Off-grid light, power, and

water production

By: Abdulla Sharafi, Fahad Al

Hasawy and Abdelrahman El
Essawy
Problems we are attempting to tackle

 Water Scarcity
 Energy consumption
 Providing Lighting
Problem Definition

 Lack of water and energy access in rural areas and underdeveloped

regions.
 UAE is the second-largest market for desalination.
 Cause environmental problems
 Global demand for energy is estimated to double by 2040.
 In Sub-Saharan Africa alone, there is close to 600 million people without
access to electricity and the electrification rate remains at 45%.
 Alternative Solutions
DIDEA Genaq Diesel
MEDIA Generato
r
What is the project?

 The project is a stand-alone, self-sufficient street lamp powered by a

Vertical Axis Wind Turbine and Solar Panel.
 Excess Power is stored in a battery, where it is used to provide for the
Active Atmospheric Water Generator, when ambient conditions are
suitable.
 Contains an Active Atmospheric water generator, which uses heat sinks
and a Peltier element to cool and extract water from air.
 Ideal for use in arid and humid regions due to high humidity levels and
high ambient temperature but can be readapted to most regions.
 Can be focused on rural areas as provides a 3-in-1 solution to energy,
water and lighting problems.
CAD drawing of the system
Atmospheric Water Generator Design

 Windcatcher:
The two driving forces are wind
and buoyance.
 Wind Tunnel:
Helps disperse air equally into
the four available ports.
 U-Shape Design:
Diverts cool air from the cold
side heat sink to the other side,
the hot side heat sink, while
collecting the condensate.
Cool Side Heat Sinks Design and
Calculations
The heat sinks are the components that the
water would be produced on through the
process of condensation. Therefore, the three
main parameters when considering
condensation and heat transfer of a fluid is:
 Surface Area
 Geometry
 Thermally Conductive Material
A fin type heat sink was chosen for the
unobstructed abundant surfaces and
exceptional heat transfer from flowing fluids.
The chosen material is copper.
 Chosen Wind Turbine Design

Darrieus:
 High Tip-Speed Ratios and Power
Coefficient.
 High cut-in speed.
 Difficult to manufacture.
Savonius:
 Low Efficiency.
 Operatory at most wind speeds
including low speeds.
 Easy to manufacture and repair
Turbine Design Calculation

   important design parameter to establish is the

An
Coefficient of Power which is a measure of wind
turbine efficiency and has a theoretical Maximum of
59.3% which is known as the Betz Limit.

 The other parameter, coinciding with the is the Tip-

Speed ratio, which corresponds to the ratio of the
rotor’s linear velocity and the wind velocity.
Calculating Wind Speed in Dubai
  
Wind Speed frequency was gathered and inputted into Matlab and curve
fitted into a Weibull Distribution to gather the shape and size
parameters.
𝑘
  
These parameters where then inputted into 𝑘 𝑣 𝑘 −1 Probability 𝑣
Wind Speed
𝑓 ( 𝑣 )= ( ) ( )
Density function, where k=1.72232; c=3.95757.𝑐
∗
𝑐
∗exp −
[ ( )]
𝑐
Cool Side Heat Sinks Design and
Calculations
  Modified latent heat of vaporization:

 Average heat transfer coefficient for vertical film condensation:

 Rate of heat transfer (no fin):

 Rate of heat transfer (per fin):

 Energy Management
 For Solar Panel, Yearly average Peak sun hours of 5.84 hours were taken
for UAE.
 Peak sun hours is defined by “the equivalent number of hours per day
when solar irradiance averages1000 w/m2”.
 LED lamp chosen has power input of 4 W.

Our Peltier cooling element would only run when ambient conditions are at 70%
humidity and above 30°C.
During testing, a voltage of 6.104V and 2.353Ampere was required for cooling.
Using 4 cooling elements, the net day power would be sufficient for 6 hours of
cooling, however 4 hours would be used for safety.
 Results

Wind Turbine
Thermoelectric Cooler (TEC)
Power extracted
Lamp power 0.004 KW
Modified Latent heat
of Vaporization J/kg Power turbine 0.00535 KW
Gen efficiency 0.528%
RPM Heat transfer Power solar 0.07 KW
coefficient of Vertical Annual Lamp Energy
film condensation consumption 14.6(kW-hr)/yr
Annual turbine energy production 24.75 (kW-hr)/yr
Annual Solar energy production 149.2 (kW-hr)/yr
Torque mass flow rate of
water Net annual energy production 159.3 (kW-hr)/yr
volume of water per Net day energy production 436.4 (kW-hr)/day
hour
Linear Velocity Rate of heat transfer
per fin
Simulink
Simulink Simulations
 VAWT Ansys CFD Analysis Set-up

  Geometry:
Generated Mesh
2D Sketch was imported and separate domains
were sketched.
 Mesh:
Separate fixed and rotating domains were
utilized to save on computational load as well as
for dynamic meshing. A triangular meshing
method was applied with an inflation around the
blade boundaries.
 Fluent:
Transient pressure-based solver was applied with
a viscous model . Using the Dynamic Mesh
method, the 6DOF setting was applied.
 VAWT Ansys CFD Analysis Results
Angular Velocity Tip Velocity
0.14
15
14
0.12
13
Angular Velocity (rad/s)

12
11 0.1

Tip Velocity (m/s)

10
9 0.08
8
7 0.06
6
5 0.04
4
3
0.02
2
1
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
Flow Time (s)
Flow Time (s)

Tip Velocity TSR Angular RPM Error

Velocity
4.232 0.915 14.108 134.719 30.668
 Stress Analysis
Part Material Force/t Mstressx Yield strength
orque
applied
Turbine Steel 67.48N 2.677 x107 6.204 x108
bracket N/m2 N/m2
Generator Aluminum 0.51N 1.902 x106 2.757 x107
pin N/m2 N/m2
Generator ABS 0.51N.m 2.778 x106 4 x107 N/m2
/ turbine N/m2
connector
Wiring Schematic

Component Pin Allocation

12V Battery Power: Vin , GND

Light-Dependent A0
Resistor
Voltage Sensor A2

Current Sensor A3

DHT-22 Temperature 2
and Humidity
sensor

Peltier 1 47

Peltier 2 48

Peltier 3 49

Peltier 4 50

LED 46
Logic Diagram
Electric Control Block
 Financial Analysis
5A DC-DC Adjustable Buck
Part Name Roughly Estimated Cost 40 [10/pc]
Converter – 4pcs
(AED)
VAWT- Acrylic fabrication 1100 Peltier element TEC1-12706 – 60 [15/pc]
Chihai Motor 6V 210RPM 40 4pcs
Charge controller 330 RS70P-36 Solar Panel
100
Universal Power Group 660 4-Watt LED Bulb 6
12V Battery Plywood sheet 360
Arduino Mega 2560 40 90 Degree bracket - Aluminum 45

Wind Catcher - 3D Printed N/A Polyethylene Water Tank 100

U-Shaped Peltier Fixture – N/A Pro Tie 33202 SAE Size 8 40 [20/pc]
Range 1/2-Inch-13/16-Inch Mini
3D Printed
All Stainless Hose Clamp –
Wind Tunnel – Acrylic 400
2pcs
fabrication
Silicone Tube 12mm ID X 15
Main Pole - manufactured N/A
14mm OD
Light Dependent Resistor 1.5 Aluminum Door Hinge – 4pcs 28 [7/pc]
Humidity and 14 Motor Mounting bracket 45
Temperature sensor DHT- Large Heavy-Duty Pole to Pole 90
22 Mount - EZ XL-HD-PTP-12, 3
6 Channel 12V Relay 25 inches 2pcs

Module Solar Panel bracket 130

ACS712ELCTR-30A-T PVC elbow 90 degree 5
13
Current Sensor
20mm Brass Valve 3
DIYmall Voltage Sensor
15 Street lamp 100
for Arduino DC0-25V
Bolts/screws 50
Total: 3765
 Technical Constraints
 Economic Constraint
The product is targeted for rural areas and societies an ideal cost would be 200 dollars, however if this project is successful it may
be subsidized by governments to ease and provide for people living in rural areas and provided as help packages to people in less
developed countries.
 Environmental Constraint
The project produces no emissions or greenhouse gases due to the use of sustainable energy production methods.
 Social and Political Constraints
Persuading the government of selective countries to provide the funding necessary for the purchase of the system for rural
areas would be a major constraint.
 Ethical Constraint
One of the main professional obligations obtained from the Engineering code of Ethics is “Engineers shall at all times strive to
serve the public interest.” As this project is intended to alleviate some pressure for people living in rural societies and to benefit
society, it must be made sure that the project is safe, in terms of being structurally sound and performs to the quality promised.
 Health and Safety Constraints
One of the fundamental cannons of engineering is to “Hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public.”. It must be
ensured that products must not contain sharp edges and the water that is condensed from the atmosphere must not be acidic or
harmful.
 Manufacturability Constraint
The product must be transported overseas to certain countries or areas that are out of reach, therefore during manufacturing it
must be ensured that the product is produced in a manner that can be easily assembled and disassembled to ease the
transportation of the product.

 
Future Work

 Installing a microbial filter to improve water quality

 With more time or computational power, different ANSYS Fluent CFD
methods can be applied to extend the analysis further.
 Physical prototyping and testing can be carried out to finalize the
design.
 Continued iterative optimization and mathematical analysis of every
component.
 Work on further compacting the design and dimensions.