CELL PHONE STATION FOR NICARAGUA

Team 4

By:

Rhian Kogan

Anthony Mistretta

Akshit Kurani

Table of Contents

Need/Problem Customer Needs Design Specifications Brainstorming Ideas Decision Matrix Analysis and Design Summary/Conclusion

Need/Problem We recognize the need to design a way to

produce electricity off the grid in order to power a cell phone tower in Nicaragua.

We define the problem to be that Nicaragua has no energy grid. Therefore there are no possibilities for lighting, heating, etc.

Mission Statement:

With our knowledge and resources, we will design a system to produce energy for the cellphone tower in a sustainable, cost effective way.

Customer Needs Assessment

The Nicaraguan Telecom Company is the primary customer. The villagers of Wiruca are the secondary customers.

The Telecom Company wants affordable power for the cell phone tower, while the villagers want this technological advancement for the village.

Design Specifications

Required Power Output: 1.2-1.5kw Dimensions of Hut (Telecom Company) Diesel Generator Fuel Price: $1.00/Liter ~500-700 Potential Cell phone users Cost/Quantity/Properties of the materials

used to build the hut (telecom company) Cost of electricity: $200/Kw Month Battery: 572F charging/discharging

Brainstorming

Diesel Generator Diesel Generator and Solar Power Diesel Generator and Wind Turbine Diesel Generator, Solar Power, and

Wind Turbine Remove Generator and use combination

of solar and wind

Decision Matrix

Selection Criteria Diesel Generator Solar Power and Generator

Wind Turbine with Generator

Wind and Solar with Generator

Operation/Insallation Cost

- - - -

Ease of Use + + + -

Durability + + 0 0

Ease of Manufacture + 0 0 0

Sustainability - + + +

Ease of Installation + - - -

Maintenance Cost + 0 0 0Cost to Use - + - -

Pluses 5 4 2 1

Minuses 3 2 2 3

Same 0 2 2 2

Net 2 2 -1 -2

Rank 1 1 3 4

Continue no yes no no

Analysis and Design

We have decided to use the DC Generator and solar power

We found that this would be the optimal combination of cost-efficiency and sustainability.

In this situation we intend to have the generator as a backup and mainly focusing on the use of solar power.

Specs Typical solar panel produces 14w per square

foot Need about 107 square feet of solar panel The solar panel we selected is 200 watts, at

a price of $577 per panel. Since the required output is approximately

1500 watts, we will use 20 panels to help account for the hours that receive little or no sunlight.

Total Cost $11540 for panels with total 4kw

Turbine output 0 kwh

PV output 8,028 kwh

Generator output 5,194 kwh

Generator fuel 545 gal

Generator hours 4,050 hr

Dump energy 0kwh

Why Not Others

The only other suitable for of power would be the use of a wind turbine

Cost of one wind turbine is more then the cost of our 10 solar panels

Would need a constant wind speed for best results

Conclusion

In conclusion we found that the cell phone base station would be best suited to have the DC generator and solar panels. The cost of the wind turbine would be to excessive and unreliable.