Week 1 - Brainstorming Ideas

Water filtration to help with shortage and cleanliness of water:

-  Use a solar panel to pump water from the Nile river and distill this water.  This water would be filtered into a reservoir for public use.

-  Natural filtration from plants - put plants around the reservoir to help with the purity of water.

-  The water from the Nile could naturally run into a holding area, where it would then be filtered and pumped into the reservoir.

-  Our idea is similar to the image below describing the purification of water, but we would use solar panels to supply the energy to pump the water.



-  This idea came from the fact that there are small streams that run through the villages of Africa, which is used as drinking water and domestic purposes.  The process these villagers go through is long and tedious.  By purifying water the water into a reservoir diseases such as malaria and guinea worm can be prevented.

-  After researching different villages along the Nile River, we decided to focus on the southern part of Sudan.

-  There are a lot of factors that must be taken into consideration.  First, the size of the solar panel must be appropriate in order to power the pump.    There would also have to be battery or some type of storage for the power generated by the solar panel.  Therefore, when days it is raining or cloudy, the water pump filtration system can still operate.  A wire would have to be purchased to transfer the energy to the battery.  We would also need a converter to convert the volts from the battery to the the pump, depending if the pumps uses volts or amps.  The amount of volts needed to operate the pump must be taken into consideration.  For example, a converter would be needed to insure the large number of volts supplied from the battery could be used for a 6 volt pump.

-  Instead of having the water filtered into a reservoir, it could be put into a holding tank; in this case there would be a tap that would allow the people to go up and directly get the water from the tank.

-  The water would be pumped up to a place 6 feet off the ground and then gravity would allow the water to run down through the filter and fall into the holding tank.

-  Based on the chart above, in order to get 100 meters cubed of water in one night pumped to 3 meters above the ground, 9.5 to 10 watts of power would be needed to power the pump.  Further research would be done once the pump is finalized about if uses volts or amps.

-  We have to look at the power produced by the solar panel - if it produces AC, we must convert to DC to store in a battery.  Depending on what type of electric the pump runs on, there is a possibility we have to convert the power back to AC to run the motor.  Converters, with specific names, are available for us to purchase.

Solar Powered Water Irrigation System:

-  Irrigation is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and help with the distribution of soils in dry areas.

-  Solar panels would be used to operate a pump for the irrigation system.  This water would not need to be purified because some of the minerals found in the water from the river are useful in irrigation.

Other Uses of Solar Panels:

-  Solar panels pump that would get water from areas underground where there is an abundance of water.  This water would be pumped up from the ground and purified by using a similar process as described above.

-  The size and the amount of energy for each solar panel can produce.

Wind Turbines:

-  Instead of using solar panels, wind turbines could also be used as a form of energy.  This may help with the cost, since solar panels are very expensive.