Part B. Documentation and analysis of prior solution attempts
Previous Patents:
Existing Products:
Potential Market:
In 2015, the United states renewable energy consumption was about 9.9% of all energy.
According to the Energy Information Administration, the use of hydroelectricity is expected to grow at a rate of 2.5% globally. OECD stands for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and it is an intergovernmental economic organization with 35 member countries. In was founded in 1960 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. Energy use in non-OECD countries such as Bangladesh is only 30% of that in OECD countries such as the United States. In comparison, the energy usage is 30 times larger in USA than in Bangladesh. It is estimated that almost 1.3 billion people do not have access to any form of electricity, and another 3 billion people still rely on open fires and simple stoves to cook food and heat their homes. Over 4 billion people die each year due to illnesses attributable to household air pollution from cooking with solid fuels. The main problem is that providing the energy needed to support development at an acceptable cost, and ensuring that it is used efficiently, while also protecting the local environment, is a massive challenge to overcome.
Source:
https://www.energy.ox.ac.uk/wordpress/energy-in-developing-countries/
According to the Energy Information Administration, the use of hydroelectricity is expected to grow at a rate of 2.5% globally. OECD stands for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and it is an intergovernmental economic organization with 35 member countries. In was founded in 1960 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. Energy use in non-OECD countries such as Bangladesh is only 30% of that in OECD countries such as the United States. In comparison, the energy usage is 30 times larger in USA than in Bangladesh. It is estimated that almost 1.3 billion people do not have access to any form of electricity, and another 3 billion people still rely on open fires and simple stoves to cook food and heat their homes. Over 4 billion people die each year due to illnesses attributable to household air pollution from cooking with solid fuels. The main problem is that providing the energy needed to support development at an acceptable cost, and ensuring that it is used efficiently, while also protecting the local environment, is a massive challenge to overcome.
Source:
https://www.energy.ox.ac.uk/wordpress/energy-in-developing-countries/
Summary:
For the Part B of our capstone project, we started by searching for previous patents for our solution. During this research, we found a lot of interesting patents that could solve our problems with high cost. One of these patents is a magnetic generator that is able to generate electrical current by using a permanent magnet to pull other magnets in a circular motion. This then powers a central coil of wire to charge a battery or a connected electronic device. Our goal however, is to produce efficient and cheap electricity that can be eventually mass produced at low cost and then shipped to those who need such as developing countries around the world. After that, we looked up the competing products which are other renewable sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, etc. A product that we found is a small portable solar panel that is able to produce up to 100W, 17.2 V, and 5.81A. The cost of this product is $99.70 so it is relatively cheap for the amount of wattage that it is able to produce. We then identified our market, which will be the non-OECD countries or the still developing countries also called third-world countries. Those who are not able to afford already created renewable energy sources is our potential market.