April 2008 Archives

Converting a kerosene lamp into a clean, safe solar lantern. It's easy when you know how!

Greetings from Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. Jeremy (our chairman) and I have just spent the day visiting a number of international organisations and government departments here. We've had a massively inspiring time that is shaping our vision: we thought we were ambitious, but some of the people we spoke to have encouraged us to think even bigger.

One meeting in particular stands out. We were discussing our plans for converting kerosene lamps into solar lanterns in Malawi with a British government official. We thought we were being pretty ambitious when we were saying that we ultimately want to convert all the kerosene lamps in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia into solar lanterns.

He suggested we take it one step further: how about setting our sights on converting all the kerosene lamps in Africa? That's hundreds of millions of kerosene lamps being converted into a clean, reliable and cheap source of energy: one that does not generate carbon dioxide, that does not lead to burns, eyesight problems, accidental poisonings or lung disease, but that does generate a better quality of light for children to learn how to read.

Jeremy and I looked at each other during the meeting: now that's a vision that we like. Will you join us?

Nick Sireau

A further design is currently being worked on using 50mm PVC piping to hold the rechargeable batteries and LEDs. Further design work is needed- particularly for the design of tools to make production easier and faster.

A bicycle taxi equipped with a solar powered radio!

Other design work involved using a single 0.3 Watt mono crystalline plate housed in a grooved wooden frame that can be attached to the handlebar of a bicycle and used by bicycle taxis to run radios. This latest product application will be tested by a local bicycle taxi.

As well as the design that has already gone into production, a similar one has been conceived for the larger mono crystalline plate. One of the differences being the need to construct the holder for recharging 3 AA rechargeable batteries differently, as this plate is of smaller dimensions than the glass plate. Also, in this design the plate and the back slide out and it also features a basic two-pin socket made with strips of metal for ease of operation. The radio used in this demonstration was adapted with the transformer removed so the radio could operate on DC power. Further work will be necessary to finalise design.

Over the course of the last six weeks, a major focus of activity has been the design of a suitable framing for the solar plates using easily available local material. Carl was the main driver behind this, with input from the independent carpenter, Macquin.

Using the glass amorphous plate, a wooden frame and box structure was conceived, with the plate recessed in grooves cut in the frame. Since battery holders cannot be sourced in Mzuzu, a further innovation is the inclusion of a holder for recharging 3 AA rechargeable batteries.

The holder is made from electrical conduit clips. The design includes a removable back cover to allow for cooling of the panel and easy repair of the product should repair prove necessary. Also it allows for inclusion of a 'manual' for the customer. The current design has gone into production and will be tested in the field before making further changes.