energy and storing it on the roadside at speed-breakers lights up a traffic signal or streetlight, and this has been the idea of final year students of the Mechanical Engineering Department of JNTUA College of Engineering, which won appreciation from one and all.
JNTUA skill development co-ordinator G. Mamatha and Vice-Chancellor G. Rangajanardhana accompanied APSCHE Chairman K. Hemachandra Reddy to have a look at the exhibits at Makeathon 2.0, a competition for engineering students from the State.
K. Abhiram, one of the three members of a team, explained that on national highways and other roads, ‘mechanical energy’ is generated every time vehicles climb over the humps of the speed-breakers, which “we have tried to convert with our innovation and connected it to a lamp to make it glow for the demonstration purpose.”
Explaining the dynamics of the project, C. Abhilash, another member, said at the speed-breaker every vehicle touches two points while it crosses it, and all this energy goes waste, which can be utilised by placing a ‘pin and rack’ set that helps a large flywheel rotate and a DC dynamo power generator connected to it produces electricity.
Giving an example of a small car weighing 400 kg, N. Girivardhan explains that when one set of wheels pass over the mechanism created by the team, 136 watts of power is generated and when the other set crosses, a similar amount of power is generated.
With further refinement of the system, the quantum of power generated with each wheel climbing over the speed-breaker, a larger quantum of power can be generated, he added.
The accident-prone regions can be easily lit with a very small recurring cost by having such a system and even signalling can be powered through this, the team members explained. There were 50 exhibits, and some of the interesting ones were a self-healing concrete project of the civil engineering students and electric scooter with an automatic charging system designed by the SRIT students.
