Terra power | Connecting while you are disconnected

by Tejas Sarvankar, Hemantkumar Das, Stacy Carvalho, Sreelakshmiwarrier, Vidhi Furia

Introduction

Let's assume you are on a week-long trek with your friends. It’s a one week trek in the mountains involving camping in multiple places. Although the idea behind such a trek is to escape your reality and be one with nature, You are carrying all the necessary electronics- fully charged phone, a DSLR, and a power bank.

But after two days everything runs out of charge. You want to take pictures and videos. There is no way to charge your phone now.

Or can we find a solution to this energy crisis?

That's where we started working on this problem faced by many trekkers and campers, and we ended up solving energy problems for a lot of other users living in remote areas.

How did we start?

We followed the EDIPT model of design thinking to understand the problem in-depth and find the most effective solution for the problem.

E-D-I-P-T process

Design thinking is not a linear process. As in this case, we defined the area/problem we are exploring first.

How might we create a source of electrical energy for campers and trekkers in remote areas?

Then we moved on to empathize, a stage involving both primary and secondary research.

Empathize

As part of secondary research, we researched the various potential sources from which we can generate energy, the existing products in this area, and the market size. For primary research, we conducted phone interviews with trekkers, campers, and salesmen of a sporting goods store.

“When on a trek, I carry only the essentials and I try my best to make sure they are lightweight. It affects mobility.” — An Explorer

“Fire is the more commonly accessible energy source while trekking or camping, although mostly its difficult to build due to wet firewood or climatic condition.” — A Camper

After all the research we got a lot of data that helped us define the features for the product.

Essential features were:

1. Lightweight
2. Compact
3. Portable
4. Rough and tough
5. Long battery life

Ideation

Post defining features we moved on to the next stage of ideation. We decided that fire will be the best and most viable source from which we can generate electrical energy.

There were three probable ways to do this :

1. Generating energy using photovoltaic cells.
2. Generating energy using a Thermoconductor.
3. Generating energy using Peltier cells.

Prototyping

The next step is Prototyping. Planning and trying prototypes of these ideas

1. “Around the fire” using Photovoltaic cells

Here we thought of making a stand with the photovoltaic cells which can be kept near a campfire within a radius of 2 feet from the center of the fire to generate electricity and charge the batteries. But as the photovoltaic cells were placed near the fire, there wasn’t a constant flow of energy which reduced the efficiency of generating energy.

2. “On the fire” using Thermoconductor

In this idea, we thought of creating a frame with the Thermoconductor in the center and place it exactly above the campfire and generate electricity. But placing it directly above the fire wasn’t a feasible option because of the amount of heat that could damage the Thermoconductors. Making the frame and carrying the frame was too tedious a task, bulky, and also not recommended when we took interviews and surveys.

3. “Under the fire” using Peltier cells

We finalized on this third idea as it was the most ideal solution. After testing we found that the ground absorbs heat in a constant flow giving the Thermoconductors an uninterrupted & constant flow of energy. Also, the ground continues to absorb heat even after the campfire is extinguished. The device can be made compact, lightweight, and easy to carry for campers and trekkers to use.

The dirty Prototype of “under the fire” using Peltier cells

Manufacturing the prototype

Material research

• The surface of the device should be made from aluminum which is an excellent conductor of heat. Aluminum will also distribute the heat evenly and protect the Peltier cells from getting damaged.
• The body will be made using hard silicon which doesn’t conduct heat and will be safe to hold after the device is charged.

3D Model of Terra power

After making the dirty prototype we designed the 3D model of the product keeping in mind all the insights we got from the user for our final product.

3D printed shell

The exploded view

Learnings

The journey from just a problem statement to the finished and functional product helped us understand every detail in the innovation process, right from asking the right questions to defining the right problem. Prototyping process was exciting and gave us insights on various tools and resources used to make a functional prototype.

What next?

Testing the product with more and more trekkers and campers, getting their insights, and reworking on the functionality of the product to make it market-ready.

Thank you