QUT students charge their devices under the sun

Students at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), supported by Vertiv (formerly Emerson Network Power), have designed a light, modern solar solution that enables mobile devices to be charged under the sun on campus.

“We challenged design students to propose a structure for a smart solar mobile charging station,” said Vishnu Kumar Arun, President of the QUT Electrical Engineering Student Society (QUT EESS). “The students went above and beyond and created something that is truly innovative and that embodies the Internet of Things (IoT) and electronics projects developed by our engineering team.”

The ‘Tower of Power’ is an off-grid kiosk built with lightweight but durable materials and fitted with solar panels positioned for optimum efficiency. The kiosk has eight seats in and around it to allow students to sit down and interact while their devices charge. It’s also connected to an application that allows students to see how many ports are available at any time.

“We wanted to design something innovative and aesthetically pleasing,” said Lydia Carlton, co-designer of the Tower of Power. “But we also felt it was important to make it an area where students could sit down and socialise while their devices charged; so we added seating to the inside and outside to cater for different weather.”

The winning students, chosen from four finalists in the competition, worked closely with QUT EESS engineering teams to modify the solution design for fabrication and real-world implementation and are now field testing it on campus. The hope is to expand on the project and get similar kiosks in place in other universities and organisations countrywide with a commercially viable solution.

Vertiv, which sponsored the competition and worked closely with the university to help secure the right batteries for the solution, has been inspired by the project and has ordered its own model of the kiosk to showcase to local government customers around the country as a potential tool for their IoT goals. The critical infrastructure company is also hoping to have a demonstration of the kiosk at Smart Cities Week in October.

“This simple yet innovative idea and execution of it has been a joy to be a part of,” said Alan Smith, Senior Solutions Architect at Vertiv ANZ. “This kind of idea is vital to the successful development of IoT and smart cities in Australia, and to make sure environmental efficiency is considered in line with infrastructure that makes sense for people.”