The organizers of the IEEE Global Humanitarian Conference 2012 opened application for students to submit their humanitarian based research a few months ago. After reviewing various research from across the globe the top 5 projects have been to be presented at the conference which will be held in Seattle Washington, USA from October 21st -24th, 2012. Applicants participated from countries such as: India, The United States of America, Australia, Pakistan, United Kingdom and Jamaica, selected will compete in the form of a poster presentation at the conference.
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| My research on making a Wind Turbine capable of producing in a Tropical Storm was selected in the top 5 to represent the University of Technology, Jamaica |
The 20+ hours journey to Seattle USA was really interesting. Check it out here.The top 5 projects alphabetically and their corresponding universities are:
Automobile Safety Using Smart Phone – College of Engineering, Trivandrum, Kerala, India
Edupad: A tablet based educational system for improving adult literacy in India – Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Kerala, India
Efficient Production of tactile text books for blind students – University of Washington, USA
Tropical Storm Wind Turbine – University of Technology, Jamaica
Wound Pump – Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard Medical School, USA
Tropical Storm Wind Turbine
I have always been fascinated of the raw power of natural disasters such as hurricanes and tornadoes. Before starting my engineering degree at The University of Technology, Jamica I couldn't help but wonder how great it would be if engineers were able to harness the energy these disastrous elements possesed and save the countless lives and billion dollar havoc they cause globally. Wouldn't it be cool if we could turn a category 5 hurricane into a first class energy maker powering our homes, offices and factories.
Meet the competitors: Day one of the Competition was all about making new friends
This philosophy served as the propellant of my research but before I could face the hurricane and ultimately the tornado I first had to master the tropical storm and the energy it posses. The Caribbean region is prone to an average of 18 tropical storms annually which account for an average of 290hrs of sustain wind speed of up to 35m/s [1]. Currently the highest wind speed wind turbines produce in is 25m/s. This research presents the opportunity of safely extending the operating wind speed to 35m/s while simultaneously reducing the stress on the system cause by the high, sustained winds. This is achieved by introducing two novel inputs to the wind turbine controller, namely: wind speed projections at different heights along the turbine structure and turbine blade position within the revolution. These inputs are processed by a controller which optimizes energy efficiency by independently controlling each blade of the turbine instead of current methods where all three blades are controlled by one command.
There are a lot more technical aspects to this research which is beyond the scope of the non-technical nature of my blog but in essence over 40 million Caribbean residents will benefit from such an innovation, spanning 23 developing countries. These islands are the home of the cool West Indian ‘sea breeze’ which this project aims to make the most of hence reducing the billion dollar oil importation bill across the Caribbean community for electricity production. This will contribute to the enhancement of our beautiful islands and the quality of our environment that tourists from all over the world would die for.
See how the Tropical Storm Wind turbine ranked against the rest of the worldI will be leaving the island on Friday, October 19 to finalize preparation for my presentations on Monday through to Wednesday of next week. I am looking forward to your prayers and support as I aim represent Jamaica and the Caribbean to the best of my ability. Remember to 'Like' this post or add your comments...
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