Expect more calls from the village

• Mobile phones can now be charged using bicycles, thanks to young inventors

Mobile phone owners, especially those in rural areas, may no longer need a regular power supply to charge the gadgets.

Mr Pascal Katana and Mr Jeremiah Murimi, fourth year Electrical and Information Engineering students at the University of Nairobi, have designed a simple, yet sophisticated device that could dramatically change lives in rural areas and boost the boda boda industry.

Called a smart charger, the device is powered by the humble bicycle.

Costing Sh350, the device, made from recycled electronic equipment, is connected to the dynamo at the rear wheel of a bicycle which produces heat when the cycle is in motion.

This heat is converted to electricity which is used to charge phones. No charging can take place unless the bicycle is being peddled.

The device has a capacitor that stores and controls the current while a voltage standby stabiliser reduces the current from the dynamo, which produces the six to three volts required by the smart charger.

“We made the smart charger from discarded electronic equipment we found at a dumpsite in Ngara,” Mr Katana told Nation at the University of Nairobi where the two demonstrated their invention on Tuesday.

“We get the equipment from discarded radios, television sets and computers, among other electronics,” he said.

The two said their invention could significantly reduce dependence on electricity to charge phones in the rural areas as most villagers own bicycles.

In the news

“Almost every household in the rural areas has a bicycle,” said Mr Murimi, adding, “the problem of rising electricity bills could soon be forgotten”.

Mr Katana was recently in the news for inventing an electronic trap that lures fish by imitating the sounds they make while feeding. This was also built using discarded radio and computer parts.

He said he began thinking about alternative power sources when he saw friends and relatives at his rural home in Kwale District travelling more than 10 kilometres to charge phones.

“This prompted me to link the bicycle to a phone charging system. I sold the idea to my friend, Karimi, who agreed to work with me on the research,” he said.

According to Prof Shaukat Abdurazak, the head of the National Council for Science and Technology that sponsored the research, the innovation will be a big boost to the boda boda industry.

“The operators can charge their customers’ phones while on the road,” he said.

Placed an order

“This is a major boost to the development of science in the country. There is a lot of innovative talent that is yet to be tapped which can see Kenya reducing its reliance on conventional electricity. Katana and Murimi have proved this,” he said on Tuesday.

Mr Murimi said a community-based organisation in western Kenya had already placed an order for the smart chargers, adding that plans to put the devices on the market were in progress.

The young inventor said his only fear was that counterfeit chargers might also go on sale once theirs hits the market.

Mr Murimi, who says he has also developed a remote energy billing system that is yet to be adopted by the Kenya Power and Lighting Company, called on the government to help youths come up with more innovations.