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Tackling Energy Poverty with Technology: RS Components, Allied Electronics and Practical Action Power Hack Yields Breakthrough Design Ideas for Cheap Electricity
LONDON, December 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
Cost effective and practical technologies could result in huge gains for developing
nations as some of the UK's brightest minds rally to create sustainable domestic energy
solutions
RS Components [http://bit.ly/1HRfk81 ] (RS) and Allied Electronics
[http://bit.ly/12jVhhD ] (Allied), the trading brands of Electrocomponents plc
[http://bit.ly/1y8g703 ] (LSE:ECM), the global distributor for engineers, and
international development charity, Practical Action [http://bit.ly/12jVbGM ], teamed up
this week to host the Power Hack challenge at Google's UK offices in London on the 9th and
10th December 2014. The two-day rapid prototyping hackathon was a major first step in a
collaboration that aims to deliver affordable domestic energy via off grid power sources
to poverty-stricken communities around the world.
(Logo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141203/719924-a )
(Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141212/720718-a )
(Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141212/720718-b )
The partnership between RS, Allied and Practical Action involved three teams of
world-class design and engineering minds competing to create a simple off-grid power
generation source for domestic use. Participants in the event included tech industry
leaders Adrian Bowyer, founder of the open source RepRap project, Jude Pullen from Design
Modelling, Matt Johnson, co-founder of Bare Conductive, Schneider Electric, TE
Connectivity, Elektor and more. Using the newly updated suite of rapid prototyping tools
from RS and Allied (DesignSpark Mechanical, DesignSpark PCB and the Toolbox App), the
teams produced simple yet innovative solutions, all potentially viable to solve the power
crisis in developing nations.
"You can feel the energy," said Jon Snow, Channel 4 newsreader and Practical Action
supporter, who spent time with the engineers at Power Hack 2014. "If you stand in this
room, with so many different disciplines, and so many engineers who've never met one
another before, all powering together to produce a breakthrough on so many different
fronts - it's bound to have an impact on life in the developing world."
Ortis Deley, of The Gadget Show, said of the partnership: "One in five people around
the world have no access to electricity. So every opportunity where individuals and
organisations come together to benefit those less fortunate is a great stride forward."
Using DesignSpark Mechanical 3D modeling software, the winning team, Team Maxwell,
produced a Power Brick, dubbed the "Seebrick", which uses the Seebeck effect to generate
electric power. The brick can be built into a cooking stove and takes advantage of waste
heat from every day cooking but can also be built into home walls and use solar energy
amplified by reflectors. The thermocouple bricks, consisting of clay, copper and iron,
rely on temperature difference rather than heat, meaning they can also be used in cold
climates where warmer interiors provide sufficient temperature step-up from the cold
outdoors. Seebrick generates 2.5 Watts of power, and with just 6 bricks and 2 hours of
cooking, three rooms can be lit with LEDs for a night. In addition to domestic power
generation, this invention holds the potential to make an even greater impact: if a small
village donated some of the electricity generated back to a local grid, the Seebricks
could power a mobile phone base station to serve the community.
"The winning design was chosen because of its spectacular simplicity and because the
automated manufacturing process was deliberately simplified via 3D Printing. We're happy
that our rapid prototyping tools allowed Britain's brightest engineers to bring their
ideas into reality in a way that will make a life-changing impact," said Mark Cundle, Head
of Technical Marketing at RS Components.
"Simplicity and a well-considered manufacturing and distribution process are vital
components of useful, appropriate solutions for challenging local environments." said Neil
Noble, of Practical Action, who selected the winning design. "The most important factor
for useful technologies is to make sure that when they fail that there is some way of
repairing them."
Other prototypes included stunning improvements on IBM's recent work to re-use lithium
ion batteries (laptop batteries) as energy storage devices, and a simple
micro-electromagnetic generator built from common waste materials such as aluminium drink
cans and plastic water bottles, which creates enough electricity for domestic power use
via wind and water. The solution also featured improvements on Alfredo Moser's famous
lightbulb invention by the addition of an LED light.
RS Components and Practical Action will now work to implement these powerful
innovations to transform the quality of life in rural communities struggling with
electricity and power challenges.
The design files for the solutions created will also be made accessible via
DesignSpark [http://bit.ly/1CxI9q1 ]. To view a range of recorded content from The Power
Hack visit the Power Hack Youtube Channel [http://bit.ly/1zav2Ge ]
Notes to editors
Practical Action -http://bit.ly/12jVbGM
Practical Action uses technology to challenge poverty in developing countries. Their
strength is in their approach. They find out what people are doing and help them to do it
better. Through technology Practical Action enable poor communities to build on their
skills and knowledge to produce sustainable and practical solutions, thus transforming
their lives forever and protecting the world around them.
By doing this each year Practical Action help around a million people break out of the
cycle of poverty...for good.
DesignSpark - http://bit.ly/1CxI9q1
DesignSpark is an online engineering community brought to you by RS Components.
DesignSpark is committed to supporting engineers by giving them the tools and resources
they need to design amazing things. DesignSpark's unique suite of rapid prototyping tools
helps designers and electronics engineers get from concept to prototype faster and easier
than ever before.
About RS Components
RS Components and Allied Electronics are the trading brands of Electrocomponents plc,
the global distributor for engineers. With operations in 32 countries, we offer around
500,000 products through the internet, catalogues and at trade counters to over one
million customers, shipping more than 44,000 parcels a day. Our products, sourced from
2,500 leading suppliers, include semiconductors, interconnect, passives and
electromechanical, automation and control, electrical, test and measurement, tools and
consumables.
Electrocomponents is listed on the London Stock Exchange and in the last financial
year ended 31 March 2014 had revenues of GBP1.27bn.
For more information, please visit the website at http://bit.ly/1HRfk81
About Allied Electronics
Allied Electronics is a high service level, authorized distributor of industrial
automation products, electronic components, and electromechanical products with 47 sales
offices serving the United States, Mexico, and Canada. With more than three million parts
online and more than 120,000 products featured in the Allied Catalog, engineers and
purchasers often look to Allied for a broad range of product solutions from more than 300
world-class suppliers. Allied Electronics and RS Components are trading brands of
Electrocomponents plc (LSE:ECM), the global distributor for engineers headquartered in
Oxford, England.
For more information please visit http://bit.ly/12jVhhD
For more information contact
Tracy Wood - tracy.wood@freestyleinteractive.co.uk / +44(0)7784-635391
Aakriti Kaushik, RS Components - aakriti.kaushik@rs-components.com /
+44(0)1865-207-546
Janice Fenton, Publitek - janice.fenton@publitek.com / +44(0)1225-470-000
Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141203/719924-a
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141212/720718-a
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141212/720718-b
Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141203/719924-a
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141212/720718-a
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141212/720718-b
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
RS Components and Allied Electronics
Tackling Energy Poverty with Technology: RS Components, Allied Electronics and Practical Action Power Hack Yields Breakthrough Design Ideas for Cheap Electricity
LONDON, December 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
Cost effective and practical technologies could result in huge gains for developing
nations as some of the UK's brightest minds rally to create sustainable domestic energy
solutions
RS Components [http://bit.ly/1HRfk81 ] (RS) and Allied Electronics
[http://bit.ly/12jVhhD ] (Allied), the trading brands of Electrocomponents plc
[http://bit.ly/1y8g703 ] (LSE:ECM), the global distributor for engineers, and
international development charity, Practical Action [http://bit.ly/12jVbGM ], teamed up
this week to host the Power Hack challenge at Google's UK offices in London on the 9th and
10th December 2014. The two-day rapid prototyping hackathon was a major first step in a
collaboration that aims to deliver affordable domestic energy via off grid power sources
to poverty-stricken communities around the world.
(Logo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141203/719924-a )
(Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141212/720718-a )
(Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141212/720718-b )
The partnership between RS, Allied and Practical Action involved three teams of
world-class design and engineering minds competing to create a simple off-grid power
generation source for domestic use. Participants in the event included tech industry
leaders Adrian Bowyer, founder of the open source RepRap project, Jude Pullen from Design
Modelling, Matt Johnson, co-founder of Bare Conductive, Schneider Electric, TE
Connectivity, Elektor and more. Using the newly updated suite of rapid prototyping tools
from RS and Allied (DesignSpark Mechanical, DesignSpark PCB and the Toolbox App), the
teams produced simple yet innovative solutions, all potentially viable to solve the power
crisis in developing nations.
"You can feel the energy," said Jon Snow, Channel 4 newsreader and Practical Action
supporter, who spent time with the engineers at Power Hack 2014. "If you stand in this
room, with so many different disciplines, and so many engineers who've never met one
another before, all powering together to produce a breakthrough on so many different
fronts - it's bound to have an impact on life in the developing world."
Ortis Deley, of The Gadget Show, said of the partnership: "One in five people around
the world have no access to electricity. So every opportunity where individuals and
organisations come together to benefit those less fortunate is a great stride forward."
Using DesignSpark Mechanical 3D modeling software, the winning team, Team Maxwell,
produced a Power Brick, dubbed the "Seebrick", which uses the Seebeck effect to generate
electric power. The brick can be built into a cooking stove and takes advantage of waste
heat from every day cooking but can also be built into home walls and use solar energy
amplified by reflectors. The thermocouple bricks, consisting of clay, copper and iron,
rely on temperature difference rather than heat, meaning they can also be used in cold
climates where warmer interiors provide sufficient temperature step-up from the cold
outdoors. Seebrick generates 2.5 Watts of power, and with just 6 bricks and 2 hours of
cooking, three rooms can be lit with LEDs for a night. In addition to domestic power
generation, this invention holds the potential to make an even greater impact: if a small
village donated some of the electricity generated back to a local grid, the Seebricks
could power a mobile phone base station to serve the community.
"The winning design was chosen because of its spectacular simplicity and because the
automated manufacturing process was deliberately simplified via 3D Printing. We're happy
that our rapid prototyping tools allowed Britain's brightest engineers to bring their
ideas into reality in a way that will make a life-changing impact," said Mark Cundle, Head
of Technical Marketing at RS Components.
"Simplicity and a well-considered manufacturing and distribution process are vital
components of useful, appropriate solutions for challenging local environments." said Neil
Noble, of Practical Action, who selected the winning design. "The most important factor
for useful technologies is to make sure that when they fail that there is some way of
repairing them."
Other prototypes included stunning improvements on IBM's recent work to re-use lithium
ion batteries (laptop batteries) as energy storage devices, and a simple
micro-electromagnetic generator built from common waste materials such as aluminium drink
cans and plastic water bottles, which creates enough electricity for domestic power use
via wind and water. The solution also featured improvements on Alfredo Moser's famous
lightbulb invention by the addition of an LED light.
RS Components and Practical Action will now work to implement these powerful
innovations to transform the quality of life in rural communities struggling with
electricity and power challenges.
The design files for the solutions created will also be made accessible via
DesignSpark [http://bit.ly/1CxI9q1 ]. To view a range of recorded content from The Power
Hack visit the Power Hack Youtube Channel [http://bit.ly/1zav2Ge ]
Notes to editors
Practical Action -http://bit.ly/12jVbGM
Practical Action uses technology to challenge poverty in developing countries. Their
strength is in their approach. They find out what people are doing and help them to do it
better. Through technology Practical Action enable poor communities to build on their
skills and knowledge to produce sustainable and practical solutions, thus transforming
their lives forever and protecting the world around them.
By doing this each year Practical Action help around a million people break out of the
cycle of poverty...for good.
DesignSpark - http://bit.ly/1CxI9q1
DesignSpark is an online engineering community brought to you by RS Components.
DesignSpark is committed to supporting engineers by giving them the tools and resources
they need to design amazing things. DesignSpark's unique suite of rapid prototyping tools
helps designers and electronics engineers get from concept to prototype faster and easier
than ever before.
About RS Components
RS Components and Allied Electronics are the trading brands of Electrocomponents plc,
the global distributor for engineers. With operations in 32 countries, we offer around
500,000 products through the internet, catalogues and at trade counters to over one
million customers, shipping more than 44,000 parcels a day. Our products, sourced from
2,500 leading suppliers, include semiconductors, interconnect, passives and
electromechanical, automation and control, electrical, test and measurement, tools and
consumables.
Electrocomponents is listed on the London Stock Exchange and in the last financial
year ended 31 March 2014 had revenues of GBP1.27bn.
For more information, please visit the website at http://bit.ly/1HRfk81
About Allied Electronics
Allied Electronics is a high service level, authorized distributor of industrial
automation products, electronic components, and electromechanical products with 47 sales
offices serving the United States, Mexico, and Canada. With more than three million parts
online and more than 120,000 products featured in the Allied Catalog, engineers and
purchasers often look to Allied for a broad range of product solutions from more than 300
world-class suppliers. Allied Electronics and RS Components are trading brands of
Electrocomponents plc (LSE:ECM), the global distributor for engineers headquartered in
Oxford, England.
For more information please visit http://bit.ly/12jVhhD
For more information contact
Tracy Wood - tracy.wood@freestyleinteractive.co.uk / +44(0)7784-635391
Aakriti Kaushik, RS Components - aakriti.kaushik@rs-components.com /
+44(0)1865-207-546
Janice Fenton, Publitek - janice.fenton@publitek.com / +44(0)1225-470-000
Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141203/719924-a
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141212/720718-a
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141212/720718-b
Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141203/719924-a
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141212/720718-a
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141212/720718-b
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
RS Components and Allied Electronics