Selvindaraj

The idea of creating a prototype for the power generating speed breaker was generated in the process of coming up with a project that is related to the Grand Challenges for Engineering. As we live in a world that is congested with vehicles of different kinds and each day the number of vehicles on the road keeps increasing at a critical level. On the other hand the amount of renewable energy source reserved in the earth is slowly depleting and if no precaution has been taken it might lead to the scenario where the renewable energy source available may dry out completely. Hence to address the issue of Restoring and Improving Urban Infrastructure, the idea of a power generating speed breaker arose.

Now the idea of generating electricity by a speed breaker may sound a bit strange but it is completely possible to come up with a design that can convert the force exerted on the speed breaker by the driving vehicle to usable electrical energy. If looked at the concept of energy conversion this may appear to be more believable. As energy cannot be created out of nothing the only possible way is to convert the already existing energy into a usable energy source. The easiest way in understanding the concept is that the usage of heat energy to power many sources of other usable energy sources. Heat energy is also generated when any vehicle is driven on the road due to the friction between the contact surface of the road and the tires of the vehicle. However this energy is also lost into the atmosphere without being converted into a useful energy. Now if you can imagine the vast number of vehicles driven generating a constant source of electrical energy can lead to saving a considerable amount of energy source used to power our cities.

The original idea was generated for the speed breaker to be used on the road for generating eletricity to power street lights, traffic lights etc. But this turned out to be a large project and requires a huge capital for the project to be even tested. As a result it was scaled down for the speed breaker to be used inside parking lots of malls to generate electricity for the lights and other electrical devices used.

How it works?

Why do we need your support?

The funds raised will be used to purchase the raw materials required to manufacture and fabricate the design and also for some of the services and resources outsourced to manufacture some of the specific parts and assemble it. Some of the main parts are;

• Rack
• Spur gear
• Fly wheel
• Bearings
• Shaft
• Springs
• Generator/Electric Dynamo

As a lot of these parts require very specific measurements and dimensions it turns out to be quiet expensive to fabricate. However since the scaling down of the speed breaker to be used in parking lots we can start with a budget of RM400 and we can assure that all and any pledges made will be definitely used for the fabrication of the speed breaker.

The challenges now being faced are the time constraint due to other projects and assignments in the university and the lack of resources inside the university for the fabrication of the parts required with intricate dimensions. However by proper planning and arrangement of the activities the issue of time is now being solved. For the lack of resources inside the university, research is being done on the available outside resoures and a detail ordering and arrangement of the prices available from different sources are being analysed and dsiscussed. In addition to that another challenge is the financial capacity required for the fabrication and testing of the prototype which is the main reason of calling out for the aid in this new platform of social awareness by having the highest hopes of getting favourable replies.