Brima BUILT a Generator

This BUILDer of the Week's story is so captivating, I HAD TO share the full story in a blog post for those interested in learning more about Brima. 

Written by Brima Manso Bangura

The idea came about when I was spinning the pulley of a dynamo motor. I realized that when human interference is involved, it produces some amount of electricity. I knew that by an electric shock I received on my tongue after spinning the pulley. I will never forget that day haha. Then I started thinking about how best I can move the pulley faster so that more electricity can be generated. So I decided to use a bicycle which when pedaling faster would eventually increase the output energy.

Above is my bicycle stand I created for my human-powered bicycle generator.

A conveyor belt was connected to a motor to power the bicycle. A plain drive conveyor belt was connected to the bare frame of the wheel to a 24 volt dynamo which is rectangular in shape. When elevating the wheel, a board stand was used that elevates the back wheel to a height of 12 inches for easy peddling to take place. 

A homemade extension was used that can take any voltage that comes from the motor and then used a multicharger with an input of 5.8 volt D.C. A multi-charger was connected to a mobile phone, when peddling, the phone was actually charging. This stage was completely dependent on a human being to pedal the bicycle and when an individual was tired, then no power was generated. 

At this point, I realized that a battery was needed to store energy, despite that had a challenge of using local electricity to charge the battery. Then I came up with the idea of using the same motor to charge the battery. This I did by connecting the negative side of the motor to the negative side of the battery and the positive side of the motor with an added Diode which allow current to flow in one direction mode. This diode was connected in series, firstly, a lead was used to connect the negative side of the diode connected to the positive side of the motor, then secondly with the use of lead, the negative side of the motor connected to the negative side of the battery. Then I start peddling and with the help of a multi-meter that was directly connected to the battery, I realized that a higher voltage was generated. When the battery is fully charged, then there is no need for peddling anymore as the battery can then give out its own 12.DC volt with the help of the inverter or UPS which can then generate energy that is up to 220 Volts. Then I decided to use an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) which can take in 12 volts but able to give out as much as 220 – 240 voltage A.C. Although an inverter should have done better, but due to limitations the UPS was used as a replacement. 

I decided to use my homemade extension that is 220 A.C which ultimately allow me to power different appliances suĐh as ďulďs, Laptops, turn on the T.V and D.V.D’s to name just a few. In short aanyŶy appliance that can take up to 220 volt can be powered by this Bicycle power generator. This product is very ideal for rural areas that do not have the facility of electricity.