Design a manufacturable Solar-Powered-Docking-Station for lighting rural communities in emerging countries

Design a manufacturable Solar-Powered-Docking-Station for lighting rural communities in emerging countries

Deng, M.Y.

Rusák, Z. (mentor)
Diehl, J.C. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Integrated Product Design

2012-11-26

There are 1.6 billion people worldwide with no access to electricity and of these people 90% have an income at the level of Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP). In Africa, more than 75% of the households have limited access to electricity. The predominant means of lighting are kerosene, firewood and cheap torches powered by not-rechargeable batteries. The current lighting solutions are unfavorable because they are dangerous and unhealthy for users and the environment. Therefore, Ndassie, a company specified in sustainable electrification, would like to provide a better lighting system that helps people get out of the darkness and precarity in a sustainable way. The lighting system consists of a docking station (DS) and rechargeable LED lamps. The DS recharges the lamp in about 5 hours by solar energy. The pilot country is Cameroon in Central Africa. The DS is the product that will be designed in this project. The main focus is on the manufacturability. This aspect is important because it can reduce several costs that are related to production. Therefore, a methodology called Design for Manufacturability (DfM) is applied. Furthermore, a low-cost product is important be able to enter the BOP market. Four concepts were developed based on the requirements and one was chosen to be the final concept. After communication with the manufacturers, the final design is detailed according to the requirements of the manufacturer and the design requirements. A sample was then produced by the manufacturer in China and transported to the Netherlands to evaluate. After the evaluation on the sample, there were points that were improved and implemented into a redesign. The cost of the redesign was reduced and the redesign became more manufacturable because the number of parts, assembly handlings and assembly time was reduced. Furthermore, the design has more parts that have the same shape to reduce the assembly time and machine settings.

manufacturability
design

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:384303fa-d3aa-4383-81fb-60e89d26e396

2013-11-26

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2012 Deng, M.Y.