A two-student team from Da Nang University overcame 628 peers'projects from across 30 universities to come in first place at an urbanenergy-saving innovation competition held in March.
Thecompetition, "Go Green in the City", run across the world by SchneiderElectric, aims to encourage young people to find efficient, innovativeways to save energy in urban areas.
Winners TranAnh Hang Nga and Trinh Hoai Nam both majored in electronics at theFaculty "Excellent Centre" of Da Nang University's University ofTechnology. They said they hope their innovative designs will be appliedin real life.
They came up with an idea to install bicyclerental stands in tourist-heavy areas, such as Bach Dang Street, Tran PhuStreet, Truong Sa Street and Da Nang Airport.
Nam said he andhis partner Nga wanted to encourage people to use bicycles and electricbikes to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which is how they came up withthe idea.
The bicycle rental stand will act like anautomatic teller machine. When the customer inserts a credit card intothe machine, the system will automatically push an electric bike out anddeduct money from the rentee's card in proportion with the amount oftime the bike is rented out.
A magnetic device attached to the bicycle generates electric power from friction created by its movement on the road.
The user will be given a discount based on the amount of poweraccumulated on the bike's charger when it gets back to the stand.
"This system is useful," Nam said. "When people return the bike to thestand, it will be fully charged. This source of energy willautomatically be discharged into the stand. People can use this energyto charge their mobile phones or light streets."
Theother project Nga and Nam came up with involved painting roads withphoto luminescent paint. The paint would absorb sunlight during the dayand give off light at night.
To ensure the light isnot too bright for drivers, an electronic censor will be installed thatwill notify a centre, which would adjust the street lights.
Nam said he thought this innovation would save a lot of power used for street lights.
"A street light normally uses 220W per hour," he said. "However, whenthere is photo luminescent paint, it would consume only 110W, whichmeans saving 60 percent of the power supply. If this idea is appliedbroadly, its efficiency will be huge."
For timebeing, Nam and Nga are working hard to improve their innovations for thecompetition's upcoming regional and global rounds, scheduled for lateApril and June.
Nam and Nga both said that after thesecompetitions they wanted to work with Schneider Electric to help maketheir ideas a reality and submit them to the Da Nang authorities.-VNA
Thecompetition, "Go Green in the City", run across the world by SchneiderElectric, aims to encourage young people to find efficient, innovativeways to save energy in urban areas.
Winners TranAnh Hang Nga and Trinh Hoai Nam both majored in electronics at theFaculty "Excellent Centre" of Da Nang University's University ofTechnology. They said they hope their innovative designs will be appliedin real life.
They came up with an idea to install bicyclerental stands in tourist-heavy areas, such as Bach Dang Street, Tran PhuStreet, Truong Sa Street and Da Nang Airport.
Nam said he andhis partner Nga wanted to encourage people to use bicycles and electricbikes to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which is how they came up withthe idea.
The bicycle rental stand will act like anautomatic teller machine. When the customer inserts a credit card intothe machine, the system will automatically push an electric bike out anddeduct money from the rentee's card in proportion with the amount oftime the bike is rented out.
A magnetic device attached to the bicycle generates electric power from friction created by its movement on the road.
The user will be given a discount based on the amount of poweraccumulated on the bike's charger when it gets back to the stand.
"This system is useful," Nam said. "When people return the bike to thestand, it will be fully charged. This source of energy willautomatically be discharged into the stand. People can use this energyto charge their mobile phones or light streets."
Theother project Nga and Nam came up with involved painting roads withphoto luminescent paint. The paint would absorb sunlight during the dayand give off light at night.
To ensure the light isnot too bright for drivers, an electronic censor will be installed thatwill notify a centre, which would adjust the street lights.
Nam said he thought this innovation would save a lot of power used for street lights.
"A street light normally uses 220W per hour," he said. "However, whenthere is photo luminescent paint, it would consume only 110W, whichmeans saving 60 percent of the power supply. If this idea is appliedbroadly, its efficiency will be huge."
For timebeing, Nam and Nga are working hard to improve their innovations for thecompetition's upcoming regional and global rounds, scheduled for lateApril and June.
Nam and Nga both said that after thesecompetitions they wanted to work with Schneider Electric to help maketheir ideas a reality and submit them to the Da Nang authorities.-VNA
