Assignment 5: Surviving Disaster and Harnessing its Environment

1) Scenario: During the rainy Spring season, a small riverside village in Costa Rica is ravaged by a tropical storm leaving much of the villages structures in disrepair and most of the area submerged in feet of water. The climate is very hot and humid during this time of the year, although the village is surrounded by forests that provide shade from the sun. However, there is no way to prevent the constant wind and rain that affect this area of the world, only to harness it. The system that is put in place will be able to serve the village from Spring into Autumn, a time of approximately six months.

2) Solution: In order to solve the needs of both energy and transportation, a survival system will be deployed based around a fan boat that can be propelled by both wind and rain, and stores this power in deep cycle batteries that are then used to charge cellular phones and provide limited electricity for lighting and other needs.

3)

Above: Section view of the proposed energy collecting craft, showing overall form and layout. The craft measures 6′ in length, 4′ wide and 1.5′ deep, adequately transporting up to six people at once. At the stern is a 5′ shaft with a 6′ diameter fan mounted to catch wind or, with the blades rotated 90 degrees, to catch rain. This fan powers both the crafts propeller as well as a 12 volt electric motor that charges a series of deep cycle batteries to be used in supplying the village with small amounts of electricity.

Above: Detail of the crafts electrical system that converts rotational energy of the fan blades into electrical energy to be stored in the deep cycle batteries carried on board. The drive shaft turns a 12 Volt electric motor, whose energy is led through a blocking diode that prevents any kind of resurgence through the system, into a charge controller. This controller limits the rate at which current is added to the batteries, preventing overcharging and over voltage. In the event that the charge controller fails, in-line switches are in place between the controller and each battery as a secondary safety measure.

Above: This diagram shows how the fan blades can rotate to catch the force of either wind or rain.

4)

Above: This diagram shows the flow and change of energy as it moves through the energy collection system, beginning as kinetic energy from the wind and converted into rotational kinetic energy in the drive shafts. The electric motor converts this into electromagnetic energy that passes into the batteries, where it is then chemical potential energy ready to be used to charge electronics or provide electricity to flooded villagers.

5) This method of energy collection could be used to extend hybrid gas/electric technology to fan-propelled boats often used for transportation through rivers and marshes throughout Central America and the Gulf Coast of the United States. This would decrease the amount of gasoline consumed by these boats, saving money for fishermen and tour guides as well as decreasing the pollution their engines produce.

This system would be suitable for disaster relief in any area that receives large amounts of rain or wind storms. The fan and its shaft could even feasibly be removed from the boat and used simply as a wind turbine when the boat was not needed for transportation, or when another location could gather more wind or rain energy than on the water. This would make this system even more versatile and applicable to even more situations, in both disaster relief and everyday life.