Electricity is one of the major problems in this country. Residents are faced with an epileptic power supply which makes it unaffordable, others rely on generators which come at a cost without including the daily/weekly cost of running it on petrol or diesel. On the flip side, this has led to the global discussion on climate change through the country’s contribution to the release of Green House Gases to the atmosphere. This is a general problem faced by families and businesses which slows business down and reduces productivity.
Thankfully, various solutions have been suggested, one of which is solar electricity but this is faced with the problem of affordability and the long-term maintenance cost. Another Nigerian has started a discovery and implementation into an almost impossible venture.
Emeka Nelson is a 26-year-old Nigerian living in Anambra, South-East Nigeria. With a Secondary School Certificate and a deep love for engineering and innovation, Emeka has risen above all odds to design a water-powered generator that might be the answer to many Nigerians problem.
Emeka Nelson started with a pretty rough childhood where he was born in difficult circumstances, had trouble reading in school and worked as a house-help at the young age of 5. He has created a workstation for himself with structural drawings displayed on the wall that helps in the design of his latest invention.
Interestingly, this will not be the first invention he would be building as at the time he was in Junior Secondary School he built a generator to produce an AC 220 volt which won him second place in a talent competition organized by Anambra state.
Fortunately, 16 years of hard work and dedication paid off with the emergence of the Water powered generator. The generator is designed on the principle of Electromagnetic field by Michael Faraday. Most of the parts of the generator were sourced from scarp and the first prototype exploded when it was a first test run.
How the Generator Works
The generator is powered by pressured water which rotates the turbine that generates the electricity. The energy comes from a battery connected to the machine which produces a direct current and returns it as an alternating current that recharges the battery.
A litre of clean water in the generator powers the turbines that produce electricity for 6 hours with a maximum output capacity of 1000 Watts and a voltage of between 220-240 volts. The water in the water pump never runs out but the machine needs to rest after working for 6 continuous hours.
The design is pollution-free and environmentally friendly which is solving the problem of power supply and creating clean energy, one of the Sustainable Development Goals. Currently, the prototype can power an entire run which was shown in an interview with Channels Television.
It is still under test run; but over time, the components of the machine would be improved upon until it is good enough to get into the market and solve people’s problem without creating another problem for them.
The ultimate goal for him is seeing the project in people’s homes solving the problem of a clean and affordable source of electricity.
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Sources:
Channels Television
Featured Image Source: Twitter @emekachibunn
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