KUCHING: The Eco Smart LED Lamp invented by electrical engineering student Brenand Grang Lenin was named the best overall Final Semester Project at Polyteknik Kuching’s Innovation Festival and Project Display 2014 yesterday.
For the feat, the 21-year-old from Sri Aman won RM800 cash prize and a certificate.
The Eco Smart LED Lamp using the solar power energy system, Brenand revealed, allows the lamp to switch on and off automatically.
“This prototype is great for home use especially as emergency light and car porch light,” he said when interviewed.
On inspiration for the project, Brenand said it was his passion for green energy using solar power that led him to build and create this lamp.
“I am very interested and passionate about solar energy. For this project, I have only invested about RM250 to build it. It took me eight months beginning from the semester to complete this prototype,” he shared.
The LED lamp is powered by a 12-volt battery which can recharge itself with a solar panel attached to a 180-degree rotatable platform with sensor that allows it to detect and collect solar energy.
The sensor also allows the lamp to automatically switch on and off during day and night.
“I am really interested to create a bigger system that can produce bigger electricity capacity to power more things,” he said.
“As the world is now focusing on creating green energy, I believe this is a great idea to save energy and our mother earth,” he added.
Brenand hopes there will be companies or businesses interested to commercialise this product.
Meanwhile, the Gingerised UCO B100 Mini Plant by four petrochemical students took the second prize of RM500 and certificates.
The four final semester students were Liyana Eddie, Charmaine Garnette, Stacy Vallarine Suhaili and Patricia Elizabeth Rigab.
The objective of their project was to produce green fuel (biodiesel) from renewable energy source.
This project was about designing, fabricating and commissioning a mini plant to produce biodiesel from used cooking oil (UCO).
The special feature of this plant is that it employs gingerisation process, which is the removal of odour from the used cooking oil by using ginger prior to be processed into B100.
The third prize of best overall project went to e-Cab by a group of students from the Information Technology and Communication Department.
The students Nurul Atika Abd Samad, Sharifa Zulkifli, Chung Nyuk Vun and Tommy Liew took home RM300 and certificates.
e-Cab is a mobile application that can help people request for a taxi from the nearest location.
Easy to use, the e-Cab also allows the person to communicate with the taxi driver to get latest updates and reports about time of arrival, car plate number and so on.
This semester alone, there were 133 groups of final semester project presenters representing six academic departments with each group comprising three to four students.
In addition, there were also 27 teams taking part in the innovation competition which focused on green initiatives.
The closing ceremony was graced by Welfare, Women and Family Development Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah, who was representing Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu Numpang.