Design, Development And Construction Of A Solar Powered Phone Charging Box

ABSTRACT

Due to increase in the use of mobile phones especially on G.S.M networks today, which according to NCC’s report presently in Nigeria have over 138 Million subscribers, coupled with inadequate and sporadic electricity supply, hence for constant operation, a power solution more robust than power bank (which still requires initial charging with electricity or generator) for private and commercial use has been developed with solar as its primary source of energy. This paper focuses on the design and  construction of solar powered uninterruptible power supply for phone charging for is used today in a reformed and modernized form at school campuses, bus stops, motor parks, shopping complexes, markets, office complexes, airports, social gatherings to mention a few, where pockets of phone charging points with conventional loop wiring of about 10-25, 13A sockets supported with 900W/1.2KVA generator is used to charge people mobile phones say at a minimum rate of fifty Naira per phone. In order to eliminate noise, smoke pollutions injurious to health and also save the cost of fuelling and generator maintenance, the design and production of this device became imperative.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER PAGE

TITLE PAGE

APPROVAL PAGE

DEDICATION

ACKNOWELDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT
• PROBLEM STATEMENT
• PROJECT MOTIVATION
• AIM AND OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT
• SCOPE OF THE PROJECT
• LIMITATION OF THE PROJECT
• METHOLODOLOGY
• PROJECT ORGANISATION

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

• DESCRITION OF UNTERUPTIBLE POWER SUPPLY
• HISTORY OF UPS
• REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES
• HISTORITICAL BACKGROUND OF PHOTOVOTAIC CELL
• THEORETICAL REVIEW OF SOLAR CELL
• REVIEW OF SOLAR CELL EFFICIENCY
• REVIEW OF SOLAR CELL MATERIALS

CHAPTER THREE

SYSTEM DESIGN

• SYSTEM BLOCK DIAGRAM
• MATERIALS / COMPONENTS USED
• DESCRIPTION OF COMPONENTS USED
• DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
• DESCRIPTION OF COMPONENTS OF SOLAR STREET LIGHT

CHAPTER FOUR

4.1   TESTING AND RESULTS

4.2      DISCUSSION

CHAPTER FIVE

• CONCLUSION
• REFERENCES

CHAPTER ONE

1.0                                                    INTRODUCTION

1.1                                      BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Apart from availability of network services, the major concern of any mobile phone user is constant power supply on the mobile unit whose level of usage is indicated by the battery indicator icon showing rate of charging and discharging of the phone’s battery. Since the user is usually worried whenever the battery power level is getting low and especially when there is less hope of electricity to restore energy for the phone, therefore, this project provides an alternative charging system for numerous phone users today without depending on national electricity grid, which is unpredictable, but to depend on natural gift of the Sun to generate electricity, so that this part of the world remains a good place of living.

The solar UPS consists of a 20A solar charging and discharging controller unit, 500W inverter, 15W photovoltaic solar panel, and 12V, 18 AH Deep cycle battery. The controller unit enables the solar cell to supply 12V DC power to load and 5V DC to USB Hub while supplying power to the battery and the stored energy in the battery further supply power to charging sockets via the inverter.

The inverter unit converts the 12V DC from the battery into 220V AC for loads (AC sockets).

1.2                                             PROBLEM STATEMENT

Today most mobile telephone users either depend on national grid hydro-powered electricity which is not reliable or generator which causes noise pollution and attracts high cost of maintenance for charging their phones, in fact generators especially those ones without AVR-Automatic Voltage Regulator often destroy phone chargers and occasionally along with the phone, in order to make life easy and eliminate these challenges this project was conceived and implemented for your pleasure.

1.3                              MOTIVATION OF STUDY

Following a survey of the duration of electricity power available during the day as well as night in rural areas of Nigeria, there is a need to design a solar-powered cell phone charger that is fabricated locally. This is of primary importance because a large number of cell phone owners or users in the rural areas as well as some urban areas with no or limited access to utility electricity, are forced to pay at least N50 per charge for their cell phone from a commercial outfit using a 750VA petrol driven generator. This adds up to a significant investment over a period of time, especially for a poor rural dweller.

1.4                                   AIM AND OBJECTIVES

The aim of this research is to design and construct a solar powered uninterruptible power supply for cell phone charging system. More especially the objectives are:

1)      To design an electric circuit for the purpose of charging through the solar power

2)      To build a rechargeable battery box which will charge the mobile phone.

3)      To run a technical test to verify the variation in the input and output of the charger.

4) to reduce the cost of charging cell phone

   1.5                                   SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of this study is limited to the design and construction of solar powered uninterruptible power supply for mobile phone charging. In this device, energy is generated using solar panels, which do not require any major mechanical parts the solar cells, that connects together to make up the solar panel, can last up to several decades without replacement. The solar panels are coupled with back up rechargeable batteries, which can store excess power generated during the period of availability and utilize this in providing energy to systems when there is no sunlight. The voltage regulation is done using solar charge controller.

1.6                                   LIMITATION OF STUDY

As we all know that no human effort to achieve a set of goals goes without difficulties, certain constraints were encountered in the course of carrying out this project and they are as follows:-

1. Difficulty in information collection: I found it too difficult in laying hands of useful information regarding this work and this course me to visit different libraries and internet for solution.
2. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet).

• Time Constraint: The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.7                                             RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In the course of carrying this study, numerous sources were used which most of them are by visiting libraries, consulting journal and news papers and online research which Google was the major source that was used.

1.8                                        PROJECT ORGANISATION

The work is organized as follows: chapter one discuses the introductory part of the work,   chapter two presents the literature review of the study,  chapter three describes the methods applied, chapter four discusses the results of the work, chapter five summarizes the research outcomes and the recommendations.